He appeared to have a playoff victory in hand that will lock him into the semifinal spherical – a major step towards profitable his second sequence championship.
And simply as vital – and even perhaps extra so – Larson’s win would give his Hendrick Motorsports group proprietor Rick Hendrick his milestone three hundredth win.
Hendrick’s first Cup win got here in 1984 with driver Geoffrey Bodine, who additionally drove the No. 5 Chevrolet, the identical as Larson.
However one lap after a late-race restart, Bubba Wallace was capable of maintain tempo with Larson and remained side-by-side with him as they entered Flip 2. The 2 didn’t contact, however the again finish of Larson’s automobile all of the sudden bought unfastened, he spun and hit the wall.
Whereas Larson was capable of get his automobile again to pit highway, the injury was not repairable, and he retired from the race with a thirty first place end.
“Yeah, (Wallace) did a superb job to stick with me through the restart between (Turns) 3 and 4 and all that. I attempted to open up and have my form into (Flip) 1,” Larson stated.
“With these automobiles, you usually don’t get sucked round like that, so I wasn’t actually anticipating that and thought that I’d be high-quality. I simply misplaced it and crashed.”
Till Sunday, Larson had been essentially the most constant driver within the playoffs, with no end worse than fourth within the first three races.
Nevertheless, the poor Texas end dropped Larson right into a precarious place for the rest of the Spherical of 12. He’s one among 4 drivers lowest in factors with out a win (within the spherical) with two races left earlier than the subsequent eliminations.
Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports, Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro
Photograph by: David Rosenblum / NKP / Motorsport Images
Additionally disappointing for Larson was the very fact his HMS teammate, William Byron, went on to win the race and seize win No. 300 for Hendrick.
“Fairly bummed, however comfortable for William and comfortable for Mr. Hendrick for 300 wins, which is unbelievable,” Larson stated. “So, nice night time general for our group, and nice for William and our group, too.
“We had a super-fast Chevy. We’ve got had a quick automobile for each race within the playoffs to start out, so we are going to go to Talladega and attempt to have a superb day and have some success.”
