Larson's day at Bristol Dirt ends early in final stage
TRACK: Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt
LENGTH: 0.533-mile oval
DATE: Apr. 9, 2023
STARTED: 1st
FINISHED: 35th
STANDINGS: 4th (-39 points)
After rain washed out Friday’s lone practice session, Kyle Larson won his heat in Saturday’s qualifying races and earned the most passing points to claim the pole for Sunday’s annual race on dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway.
At the drop of the initial green flag, the 30-year-old driver took the outside before a caution quickly occurred on lap 11. Larson reported improved tire grip from the day prior and chose to save fuel under the yellow flag. On lap 22, Larson led the field back to green from the outside. The Elk Grove, California, native held the first position until another caution on lap 38. Following the yellow flag, Larson chose to restart from the outside of the front row again. Despite a third caution on lap 58, the HendrickCars.com driver maintained the first position, going on to win stage one, earning stage points and a playoff point.
At the stage break, Larson came down pit road for a non-competitive pit stop taking four tires, fuel and adjustments. On lap 76, Larson restarted from the inside of the second row with those in front of him electing not to pit during the break. With a string of quick cautions, the HendrickCars.com driver maintained a top-10 position through the restarts until another caution took place on lap 103. Larson stayed out and chose eighth. He took the outside for the green flag with 39 laps to go in the stage. Following the restart, Larson re-entered the top-five with a successful slide job, taking the third scoring position. On lap 126, the eighth caution of the day occurred. Larson reported greater ease taking-off on restarts. During the lap 132 restart, he chose fourth to take the outside lane with 19 to go in the stage. Still running within the top five, at the completion of lap 150, the 2014 NASCAR Cup Series rookie of the year finished stage two in the third position.
During the stage break, Larson came to the attention of his pit crew for fuel and opted not to change tires for the third stage. Following the stage-three restart, Larson settled into the 11th position on lap 152. Just two laps later, the No. 5 driver spun coming out of turn four, bringing out the 10th caution of the day. He pitted under yellow for a damage assessment from his team, but they made no adjustments before returning to the track. With the unscheduled pit stop, Larson started from the back of the pack with 89 laps to go. Following the lap 162 restart, Larson raced his way forward to the 25th position within 10 laps. However, on lap 175, Larson was pushed into the turn one wall, which brought out a caution. The on-track incident caused enough damage to Larson’s Chevy to take him out of the race and resulted in the No. 5 HendrickCars.com team being scored with a 35th-place finish.
QUOTING KYLE LARSON:
“I’m guessing he (No. 41) was paying me back for whatever I did earlier. He ran me straight into the fence and my car was broke and we crashed. It sucks, but I should just be mad at myself for spinning out earlier and putting myself back there. Just sucks.”
NEXT RACE:
Short-track racing continues as Larson and the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet head to Martinsville Speedway next Sunday, April 16. The 500-lap race on the 0.526-mile oval will be broadcast live at 3 p.m. ET on FS1.
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