Polesitter Kyle Larson seemed poised Sunday to take the win on the Chicago Street Course.
Until he wasn’t.
Larson was fifth at the end of Stage 1. And like everyone else was forced to wait out a rain delay.
After the delay just after the restart for Stage 2, Larson, perennial road course favorite, saw his hopes for a win and his day come to an end. On lap 34 while pestering Ty Gibbs for second place, Larson charged towards Turn 6. After nearly getting into the back of Gibbs Larson’s brakes locked up and his Chevy shot nose first into the tire barriers. He tried to reverse out and make it back to the pits, but with heavy damage to the No. 5 and no steering was forced to park.
“As soon as I hit the brakes, it was not slowing down,” Larson said. “I was just going to try and end up wherever I ended up. But yeah, it smashed the car up pretty good. It’s just unfortunate.. I’m bummed. It just caught me off guard. You push the brake zones a little bit more each lap as you’re getting more comfortable, but it just surprised me.”
Turn 6 a left hander seemed to be cursed for several drivers including last year’s winner Shane van Gisbergen who also won Saturday’s Xfinity race. He had crashed in the same corner earlier in the race.
“Yeah, I mean it’s a tricky corner,” Larson said. “It’s fast to a heavy brake zone. But yeah, I could have just been more cautious probably.”
Larson’s crash robbed him and his Hendrick crew of a chance to get his car better and maybe, eventually, contend for the win.
“Before the rain, I was lacking a little bit of lateral grip, but I feel like we would have gotten it better,” Larson said.
Because of the rain NASCAR had set a time limit on Sunday’s race due to darkness, that seemed to increase a sense of urgency. Larson admitted that could have been a factor in his crash.
“Maybe slightly, but yeah, I don’t know… maybe that bit me” Larson said. “I’m not really sure. We were all just getting more comfortable each lap. As soon as I went to the brakes, it was just locked-up.”
Larson said that prior to the crash the damp slick track wasn’t an issue.
“No, not at all,” he said. “Typically, I feel like in the rain whenever I’ve run in wet conditions, we’re always really slow in braking. It always stops better than you think. So yeah, that time, I probably pushed it just barely further, and as soon as I hit the brakes, I knew I was in trouble.”
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.