Unlike last year, when Kyle Larson opened the season with top-three finishes at Daytona and Atlanta, the defending champion has stuttered at the start of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season. After two races, he sits 21st in the points standings after a P16 at Daytona and a crash at the EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta.
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During the Autotrader 400 on Sunday, 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 standings.
However, the defending champ is not losing sleep over it, even though he knows that these poor finishes could come back to haunt him in the long run.
“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,” said Larson.
On his Atlanta outing, Larson wished he could have done that Stage 2 run differently. He 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 added.
Larson was frustrated by how it slipped away. He felt he had a genuine shot at taking the checkered flag, and the sting came from knowing it was self-inflicted.
On tracks like these, Larson often gets caught in someone else’s mess. But this time, he put his hand up, accepting his mistake.
“That was completely my fault. So that’s what’s embarrassing and frustrating, and I [am] just glad nobody else I don’t think got taken out in it too,” added Larson.
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
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 classification. Larson knows he got it wrong, but he believes the team is inching forward each time they race on drafting tracks.
