While a pair of NASCAR Ford teams led the field in the closing laps at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 21st, 2024, two Overtime finishes relegated them to a podium finish at best as a Chevy Camaro ZL1 went on to win.
With only handful of laps left in the race, Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 6 Ford Mustang Dark Horse, commanded the lead. He was running dangerously low on fuel, however. Had the race stayed green to the end, he might’ve won. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case as an incident neutralized the field, forcing the race into the first of two Overtime finishes.
Keselowski, on fumes, attempted to stay out and take the green flag, but just before he got to the stripe, he had to dive down Pit Road to refuel his race car, surrendering his front row starting position to the No. 5 Camaro of Kyle Larson. Keselowski ultimately finished 21st.
After Keselowski’s misfortune, Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Mustang, restarted on the front row alongside Larson. However, Larson made short work of Blaney, passing him to take command of the race. Blaney, off the pace, now had to settle for a third-place finish behind Larson, who won, and Tyler Reddick’s No. 45 Toyota TRD Camry, who finished second.
“It’s no fun, had a really good shot to win today,” Blaney said. “Our car was fast. Thought we had really good strategy. Kind of was the front guy having to save a little bit of gas. I thought we put ourselves in a great spot.”
He added, “I know the 6 [Keselowski] was probably going to run out if it went green. Came to the restart, I couldn’t believe they stayed out. I knew there was no way they were going to make it. So, I obviously chose the top because he might run out in the restart zone. He runs out coming to the green so he gets to do to pit road and the 5 gets promoted. Luck of the day right there, I guess. I don’t know. I don’t know what to be mad about. Mad at losing this race because I thought we were in the perfect position.”
Interestingly, on the penultimate lap of the second Overtime restart, Ryan Preece’s No. 41 NASCAR Ford went for a spin and became disabled on the racing surface. However, officials did not elect to throw a caution to address Preece’s car, despite the fact that he had spun out before the white flag waved.
| Finish | Start | Car Number | Driver | Team | Laps Run | Laps Led | Car |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | 5 | Kyle Larson | HendrickCars.com Chevrolet | 167 | 8 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 2 | 1 | 45 | Tyler Reddick | The Beast Unleashed Toyota | 167 | 40 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 3 | 7 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Menards/Atlas Ford | 167 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 4 | 18 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Rheem Toyota | 167 | 2 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 5 | 17 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | U.S. Air Force Toyota | 167 | 26 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 6 | 24 | 38 | Todd Gilliland | gener8tor Ford | 167 | 1 | Ford Mustang |
| 7 | 38 | 2 | Austin Cindric | Discount Tire Ford | 167 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 8 | 25 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | Freeway Insurance Chevrolet | 167 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 9 | 21 | 10 | Noah Gragson | Bass Pro Shops Winchester Ford | 167 | 3 | Ford Mustang |
| 10 | 3 | 9 | Chase Elliott | NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet | 167 | 1 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 11 | 9 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Kleenex 100 Years/Donors Choose Chevrolet | 167 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 12 | 30 | 77 | Carson Hocevar # | Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet | 167 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 13 | 11 | 3 | Austin Dillon | SENIX Chevrolet | 167 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 14 | 19 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | Gainbridge Chevrolet | 167 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 15 | 28 | 1 | Ross Chastain | Moose Fraternity Chevrolet | 167 | 8 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 16 | 8 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Horizon Hobby Ford | 167 | 1 | Ford Mustang |
| 17 | 27 | 71 | Zane Smith # | Focused Health Chevrolet | 167 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 18 | 36 | 15 | Cody Ware | Peoria TT Ford | 167 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 19 | 22 | 33 | * Ty Dillon(i) | Titan Risk Solutions Chevrolet | 167 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 20 | 35 | 51 | Justin Haley | Fraternal Order of Eagles Ford | 167 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 21 | 26 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | Body Guard Ford | 167 | 35 | Ford Mustang |
| 22 | 23 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Castrol Edge Ford | 167 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 23 | 6 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | Monster Energy Toyota | 167 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 24 | 20 | 14 | Chase Briscoe | HighPoint.com Ford | 167 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 25 | 34 | 8 | Kyle Busch | Cheddar's Patriotic Chevrolet | 166 | 5 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 26 | 31 | 41 | Ryan Preece | HaasTooling.com Ford | 165 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 27 | 14 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota | 165 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 28 | 29 | 43 | Erik Jones | Dollar Tree Toyota | 165 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 29 | 10 | 42 | John Hunter Nemechek | Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota | 161 | 16 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 30 | 32 | 31 | Daniel Hemric | Cirkul Chevrolet | 161 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 31 | 13 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Ally Chevrolet | 161 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 32 | 2 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota | 161 | 21 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 33 | 33 | 84 | * Jimmie Johnson | Carvana Toyota | 110 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 34 | 12 | 22 | Joey Logano | Shell Pennzoil Ford | 109 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 35 | 37 | 4 | Josh Berry # | Panini/Caitlin Clark Ford | 104 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 36 | 16 | 21 | Harrison Burton | Draiver Ford | 74 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 37 | 15 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger(i) | Campers Inn RV Chevrolet | 74 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 38 | 4 | 24 | William Byron | Valvoline Chevrolet | 73 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 39 | 39 | 66 | * BJ McLeod(i) | Coble Enterprises Ford | 15 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver
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Comment
That’s what happens when you try to win on fuel economy, Larson RACED from 15th to 1st. Larson forced all the fuel mileage cars to race instead of running a slower fuel saving pace.