Kyle Larson appeared set to battle for the win before crashing into the sand barrier near pit road entry on Lap 214 at Homestead. (Photo: Erik Smith | The Podium Finish)
HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Kyle Larson was about 54 laps from potentially winning his fifth race of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season.
By far, Larson was the class of the field in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Starting from the fifth position, Larson slipped to seventh in the early laps before his patented, long green flag run pace showed in Stage 1.
Larson dogged Brad Keselowski for the lead before taking the number one spot on Lap 54. Considering his dominant performance last year and his Las Vegas win, the 31-year-old Elk Grove, California native looked like the man to beat.
Winning Stage 1 to tally another Playoff point and 10 stage points, Larson looked like would sweep the stages. However, his hard charging ways used up the good with his tires where he held onto a very loose car, dropping to a third place result in Stage 2.
“Yeah – we won the first stage and we had a great No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevy in the second stage,” Larson said. “Just ran hard for a few too many laps; got my right-rear hot and gave him the second stage. But other than that, we were good.”
Dropping to fifth in the pit stop during the stage break caution, Larson slowly clambered back up to second place in the final 60 laps. Trailing Ryan Blaney, the Stage 2 winner, it looked like it would be a riveting duel between the two young Cup superstar races.
In fact, Larson trailed leader Ryan Blaney by a matter of car lengths in last Sunday’s 4EVER 400 Presented by Mobil 1 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. With both drivers electing to pit with 54 laps to go, Larson tried to make up ground on Blaney on pit road entry.
Then, disaster struck for Larson as he hit the right rear of Blaney’s No. 12 Menards/Duracell Ford Mustang. That contact and the hard, right front contact with the sand barrier effectively ended his race.
Early on, Kyle Larson looked like the driver to beat Homestead. (Photo: Erik Smith | The Podium Finish)
While Larson was checked and released from the infield care center, he was visibly disappointed with himself about the accident.
“I was just trying to push it as much as I could,” Larson said. “He had a great car and I felt like if he was to come off pit road the leader, he was going to end up winning the race or beating me. I was just trying to maximize my pit-in, and honestly I felt like I was doing a really good job. I just didn’t anticipate him slowing down as much as he did.
“But on the replay, it looks like I just missed it by a lot. I need to look at data. I knew where the yellow line was and thought I was going to be under control getting there, and then yeah, he just slowed down – I locked the brakes up, slid to the right and clipped him and the barrels.”
Likewise, Larson was understandably dejected with his mistake which damaged his car, a fast ride that raced earlier this year at Phoenix Raceway.
“I’m pretty upset at myself, more than anything,” he said. “Whether he got to pit road speed sooner than the yellow line or not, I could have just done a little bit better job judging it. I hope they are able to recover.
“I hope he can get a good finish or get a win and get the finish that he deserves. Just a bummer, but we had a great No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevy today.”
On one hand, Larson had the luxury to be aggressive after winning the Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Then again, it was another accident that has marked this season as a checkers or wreckers type year for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion.
The damage to Kyle Larson’s No. 5 car was too much to overcome at Homestead. (Photo: Erik Smith | The Podium Finish)
“There in the middle portion of the second stage, I was racing hard and got my tires hot,” he said. “If not for that, we would have been able to keep stretching the lead out in the second stage. I just got loose for a few laps, and then I could never recover from it.
“I was just kind of hanging on there at the end of the second stage and gave him control of the race, and it kind of just led to this. Just have to do a little bit better job.”
At times, Larson can make unforced errors even if born out of good circumstances. After his Lap 214 misfortunes at Homestead, he will need to shake it off ahead of the XFINITY 500 at Martinsville and the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway, the Championship 4 race.
“Yeah, I mean honestly, I don’t really know what I was thinking during the initial part,” he said. “I was trying to stay off him. As I knew I was going to probably hit him, I just locked the brakes up; I locked the fronts up and slid to the right and clipped the right-side of his rear bumper, and that kind of shot me even more right into the barrels.
“I was in control in my car. I just didn’t anticipate him getting to pit road speed as early as he did.”
