Unlike last year, when Kyle Larson opened the season with finishes inside the top 20 and the top three at Daytona and Atlanta, he has hit a bump in the road to start the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season as the defending champion. After two races, he sits 21st in the points standings following a P16 finish at Daytona and a crash at Atlanta, now known as EchoPark Speedway.
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Larson entered the year as the defending champion but has yet to string strong races together in the opening stretch. During the Autotrader 400 at EchoPark Speedway, Larson was involved in a collision with Shane van Gisbergen while battling near the front for a stage finish. Larson took the brunt of the contact, which ended his run and sent him sliding down the order.
Still, Larson is not losing sleep over it, even while knowing that stacking finishes will count in the long run. He said, “There’s still 20 (24) races or whatever left, so yeah, obviously you don’t want to compound it, but everybody wants to make a big deal out about points and stuff, points racing, points racing, but it’s still so early. To me, I don’t really think it changes a lot.”
On the race itself, he wished he could have that Stage 2 call back. Larson was running third when he ducked low into the lane of SVG’s No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevy. The touch at the Turn 4 exit sent Larson around and into the outside wall on the frontstretch, leaving the car torn up.
“Yeah, I just screwed up. I knew the #45 was inside of me at a point in the corner and got clear of him. I didn’t quite realize that the #97 had gotten inside of him,” the Hendrick Motorsports driver said.
“So, once I was clear, I just wanted to cut distance and shortcut my way to the finish of the stage. And the #97 was out of my mirror, and I just hung a quick left and ran right into him. So, nothing anybody else did wrong besides me, so just all on me, and (I) hate it.”
He sounded frustrated by how it slipped away, as Larson felt he had a genuine shot at taking the checkered flag. He said the sting came from knowing it was self-inflicted.
On tracks like these, he often gets caught in someone else’s mess, but this time, he put his hand up, adding, “That was completely my fault. So that’s what’s embarrassing and frustrating, and I just glad nobody else I don think got taken out in it too.”
Hear from @KyleLarsonRacin after a wreck with Shane van Gisbergen ended his day.
Presenting Partner: @MyPlaceHotels pic.twitter.com/RXSY60dMhc
— Frontstretch (@Frontstretch) February 22, 2026
Even so, Larson pointed out that the car had pace and that he felt comfortable in the groove until that moment. He said he would rather have brought it home with a finish worth remembering than pack up with a DNF and a 32nd-place result.
Larson knows he got it wrong, but he believes the team is inching forward each time they race on drafting tracks, especially at Atlanta. For all the moments the race provided, he left wishing he was still in the fight as the laps wound down.
