Kyle Larson Doesn’t Regret Homestead Move; Will Remain Aggressive

Despite a frustrating afternoon, which was derailed by a flat tire early in last Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Kyle Larson and his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team continued to claw their way back into contention throughout the 267-lap race. Miraculously, in the closing laps, Larson found himself in the runner-up position and he was chasing down Ryan Blaney for a potential Championship 4 berth-clinching win.

Then, with 13 laps to go, Larson, one of the most skilled drivers in the world but also one of the most aggressive, saw an opportunity. He decided to try to take it. As Blaney was attempting to navigate around the lapped car of Austin Dillon in Turn 3, Larson saw a hole between the two cars and decided to fire his car in there.The No. 5 car was visibly faster than both cars, but unfortunately, Larson ran out of space, collided with Blaney’s car and went spinning out in Turn 4.What looked to be a potential win, or at least a salvaged top-five after a rough day, ended with a disappointing 13th-place result. With the 13th-place run, and excellent performances by all of his competitors in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, Larson heads into this weekend’s Round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway seven points below the Playoff cutline.

In a media teleconference on Tuesday, Larson said that while it’s unfortunate he spun trying to make a move to win the race, that he’s simply proud of himself and his raceteam for being in that position with how rough their afternoon was at Homestead.

“I mean sure I’m bummed that I went for a gap, spun, and lost my shot to win. It’s happened to me a number of times in my career. But at the same point, I’m proud of myself, because I stayed mentally in it to that point to put myself in a position to win,” Larson explained. “I’m not sure if there’s many other drivers that could have done it. So, I’m happy that I was able to do that.”

Fans, media, and even Larson himself have looked back at the spin with 13 laps to go, and have questioned why the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion didn’t bide his time and wait a couple of laps for a less risky situation to try to pass Blaney for the lead.

But after giving the move much thought since Sunday, Larson still feels he made the right move simply because you just never know if you’re going to have another shot at passing the leader with the way the aerodynamics play out in the Next Gen car.Sure, I would have liked for that move to work, but I think it’s really easy to look back and fans, or even myself look back and say, ‘Well, you should have just waited, you should have waited a lap or two.’ Like, that sounds so easy, but these cars are so difficult to drive in traffic, and it’s really hard to get within five car lengths of somebody once you’re deep into a run, and all of that, and running near the wall,” Larson said.

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