‘The day would have been a lot easier if I didn’t hit the wall yesterday,’ Kyle Larson blames himself for Coco-Cola disappointment


‘The day would have been a lot easier if I didn’t hit the wall yesterday,’ Kyle Larson blames himself for Coco-Cola disappointment

Kyle Larson

Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin secured his second win of the 2022 season driving his No:11 Toyota Camry to the finish line first ahead of teammate Kyle Busch after surviving the chaotic race in double overtime. The No:11 survived more than 5 hours and 96 cautions in the 400 lap race as half of the grid even failed to finish the race due to crashes and spins.

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Kyle Larson, who went into Charlotte as the defending champion had to start all the way behind the grid due to unregulated modifications to his No:5 Hendrick Motorsports car and found his way into the top 10 and led 56 laps, more than three times more than the winner Denny Hamlin, but failed to make it to the end after Austin Dillon spun in front of him causing the champs ca to do the same advance at the end and finished the race P9 at the chequered flag.

Now the reigning Cup Champion has come forth addressing his run at the 1.5-mile oval and explained how his mistakes from him in the qualifiers cost the team a well-deserved finish at the end after getting over a struggling first quarter of racing.

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Kyle Larson on how his qualifying day crash affected the No:5 team final outcome on Sunday

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Kyle Larson’s No.5 Chevy Camaro ZL1 at the Memorial Day Weekend in Charlotte

Kyle Larson acknowledged that he is proud of his Hendrick team as they were able to get him back to the race since the qualifying as he made several mistakes which saw him getting into the wall putting the team overall in a bad spot. He went o to say his pit stall was terrible having to come around 19 and 10 coming around him and pointed out that if not for the crash on Saturday he would have secured a higher finish.

“Proud of my Hendrick team, even going back to yesterday, me making a mistake, getting into a wall, put us in a bad spot all night. Our pit stall was terrible having to come around the 19, the 10 coming around me. The day would have been a lot easier if I didn’t hit the wall yesterday,” Kyle Larson said.

Also read: ‘I was having fun…It’s just unfortunate,’ Austin Cindric on crashing out early in the Coco-Cola 600 debut  

Kyle Larson on his Coco-Cola 600 outing

Kyle Larson
Austin Dillon and Kyle Larson

Kyle Larson acknowledged that the first half of racing was a struggle for all HMS teams and he was more frustrated than any others.  He went on to say his team made some valuable efforts in getting him to a winning position in the end which is something he is happy about. Kyle Larson added that he wishes he could have been a little bit better so that Chae Briscoe didn’t overtake him in the long run which ultimately resulted in a spin.  

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The first half was a struggle for all of us. I was especially frustrated with myself. To rebound from that and have a shot to win there late was something to be proud of. Our team fought really hard. Happy with that. Briscoe was really good, that long run there. Wish we would have just been a little bit better so he never would have got to me, ultimately spin,” Kyle Larson said.

Kyle Larson accredited that the final spin he had due to the No:3 car of Austin Dillion spinning ahead of him ended his night saying, “The 3 almost had me clear. Just made contact there. There was a big wreck. Kind of the end of my night there,”.

Also read: ‘It’s a big one,’ Denny Hamlin on winning the iconic Coco-Cola 600 in double overtime at Charlotte

Also read: “I think you need to be really brave at this point to do that,” Chase Elliott voices his opinion on splitting the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 stages into half

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