TC Daily Pit Stop: Bell Wins Shortened Coca-Cola 600; Allgaier Ends Up 13th in No. 5; Larson Finishes 18th in Indy; Wins ROTY

TC Daily Pit Stop: Tuesday, May 28, 2024

Christopher Bell Wins Rain-Shortened Coca-Cola 600 Over Brad Keselowski

Christopher Bell has won the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway after the race was shortened to 249 laps due to weather. The race was originally scheduled for 600 miles, or 400 laps.

Bell, who led a race-high 90 laps, was the leader of the race when the red flag was displayed for precipitation and lightning, and unfortunately as the track was unable to be dried properly due to humidity from the weather in the area, and that put an early end to NASCAR’s longest race.

The Oklahoma native admits that he expected the race to be called when the rain initially hit the race track, but once the track drying equipment got on track, he felt the race would resume.

“We didn’t know if we were going to go back racing or not, but after the rain stopped, I thought for sure we were going back racing,” Bell said. “I think everybody did. So that one caught me by total surprise when they called the race.”

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Mission Accomplished for Justin Allgaier in Understudy Role for Larson

Even if Mother Nature didn’t allow it to matter, Justin Allgaier accomplished the task at hand in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

With Kyle Larson unable to get to Charlotte Motor Speedway on time for the start of the race due to a weather delay in the Indianapolis 500, Allgaier got the nod to start the race. And while Allgaier struggled initially in getting his bearings behind the wheel of Larson’s Next Gen car, he started getting into his groove and became more and more competitive as the race ran.

At one point, Allgaier was placed a lap down by William Byron and Ty Gibbs, but he got up on the wheel and drove right back by them both to get back on the lead lap.

“I drove by the 24 and the 54 and they got racing with somebody else to try to stay on the tail end of the lead lap. I got passed back by the 24, and then I was able to get back by them. I’m going to be honest with you, that’s a hard spot to be in,” Allgaier said. “Because, at the end of the day, William Byron is my teammate tonight. While you’re still competing on the racetrack, I don’t want to ruin something for him that ultimatley loses him the lead or a position that will then lose Stage Points for them. The way it worked out, it didn’t matter, but you have to kind of calculate some risk in your head…”

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Speeding Penalty Relegates Kyle Larson to 18th-Place Finish in First Indianapolis 500

An 18th-place finish isn’t exactly what Kyle Larson wanted from his Indianapolis 500 debut.

Making his first attempt at running The Double, Larson was forced to bail on the opening laps of the Coca-Cola 600, after thunderstorms pushed back the start time of the Indianapolis 500 by more than four hours.

When the proceedings finally got underway at Indianapolis just before 5:00 pm, Larson was able to keep his Arrow McLaren Chevrolet underneath him, despite several more experienced drivers failing to accomplish that same feat.

In the opening laps of the 108th Indianapolis 500, a rash of incidents forced the field to endure several restarts, which in the early portion of the event proved to be a struggle for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion.

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Kyle Larson Named Indianapolis 500 Rookie of The Year

Kyle Larson has been named the 2024 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of The Year, officials from IMS and the NTT IndyCar Series confirmed on Monday.

The 31-year-old NASCAR Cup Series champion was credited with an 18th-place finish, the second-highest of the six rookie drivers that qualified for the prestigious event, behind only Christian Rasmussen, who finished 12th for Ed Carpenter Racing.

According to IndyCar, being the highest-finishing rookie isn’t a requirement in being named Rookie of The Year, as the annual award looks at all on-track results, as well as off-track factors like fan interaction, and positive influence on the Indy 500.

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