“He had the preferred lane”: Kyle Larson makes feelings clear after crushing Indianapolis defeat to Bubba Wallace

Kyle Larson was unable to overcome Bubba Wallace in the final laps of Sunday's Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He admitted there was 'nothing' he could do against Wallace's lane advantage on the overtime restarts.

Larson began outside the top-10 but made his way to the front and found himself second after the final round of pitstops. With four laps left, Wallace was pulling away with a comfortable lead but rain decided to play spoilsport and led to an overtime restart, giving Larson a much needed grasp at yet another Brickyard win.

However, Wallace prevailed against the Hendrick Motorsports driver and endured an additional restart to finally win the crown jewel event, ending a 100-race win drought for the Alabama native.

Larson reflected on his failed attempt to gain the lead and said (via NBC Sports),

“There’s nothing you can do here (at Indianapolis Motor Speedway) to pass, so no, I don’t really think there was anything I could do differently. I was second gear on the first restart, and honestly, that one worked out a little bit better, but he almost got clear of me down the front stretch. And then on the second restart, he brought the pace down a little bit slower, so I needed to be first gear. It was kind of the same thing with me last year – he had the preferred lane on the inside and it’s really hard to beat that.”

Kyle Larson had led 19 laps in the 168-lap event. The result marked his second consecutive top-10 after a string of finishes among the mid-pack.

Notably, his win in last year's Brickyard came with a mere eight lap lead, six of which came during an overtime restart, as he held off Wallace's 23XI teammate and polesitter Tyler Reddick. If Larson's comments are anything to go by, he probably enjoyed the same inside lane advantage at the time.

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Kyle Larson reflects on unfortunate clash with Justin Allgaier

Kyle Larson performed double duty this weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but his Xfinity Series start was mired by a controversial clash with Justin Allgaier. The two drivers were battling for the lead with 14 laps left, when Larson got loose and clipped Allgaier, sending him crashing into the outside wall.

During a post-race interview with Frontstretch, Larson admitted to his mistake.

"He kind of drove by me pretty quick, where he just took enough air off my right side, where I was just kind of along for the ride there. I was trying to miss him, but unfortunately got into him....Honestly, I don't really know what I could have done differently yet," he said. [0:48 onwards]

Justin Allgaier ended with a DNF at 36th, while Kyle Larson secured a top-5 finish. The result ultimately helped Connor Zilisch to close the gap with Allgaier in the standings, as he won the race instead and now sits 21 points behind his JR Motorsports teammate.

It was Larson's fourth NXS race of the year as he previously won the last two events at Bristol Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway.