Larson loses points lead after “I just messed up” in Michigan wreck

Kyle Larson lost out on not only a potential win at Michigan, but his points lead in the championship after a mid-race spin took the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet out of contention. A trio of sudden tire failures forced a caution flag late in the second stage, where a handful of drivers chose to stay out in an effort to grab some stage points. Larson was among the majority who chose to pit and restarted in ninth for the five-lap dash. Having lost a lot of ground on the backstretch with a line of cars pushed by on the outside, he took a shallow entry into Turn 3, pinning him to the bottom of a three-wide. Struggling to keep the car on the white line, he pushed up and spun at corner exit, igniting a multi-car crash.

Bubba Wallace, Christopher Bell, Joey Logano, Todd Gilliland, Chris Buescher, and Chase Briscoe all received damage in the melee. Larson’s No. 5 Chevy was destroyed, falling out of the race 85 laps shy of the finish. He finished 34th, scoring just three points.

“I just messed up,” admitted Larson. “You try to get all you can on restarts. I was just trying to funnel myself up the racetrack. I didn’t want to get stuck on the bottom three-wide. Just got myself in an awkward aero spot and lost it. It’s unfortunate. I made a mistake and cost ourselves a lot of points today.”

He wasn’t the only veteran driver to lose it all on their own at Michigan. Denny Hamlin spun at the exit of the same corner while challenging for the lead yesterday, and Martin Truex Jr. smacked the wall late in the race. But did the 2021 NASCAR Cup champion sense that he was in a bad spot before the car snapped around on him?

“Yeah, I mean you get a little bit of warning right before you start spinning,” explained Larson. “But once these Next Gen cars step out, it’s really hard to save it. I was just doing what I thought would be right to funnel our way up and just put myself in bad spot.”

Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports, HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro, Chris Buescher, RFK Racing, Fifth Third Bank Ford Mustang, Todd Gilliland, Front Row Motorsports, Grillo’s Pickles Ford Mustang, Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing, Rheem Toyota Camry wreck

Photo by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images

A change at the top
The wreck proved costly in the fight for the regular season championship. He entered Michigan with a five-point advantage of Tyler Reddick and a six-point advantage over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott.

Unfortunately for Larson, Reddick went on to win the race and got a lot closer to potentially earning those critical 15 bonus points for the playoffs. Reddick now leads Elliott by 10pts while Larson fell all the way to fourth in the standings, now 32 points behind.

Two races remain before the playoffs with the legendary Daytona International Speedway and Darlington Raceway capping off the regular season.