While Kyle Larson made headlines and earned much respect in the community with his dirt double attempt last week, he also made some enemies. He attempted to win both the Chilly Bowl and the Wild West Shootout at Vado. Larson had to end his Chilly Bowl attempt early after heat race crashes ruined his schedule.
But the 2021 NASCAR Cup champion succeeded in the final race of the six-race event in New Mexico. Unfortunately, he also pi--ed off a Dirt regular at Vado with his aggressive racing during a heat race on Friday at Vado. Tyler Stevens was racing Larson for P6, and the duo collided on turn three on the final lap.
Both drivers had already secured a spot in the main event. Hence, Stevens believes Larson’s move was unnecessary. He was also offended by the fact that Larson didn’t even apologize for the incident and moved on with his backup car. Stevens’ attempt to race was halted because he didn’t have a backup car like the NASCAR champion.
…He destroys me and tears his car up, too. It doesn’t make any sense from a racer’s standpoint why he would do that. I wish he had the decency to come over here and say, ‘Hey, man, sorry. I didn’t mean to get into you.’ But he won’t. I used to have an amazing amount of respect for him. And I respect what he does in a race car, 100 percent. But driving like that, in those situations, there’s no need for it. Stevens told Floracing.
Kyle Larson cost the World of Outlaws champion $100K
The 2021 NASCAR Cup champions win at the Wild West Shootout final race was costly for the current World of Outlaws champion Booby Pierce. He had won three races already in the mini-championship and was fighting for the third win.
If he could win the race, he could have won a massive bonus of $100K. This would have earned him over $159,000 in prize money. But after Larson won the event after taking the lead from Pierce, just six laps left in the racing, taking advantage of a tire failure.
The win will give Larson much important momentum to start fighting for victories from the start with a maiden Daytona 500 win. He will be hoping to produce a season like in 2023 again without the disappointment at the end where he lost the title to Ryan Blaney.
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