Strong run at Homestead-Miami cut short by late-race pit road incident for Larson, HendrickCars.com team
TRACK: Homestead-Miami Speedway
LENGTH: 1.5-mile
DATE: Oct. 22, 2023
STARTED: 5th
FINISHED: 34th
STANDINGS: 2nd
Kyle Larson was looking to go back-to-back with wins after securing a fifth-place starting position for Sunday’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Following the green flag for the 400-mile race, the 31-year-old raced mainly within the top five. Running in the third position with 30 laps complete, Larson reported that his Chevy was tight running against the wall. Three laps later, crew chief Cliff Daniels called Larson down pit road for a green-flag pit stop, receiving fuel and four tires with air pressure adjustments. Following the completion of the pit cycle with 38 laps remaining in the stage, Larson was ranked second. He spent the next 12 laps slowly closing the gap between him and the leader, taking the lead with 27 laps to go in the stage. Running up top, mere inches from the wall, Larson continued to advance further ahead of the field in his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet ZL1. With a 2.5-second lead and four laps to go in the stage, a caution occurred resulting in the stage ending under yellow and Larson victorious in stage one.
During the stage break, the Elk Grove, California, native visited pit road for four tires, fuel and adjustments. A fast stop from his team allowed Larson to defend the lead. The No. 5 driver led the field back to green for the start of stage two. Just 13 laps into the stage, Daniels came on the radio to assure Larson that his marks in turns three and four were good and encouraged him to keep it up. On lap 110, Larson reported that he was still tight by the wall. Seven laps later with a 2.4-second lead, Larson started the green-flag pit cycle coming to the attention of his team for four tires, fuel and adjustments. Slightly over halfway through stage two, the green-flag pit cycle finished and Larson cycled back to the lead. Over the next 15 laps, Larson acquired a five-second lead over the runner-up competitor. He started to face heavy traffic and wore his tires out maneuvering around competitors. With only three laps to go in the stage, Larson lost the lead, and at the completion of stage two was scored in the third position.
Before the start of the final stage, Larson pitted for fuel and four tires with air pressure adjustments. He chose fifth, taking the outside for the final restart with 94 laps to go. With a fresh set of tires, the HendrickCars.com driver slowly started to advance back through the field. Just 21 laps after the restart, Larson passed the second-place competitor in turn 4 Just before lap 200, Daniels could see that Larson’s Chevy was tight again. With 55 laps to go in the race, Larson was making his way to pit road with the leader for his green-flag pit stop. As he entered pit road, Larson had to check up to avoid the leader, ultimately causing himself to make contact with the pit road barrels. The No. 5 driver was able to make it to his pit stall for four tires and fuel but a caution occurred for debris. Under the yellow, Larson pitted again so his HendrickCars.com crew could repair his Chevy. Ultimately, the damage was too sever and ended his race. The No. 5 team was scored with a 34th-place finish at the end of Sunday’s event.
QUOTING KYLE LARSON:
“I was just trying to push it as much as I could. He (Ryan Blaney) had a great car and I felt like if he was to come off pit road the leader, he was going to end up winning the race or beating me. I was just trying to maximize my pit in, and honestly I felt like I was doing a really good job. I just didn’t anticipate him slowing down as much as he did. But on the replay, it looks like I just missed it by a lot. I need to look at data. I knew where the yellow line was and thought I was going to be under control getting there, and then yeah, he just slowed down – I locked the brakes up, slid to the right and clipped him and the barrels.
“I’m pretty upset at myself, more than anything. Whether he got to pit road speed sooner than the yellow line or not, I could have just done a little bit better job judging it. I hope they are able to recover. I hope he can get a good finish or get a win and get the finish that he deserves. Just a bummer, but we had a great No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevy today.”
NEXT RACE:
Larson and the No. 5 HendrickCars.com team will head to south Virginia for the final race in the Round of 8 on Sunday, Oct. 29. The 500-lap short-track race from Martinsville Speedway goes green at 2 p.m. and will be televised live on NBC.
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