‘It happened, and I hate that it did,’ Kyle Larson on wining Fontana after pinching teammate Chase Elliot to the wall
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Kyle Larson and Chase Elliot
Defending NASCAR Cup Series Kyle Larson won his first race in the 2022 season in Fontana Auto Club Speedway toping the chaotic Wise Power 400 which saw 12 cautions coming out for various instances. Kyle Larson was able to hold off Austin Dillon and Eric Jones in the last two laps after he took back the lead from Daniel Suarez.
Kyle Larson’s win wasn’t a clean run, it was far from it as the defending champion pinched his teammate Chase Elliot to the wall after he tried to advance from outside. The move from Kyle Larson was enough to keep his Hendricks Motorsports teammate out of contention for the top spot.
Chase Elliott who later appeared to swerve at Kyle Larson’s car while being passed and then spun out to cause a caution eight laps from the finish when Kyle Larson was the leader. He went on to finish in 26th place.
Find out what Kyle Larson said
Kyle Larson defended his move on Chase Elliot saying he had no idea it was his teammate who was advancing from outside and added that he hated what had happened. He went on to say that he hopes they can resolve any potential discomforts they have among them after the incident and added that he would never do that to a teammate knowingly.
“I had a run, so I went to peel off, and as soon as I peeled off, my spotter is yelling, “Outside! Outside! Outside!” And I had no clue he was even coming,” Kyle Larson said.
“It happened, and I hate that it did. I know they’re upset. But we’ll talk, and hopefully, we’ll get on the same page. I would never run into my teammate or block him that aggressively and that late on purpose,” Kyle Larson added.
Kyle Larson went on to say he is not worried about the incident invoking troubles among them in the future as he sees it has a small bump. He cautions that if instances like this happen in the future things can go south but added that his team Hendrick Motorsports. Kyle Larson added that they respect each other enough to avoid such confrontation in the future.
“I’m not too worried about it. I think if anything it’s probably a small bump in the road. I think if things happen more so in the future, then yes, it gets out of hand. But Hendrick Motorsports I don’t think will ever let it get to that point, and as I said, we have enough respect for each other that I don’t think it will get out of hand at all,” Kyle Larson said.
Kyle Larson and Co will hit the Las Vegas Motor Speedway as the west coast swing continues with Pennzoil 400.
Also read: ‘The whole run was crazy,’ Reigning Cup Series champion Kyle Larson wins the chaotic Wise Power 400
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Justin P Joy
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