Wrong place, wrong time for Larson at Home track in Atlanta
TRACK: Atlanta Motor Speedway
LENGTH: 1.54-mile oval
DATE: Mar. 19, 2023
STARTED: 9th
FINISHED: 31st
STANDINGS: 32nd (-134 points)
In our first Home race of the season and in his 300th NASCAR Cup Series start, Kyle Larson ran a solid race at Atlanta Motor Speedway but was collected in a late-race incident that resulted in a 31st-place finishing position.
Larson and the HendrickCars.com Chevrolet started ninth and moved to sixth over the first six laps. After the first caution of the race, he chose the inside lane for the lap 16 restart to be on the second row. Larson held the fourth position for several laps before he eventually got shuffled out to the back of the top 10 on lap 33. He worked the outside lane to move back up into the top six, but a move to the inside lane found no takers and he dropped outside the top 10. The 2021 champion finished stage one in 16th.
STORES: ATLANTA DEALERSHIPS
During the stage break, Larson brought the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevy to pit road for four tires and fuel. Tire carrier R.J. Barnette made a nice save to keep the team’s fuel can in the box as Larson was exiting pit road. Larson restarted stage two from 17th and worked in the back of the pack for a bit. Interim crew chief Kevin Meendering ran Larson long in the stage and the team was one of the last to pit. Stopping for fuel only, Larson cycled out to 14th, which was exactly where he finished the stage.
Under yellow for the stage break, Larson pitted for four tires and fuel. He restarted 18th in the final stage and wasted no time driving up. Off the restart, he picked up six spots and moved into the top 10 on lap 173. Working the inside lane, Larson was into the top five four laps later as he went three wide for position and then rode the bottom before sliding into line up top. He was able to avoid the lap 191 incident and was scored in third at the time of the caution.
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Meendering brought Larson down for two right-side tires and fuel, which allowed Larson to restart behind leader Aric Almirola on lap 200. Running second on lap 209, Almirola blew a tire right in front of Larson and came down the track right in front of Larson. The 30-year-old driver had nowhere to go and crashed, ending his day.
QUOTING KYLE LARSON:
"There was nowhere to go. Nobody had been having tire issues, so I wasn’t even expecting the No. 10 (Aric Almirola) to have a tire issue in front of me. Even if I did, I didn’t have time to react. It’s a bummer. Just frustrating… I was finally upfront on this style of race track and still ended up with a DNF. I don’t know, it’s just frustrating."
NEXT RACE:
Larson and the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet head to Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas for our second Home race of the season next Sunday, March 26. The road course race will be broadcast live at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
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