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Kyle Larson had the best car on the day at Texas. However, he ended up finishing P31 after a late wreck fighting for the lead. With less than 20 laps to go, Larson got too aggressive on Bubba Wallace. He got loose, spun around, and went up into the wall. The NASCAR champion was disappointed afterward.
When you have the fastest car and it doesn’t win, it stinks. When you have the fastest car and it doesn’t even finish the race? That’s a disaster. Kyle Larson found himself not just out of the race, but also falling down the points standing in the playoff race.
Here’s the ironic part of it all – Larson is now 12th overall with Bubba Wallace two points below him. Those two will be fighting it out for one of those final spots over the next two weeks.
For now, Larson is feeling bummed out about the whole situation at Texas.
“Our race car was super fast,” Larson said to Stephen Stumpf of Frontstretch. “We had an extremely fast car, was fun to drive and just a bummer, yeah. Wasn’t expecting to get loose like that underneath the 23 [Bubba Wallace]. With the Next Gen cars that doesn’t seem to be an issue. I was just trying to get my shape into [Turn] One and just should have gave a little more space.”
“Just try to get through Talladega with some decent fortune and hopefully have a good Roval.”
“I should have just made more space”
— Frontstretch (@Frontstretch) September 24, 2023
-Kyle Larson reacts to spinning, crashing out racing for the win at Texas:#NASCAR@stephen_stumpf pic.twitter.com/li4O5BfFoC
Kyle Larson would have liked to earn that 300th win for Hendrick Motorsports, but it wasn’t meant to be for the No. 5 team at Texas.
Kyle Larson slips, William Byron cleans up the mess
It wasn’t meant to be for one Hendrick driver, but for William Byron, it was a gift. Byron didn’t lead a lap until he took the lead from Bubba on the final restart. He has Chase Briscoe to thank for that, too.
Briscoe was tight. Wallace knew that. However, he decided to restart on the top instead of the bottom. Briscoe sent it in deep, forced Bubba to lift, pass on the outside – by the time he made the move, Byron was on it.
Kyle Larson watched from the care center, I’m sure. Byron dove to the bottom, went around Briscoe, by the time Wallace made another move to clear the 24, it was too late. The 24 had his nose right there and once again, Wallace had to get out of the gas to save his car.
Kudos to him for not wrecking himself and Byron trying to block or hold the lead. Still, that won’t help make Wallace feel better. He feels he “choked” this one away.
For Kyle Larson and Bubba Wallace, they will have to worry about finishing at Talladega. A DNF will almost surely set them up for a must-win situation at the Roval or a situation where they have to points race. We will see what happens a week from now.
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