Christopher Bell lands victory in Coca-Cola’s rain-shortened 600
Minutes of Reid Spencer7-9, 27/05/2024
CONCORD, N.C. — Kyle Larson arrived to Charlotte Motor Speedway just in time for lightning and rain to end his chances of competing in the Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 in the same day.
It left long-time Xfinity Series driver Justin Allgaier in the driver’s seat of the No. Five Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet the full two49 of the laps during Sunday’s rain-shortened Cup Series race on the way to finishing 13th in his first Cup race in more than two years.
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Larson’s plans were put together via both Hendrick as well as IndyCar’s Arrow McLaren programs, Allgaier was on board as a reserve driver and was even a part of the welcome party for the HendrickCars.com firesuit during the winter.
However, when it emerged Sunday afternoon, indicating that Allgaier had to start at the very least the No. 5 Chevrolet after an hour-long rain delay in Indianapolis, Allgaier was required to get rid of the stress of making sure the car was intact when Larson was to arrive in the area.
“If he would have come at Lap 25 or 50, when I was still not comfortable, that would have been a hard thing for me to swallow,” Allgaier declared. “So although it hurts that he was not capable of running more laps during the event, I believed it was a good thing for me, because I’ve arrived at a level where I am at ease. and I’m able to get out of the race car and be totally satisfied with the way things was.”
Larson was not available to comment after the race on Sunday, however he released an lengthy post the next day on his various social media channels which reads: “What I thought could be one of the most memorable experiences of my life, quickly changed to one of the worst I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing. … A lot of effort, money, and time was invested in this incident and it’s a real pain to see it be the way it ended. I’m sure I let a lot of people down. We’ve always known that weather can cause havoc but to witness it happen in the surface is awful.
“Up to Sunday, it was one of the best memories ever. I don’t know how thankful I am for everyone’s encouragement of me as I pursue my dream. I’m hoping this isn’t the last chance I get to test the Double however if it is it’s memorable, then I’m sure it was.”
While Larson was fighting the weather throughout the day in Indianapolis and Indianapolis, Crew chief Cliff Daniels was running the show in Charlotte.
Daniels was forced to adjust his approach to three different drivers in the last two weeks, which included Kevin Harvick for practice and qualifying at the North Wilkesboro Speedway’s NASCAR All-Star Race, Allgaier at Charlotte and Larson at both. But his steady leadership won especially in the beginning moments of Sunday’s race when He instructed Allgaier on the track with SMT data. It included correctly placing the car in specific lanes while recommending brake pressures as well as passing techniques.
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“He is very buttoned-up and he says all the right things and he does all the right things,” Allgaier stated. “He’s positively portrayed when he’s on radio. But when I talked to Cliff that prior to the race I said, “Listen I’m not sure what I’m about to get myself into. The most I’d like to do is destroy this thing, isn’t it? I’m not fooling myself enough to believe that I don’t require assistance. If you have any small suggestion you have to offer me be sure to tell me that the only way to help me to improve is by getting the guidance of you and know what others are doing.’ “
Daniels agreed and the improvements from the first laps of Allgaier’s until the checkered flag was blown early was apparent as Allgaier was fighting since the final stretch of the leading lap to a 13th-place finish.
“Justin had a lot of guts to come in and do the job that he did and be as focused and do all the things to get up to speed as well as he did,” Daniels said to NASCAR.com. “It’s not a secret that he’s the Chevrolet testing driver. It’s one thing become familiar with the cars can be done in a test setting. However, in a race setting the cars are completely different. The team is different. The fact that he was able to get in and be able to get comfortable in the manner that he did was awe-inspiring and we’re extremely appreciative of the work he accomplished. We’ll be honest when he became comfortable, he started coming towards the front. He was doing an extremely great job, and we are so satisfied with him.”
New out of Indiana, Hendrick Motorsports’ general manager and president Jeff Andrews offered his praise of the 37-year-old Illinois native, while highlighting the challenges of stepping into a car without much prior experience.
“Justin did an amazing job for us,” Andrews said to NASCAR.com. “I would like to be able to step in with those conditions, without having trained or qualified the car, and then step into the race and perform what he did. We could not be more satisfied with his performance. He has quite a bit on our behalf, evidently in the test department and also driving cars like the Chevrolet wheel force transducers vehicles and we’re quite acquainted with him. I’ve had him on my team over the years in these kinds of situations. However, this was the most memorable. I can’t express enough the amazing job he performed to bring the car back in 13th position.”
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Larson’s plans were made more difficult due to the weather conditions during both of Sunday’s races. Although Hendrick Motorsports had put over one year’s worth plans, Mother Nature ultimately had the final decision.
“Obviously, the weather messed with us, not only there but again here, and it’s unfortunate,” Andrews stated. “It’s not how we had hoped for this entire situation to play out. It was (felt) as if we were prepared to manage all travel-related logistics and to do what we needed to do to finish both races. But it did not work out the way we wanted it to. We cannot alter the weather nor do anything about it. All in all we are proud to have been there. We are proud of the work those who worked hard.”
Larson placed 18th in his first Indianapolis 500 attempt, a race that was slowed down by a speeding fine during the final parts of the 200-lap race. However, the veteran sprint car racer decided to run the 500-mile race, despite the delayed start.
“We kind of knew what we were going to be faced with there as far as being committed to running Kyle in the 500 and it starting late,” Andrews stated. “We were hoping that we could return here and let him run several hundred laps around the car in order to test what can accomplish. So, unfortunate.
“I am sorry for him. He’s feeling pretty down in the moment and he’s got to remain positive. He was a success today, and the weather is the way it’s. Therefore, we’ll simply learn from his experience to learn from it, and discuss whether we’d like to try the same thing next year or not.”
As the No. 5 team’s head coach, Daniels was tasked with making sure that the vehicle and the driverregardless of whether it was Larson or Allgaier did their best. If asked whether he would characterize the day as stressful or not, Daniels took perhaps his first chance to reflect on how he was feeling about the event in the exact moment of 11.59 p.m. ET.
“I don’t know,” he replied, the only interruption during the 12-second break. “I don’t make a living to create an enormous amount of emotionI think stressful is an emotion-based term. We were given a task to complete and that was the main focus. There were lots of boxes we needed to look over as well as a number of small aspects that needed to be taken care of and coordinated with our team as well as logistics and NASCAR There were many moving parts. Therefore, at no moment did I have an opportunity to sit and contemplate what’s my feeling at the moment? I’m not paid to feel any way on the track. What do I mean? You need to hit the marks that you are required in mind to strike.”
Although circumstances prevented Larson from stepping inside the Cup vehicle, Allgaier hit all the points he required at the conclusion of his return in the Cup Series.
