Kyle Larson clenched his first win at Indianapolis — an iconic track marking an iconic win in his career. But, the Oval’s return  became a battleground for accusations of favoritism and bias. 

To some, it almost seemed like NASCAR and Hendrick had an unwarranted coziness that nobody appreciated. This further highlighted several other inconsistencies by the governing body this year. And now, as it appears to many, the integrity of the sport hangs in the balance. Ryan Blaney, arguably the most wronged party, even openly called out NASCAR, but Larson’s crew chief, Cliff Daniels, doesn’t believe his claims have any merit.

Ryan Blaney’s victory slipped or snatched?

In a post-race conference at the IMS, when asked if NASCAR should’ve “re-racked” the field after Kyle Larson jumped the restarted, the crew chief said, “I mean I understand it being highlighted because of it being this race and the situation because it was front row. There’s been so many times in Cup races where we’ve seen that from 5th 10th, 20th it’s no different everybody knows that’s the rule.”

However, the veteran justified NASCAR’s call, saying, “I understand the question. This isn’t anything new. You know, to completely shut down the race and re-rack because you had a guy pull off in a row, every other racing series, you fill the role, fill the road, you take the green flag and move on. So I just don’t see it as that big of a concern.“

The incident in question unfolded after the tenth caution of the race, after Kyle Busch crashed out. However, the restart also meant then race leader Brad Keselowski was forced to exit the track into pit road for a fuel refill, leaving the front row empty. Larson then seized the opportunity to take up the vacated spot on the inside lane. From there, the HMS racer surged past Blaney, or jumped the restart as they say. And, boy was Blaney pissed! 

In a, now infamous radio conversation, the Team Penske driver launched a massive tirade accusing NASCAR: “There’s no way they should’ve let that go green. That’s ridiculous. They just GAVE it to him (Larson). It’s f**king over, I’m on the top. I ain’t gonna win from the top. Gave it to f**king golden boy. Son of a b***h.”  The defending Cup Series champion further continued blasting his team radio with expletives, saying, “That’s f****** bullshit. No f****** way. There is no f****** way he gets to jump up a row and I get f****** screwed because someone ran out of gas. That’s f****** bullshit NASCAR and you f****** know it.”

However, NASCAR didn’t just end up bending one rule, they did so multiple times, and Brad Keselowski, a seasoned veteran of the sport, was quick to spot their bias and ended up calling the governing body out!

Brad Keselowski calls out NASCAR!

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Kyle Larson truly got a fairytale ending in Indianapolis. After losing out in May on attempting the “double,” he came donning the same colors on his car this time at Brickyard 400 and what do you know — he won. It almost looked fated, or perhaps what NASCAR fans are saying — rigged! Many are calling this race’s results somewhat fishy, and while Brad Keselowski didn’t put a rig claim on it, he sure did put everyone’s attention on NASCAR.

On the final laps of the race after Brad Keselowski pitted, the race continued after the restart, and Kyle Larson took the lead. And then on the last lap, Ryan Preece crashed, and unable to fire up the car, stood there stuck on the track. One would think this calls for a caution, but NASCAR didn’t call for a caution right away. Instead, only when Kyle Larson crossed the checkered flag was a caution flag waved! 

Pointing this out, Brad Keselowski’s official team page, on X said, “Hahahaha that’s a caution any other week.”  

But, if you ask Elton Sawyer, NASCAR’s Senior VP of Competition, though, he’ll beg to differ. Emphasizing how a right call was made, he mentioned, “Obviously we’d like for it to play out naturally. We want our teams to race to the checkered flag. We did everything we possibly could. We kept an eye on the #41. He got turned around. He was really giving a solid effort and once he came to a stop and we could tell that he had, I think, a flat left-rear tire he wasn’t going to move. We’d already taken the white, we just couldn’t run by there again. So it was unfortunate, but it was the right call.”

But that didn’t stop fans from tearing up NASCAR and their ever-changing rules in response Keselowski’s post. Some even ended up comparing it to WWE, highlighting how everything seems scripted. 

What did you think about everything that went down?