The NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs race at Atlanta Motor Speedway took a dramatic turn when Chase Briscoe and Kyle Larson collided just before the finish of Stage 1.
Kyle Larson collided with a wall while driving the #5 Chevy Camaro. His car returned into the track, and with vision severely limited owing to smoke and chaos, Chase Briscoe in the #14 crashed with Larson’s rear end.
Briscoe later shared the frightening story with the media, explaining: “I’m relieved my ankles did not get messed up.
The brake pedal and everything went through the floorboard, so I’m glad I’m okay,” he said, as quoted by Jeff Gluck of The Athletic.
“If anything, I was getting tighter and tighter. Yeah, it just caught me way off guard. I was never once, even in that same corner, like loose. It just started stepping out and I overcorrected and yeah, just overcorrected.”
Both Briscoe and Larson were strong competitors, running in the top-10 at the time of the crash. For Briscoe, the crash could not have come at a worse time. Being on the brink of needing critical points to advance in the next stage of the playoffs, this setback means his path to the Round of 12 now primarily hinges on winning at upcoming races at Watkins Glen and Bristol.
Meanwhile, Larson, who entered the race with more playoff points than any other driver, saw his position take a significant hit. The collision slashed his comfortable buffer, leaving him just 12 points above the playoff cutline.
Historically, Atlanta Motor Speedway has been renowned for its unpredictability and challenging conditions, often leading to multi-car incidents.
The focus will now shit to how Briscoe and Larson will recover from this setback.
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