Justin Allgaier and Kyle Larson were two of the biggest threats to win in the closing laps of Saturday’s (July 26) Pennzoil 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but contact between the two on a late race restart resulted in disaster for Allgaier.
On a restart with 14 laps to go, Allgaier and Larson raced side by side through turn one, with Larson pulling slightly ahead through the short chute. Allgaier managed to stay to Larson’s outside as they entered turn two, but Larson’s car shot up the track and hit Allgaier in the left rear, sending his JR Motorsports Chevrolet into the wall and ending his day.
Contact between @J_Allgaier and @KyleLarsonRacin opens the door for @ConnorZilisch to move into the lead 😱😱😱
— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) July 26, 2025
Get to The CW for the finish!!! pic.twitter.com/k6JJSLn8z3
When asked if this was just a hard racing incident or something that would warrant a conversation with Larson, Allgaier kept his thoughts brief.
‘I don’t know, I’ll have to go back and look at it. I don’t really have a whole lot to say on it right now.
”This place is just special and I’m disappointed. Physically, I’m at 100%; mentally, I’m at 1%, because I’m just so frustrated and disappointed, and there’s really not anything I can do about it.”
"Mentally, I'm at 1%."@J_Allgaier is ok after crashing out of turn two, battling with @KyleLarsonRacin late for the win, wishes he could've won @JRMotorsports' 100th at Indy. pic.twitter.com/whzKry19bH
— Frontstretch (@Frontstretch) July 26, 2025
Larson also expressed his feelings on the incident and whether he felt that he could have done anything differently while racing Allgaier.
“He was able to get to my right rear and pull me back, and he drove by me pretty quick, where he just took enough air off my right side where I was just along for the ride there. I was trying to miss him, but I unfortunately got into him.”
“Honestly, I don’t really know what I could have done differently yet. I’m sure once I look at the replay I’ll see some things. He was just there on my door, but I’m the one in control of my car.”
“I’m sure there is something I could have done differently” @KyleLarsonRacin on his late race contact with Justin Allgaier@MyPlaceHotels pic.twitter.com/JEdAbWYhq3
— Frontstretch (@Frontstretch) July 27, 2025
Allgaier was credited with a 36th-place finish while Larson brought his No. 17 Chevrolet home in fourth. Despite the result, Allgaier currently leads the Xfinity Series standings by 21 points over Saturday’s winner, Connor Zilisch.
Jake Altmayer joined the Frontstretch team in 2025, assisting as a news writer and contributing to other weekly columns and articles, such as Friday Faceoff and Xfinity Breakdown. A 2024 graduate of DePaul University, Altmayer has closely followed NASCAR's national series (Cup, Xfinity and Trucks) for nearly a decade and has attended more than a dozen races over the course of that time. In his free time, he enjoys cycling, spending time with his loved ones, and listening to his favorite band, the Beach Boys.
Ridiculous what Larson did. And not only did he do it, he did it to a fellow Chevy driver, who likely would have won the race otherwise. Larson is lucky Zilisch was there to win it for Chevy, or this probably would have been a much bigger deal. Also, Larson is far from the only Cup regular to wipe out a full time driver in one of the lower series these past few years.
I don’t see a solution to the problem. Cup regulars running in Xfinity or Trucks almost certainly improve attendance and TV ratings, and the sponsorships they get helps their own organizations as well. I watch some IndyNXT, as well as F2 and F3, which do not allow drivers to run the lower series. But, those series don’t enjoy the popularity Xfinity or Trucks do, in the US at least.
The Cup regulars have nothing to lose in those races. Why not stuff it into the turn and hope it’ll stick? If it doesn’t, it’s not as though the points matter, nor does the possibility of tearing up a preferred chassis for the races to come. Also, because points don’t matter, the Cup regulars have another advantage, in that they never employ strategy to maximize points. Winning is all that matters for them.
Again though, no idea how to fix it. If you penalize a Cup driver for the Cup race for something like Larson did in a lower series, I’d bet Cup drivers wouldn’t be racing in Xfinity or Trucks anymore.
NASCAR could begin fining Cup drivers for causing accidents in lower series, but either the fines wouldn’t be enough for the drivers to care, or again, they’d likely just stop running the lower series.