CONCORD, N.C.–Kyle Larson’s road to the Round of 8 became increasingly difficult after a practice wreck during practice on Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Larson lost control of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet entering Turn 8. When he overcorrected, the car snapped loose and Larson “plugged the right front into the wall.”
Hendrick Motorsports was forced to prepare the backup car, and Larson will roll off 36th in the Bank of America ROVAL 400.
“I think it’s still OK to be pissed off at yourself,” Larson said. “It’ll weigh on you for a little while. But once it comes time to strap in, you obviously have to wipe your mind clean and then just try not to make anymore mistakes, really, the rest of the weekend. That’s the goal.”
Larson is currently seventh in the standings, 15 points above the current cut line for the Round of 8. But this season has been a study in inconsistency. Larson was sidelined in six of the first 19 races due to DNFs whether of his own making or not.
With 10 top fives—including two wins—in the regular season, Larson has been solidly positioned in the top 10 for the majority of 2023. The No. 5 team’s performance in the first round of the Playoffs—with a win in the Southern 500, fourth-place at Kansas and a second-place result at Bristol Motor Speedway—easily established Larson as a Championship 4 contender.
Entering the Round of 12, Larson seemed destined to continue his postseason charge at Texas Motor Speedway. Not only had he led the most laps but Larson established a four-second lead on the field before Martin Truex Jr. wrecked with 25 laps remaining in the race.
On the penultimate restart, Bubba Wallace pinned Larson on the low line entering Turn1. Larson, who had been leading, spun around and into the wall with 19 lap to go. The team was eliminated under the damage vehicle policy (DVP) and Larson finished 31st.
Larson survived last weekend’s relatively calm Talladega contest with a 15th-place result—his best finish at superspeedway in 2023. He enters this weekend’s race at the ROVAL needing 40 points to clinch a position in the Round of 8 as long as one of the drivers ahead of him in the standings wins or a non-Playoff driver takes the checkered flag.
Certainly, coming from the rear will present a challenge for Larson.
“It makes it a little bit more straightforward,” Larson said. “I think it’ll be really hard to pass. So we’ll not be able to get stage points. At least we’ll hopefully try to inch our way forward and be towards the front come Stage 3 to get a good points day that way.
“But you never know. There could be some cautions that happen in the middle of a stage that could shake things up and you may be able to still get stage points, but just don’t really know until the race plays out.”
While Larson appeared more upset with himself than writhe from the pressure, he clearly wasn’t pleased to hang this dilemma on crew chief Cliff Daniels or the rest of his team. Being this close to the bubble, the team didn’t need additional hurdles heading into the race.
“Well, we haven’t been in this position yet—at least in the NextGen era,” Larson said. “I don’t know if in 2021, if we ever crashed in practice. But (Daniels is) an extremely good leader. It’s nice that you’re at home. You can go to the shop and get things prepared a little bit better than you probably can at the race track, I’m assuming.
“So that’s good, I guess if you have to go to a backup car. But it still sucks. It’s a Saturday at home. I wish they could get to spend that day and night with their families. But they’re working.”
Despite Larson’s misfortune on Saturday, he has shown his resilience in the past. In 2021, Larson came from 10th to win at the ROVAL then scored victories in three of the next four races—including the season finale at Phoenix to win the championship.
“We’ve overcome a lot, this year alone,” Larson said. “So just add something else to overcome. I know that we have a team capable of getting through and advancing, so that’s good. Obviously, you just never want to put yourself or your team in a tough situation.
“But when you are, you just got to dig down and execute the rest of the way like you should.”
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer or email her at: [email protected].
