Was the Brickyard 400 gifted to Kyle Larson by NASCAR?

The word “fix” gets thrown around at times like this because emotions are hard to tamp down and automobile races are hard to win.

Ryan Preece spun off Turn 2 on the first of two overtime laps, and if this had been Lap 30, 40 or 50, the yellow would’ve likely flown immediately. But hoping Preece could get his car rolling and out of the way before the cars came around again, NASCAR sat on the yellow to facilitate a green-flag finish.

When Preece couldn’t get going, everyone had taken the white flag with Larson out front. Since it’d be crazy to send 30 or so cars, at full speed, past a disabled car, the yellow flew and Larson was your winner.

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“It’s unfortunate but it was the right call,” NASCAR competition head Elton Sawyer said, and he’s right. Next time, Ryan Blaney might be the guy who benefits, and after sleeping on it, he probably knows it.

His fans might need more sleep to reach the same conclusion.

Olympics sideline NASCAR for two weeks? What about IMSA and ARCA?

Glad you asked.

NBC and its affiliates are going wall-to-wall with the Olympics beginning this weekend. NBC and its USA affiliate broadcast NASCAR this time of year.

Something had to give, and nothing is bigger than the Olympics. So NASCAR’s “big three” stock-car (and truck) circuits are off for two weeks.

But NASCAR’s sports-car cousin (IMSA) and stock-car nephew (ARCA) aren’t cooling the engines that whole time. ARCA is at a pair of sporty shorties the next two weekends — Salem (Indiana) and Elko (Minnesota) — while IMSA races beautiful Road America the weekend of Aug. 3-4.

If you haven’t already, broaden your racin’ interests.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Kyle Larson wins NASCAR Brickyard, Ryan Blaney bummed; Olympics next