Kyle Larson made a costly error at the Indianapolis 500. He received a pass-through penalty after being caught speeding on pit road. With less than 70 laps to go, the NASCAR driver was forced to serve his penalty and lose a lap after finishing as high as sixth.
This has been an extremely eventful Indy 500. No one knows what will happen next. However, Kyle Larson did not want to make such a mistake. Pit road is extremely crucial in the 500.
Speeding on pit road costs you a pass-through, which means you lose a lap. Is it worse yet? He isn’t the only one with a lap down.
PENALTY: Kyle Larson, speeding on pit road. His chances of winning the Indy 500 are over.
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) May 26, 2024
The way this Indy 500 attempt ended was really terrible. Kyle Larson elected to remain in Indianapolis because he believed he could challenge for the win. To his credit, he was immediately there. If he had lasted in the top ten, he would have had a shot.
Now, he has little chance of regaining that lap and will be unable to recover. Hindsight is 20/20, but having this outcome while also missing the start of the Coke 600 is terrible. This was not how anyone intended the weekend to finish.
With so much excitement and anticipation around this race, this is a disappointing outcome. From the weather to the pit road penalty, it’s all been disappointing.
UPDATE: Kyle Larson was returned to the lead lap after receiving the wave around following a yellow flag on Lap 154 of 200.
Kyle Larson Too aggressive on pit road–not shocking
Kyle Larson’s most difficult challenge was always going to be pit road. Plain and simple. Larson drives aggressively on all portions of the circuit. He never gives up. He is really aggressive when entering pit road.
Most of the time, it works in his favor. However, this throws him into problems. Think back to last year’s playoffs, when he collided with Ryan Blaney on pit road. Larson is familiar with speeding consequences.
This time, it appears that his brakes did not lock up as he intended. The tires smoked, he couldn’t slow it down in time, and it was virtually clear to the naked eye that he would be penalized.
Kyle Larson will have to compete for the best finish possible among the lapped cars. A dismal outcome, but I don’t believe this is Larson’s only try.
This article first appeared on 5 GOATs and was syndicated with permission.
