Kyle Larson, in the first run of Sunday’s Brickyard 400, looked like he might have what it takes in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet to return to Victory Lane, which would break a winless streak of more than a year, dating back to last May at Kansas Speedway.
With a strong race car and good strategy call by Cliff Daniels, Larson drove his Hendrick Motorsports machine towards the front from a tenth-place starting spot, and, had green-flag pit stops been cycled through, would have inherited the race-lead and likely won Stage 1.
But, before any of that could happen, disaster struck the Elk Grove, California-native…
At Lap 43, Kyle Larson drove his blue-and-white No. 5 down into Turn 3 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and spun around suddenly, as his car suffered a flat left-rear tire, sending him hard into the outside SAFER Barrier and ending his afternoon prematurely.
“We just had a tire let go, I wouldn’t say pushing it had anything to do with it,” said Kyle Larson. “I was only going three-tenths quicker than I had been with saving fuel. It was just a little bit of bad luck, I guess.”
Larson, who entered Sunday’s 400-miler sitting sixth in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings, will finish a disappointing 39th on the afternoon, getting a single point, and leaving him vulnerable to losing more spots in the point standings – in four weeks where the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion has finished 34th or worse three times.
“I’m proud of this No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet team. We qualified tenth and did what we had to do to gain the track position to get the lead. We executed all of that really well. There was still obviously a lot of the race left, but I feel like we were positioning ourselves within the race and within the strategy to set ourselves up well to go after a win. It’s a bummer, but we’ll get back after it in Iowa.”
Larson will have an off weekend to regather himself and his Hendrick Motorsports team before making a final run towards ‘The Chase’, through events at Iowa Speedway, Richmond Raceway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and Daytona International Speedway.
In a format where many think being in the top five in the NASCAR Cup Series standings is integral to fighting for the championship, Larson is watching his title hopes slip away slowly.
