After dominating the majority of the Xfinity race at Sonoma, Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson faced an unexpected setback. The 2021 Cup Series champion was in a commanding lead for most of the race, but on Lap 72 when he was running in second place behind Aric Almirola. he made a grave error while trying to overtake him and went wide. This made him lose yet another position to AJ Allmendinger, dropping him back to third place.
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Subsequent to the race’s conclusion, the California native shared his perspective with the media, expressing a poignant sense of disappointment. Emphasizing that this was a significant missed opportunity for him, considering he was on the verge of victory. He also reflected on the series of unfortunate events while qualifying for the Cup Series later.
Kyle Larson laments over Xfinity Series loss and expresses his frustration
Larson was quick to point out how he made a mistake while trying to gain a little bit more speed. Even though he could have comfortably worked his way around Almirola, he chose to attempt a risky maneuver and that did not pay off well for him.
Larson stated, “Yeah well, Daniel got such a good launch and got around whoever that was, it just choked up the left lane and had me kinda in the bad spot. Then I lost a spot to Aric and AJ. Then decided to work from there, but still had a great shot to win. I just got a little too greedy there. Trying to get low through 11, if you can get the right sides underneath the rumble strips it is worth a lot of speed and grip. Just got a little too greedy.”
Had he not made that mistake, he could have been in contention for the win. But as Larson found out the hard way, once you lose a place and fall down the order, it becomes really hard to overtake immediately, especially in the closing stages of the race.
Larson unhappy with Cup Series qualifiers
In case you thought Kyle Larson’s weekend could improve following his loss in the Xfinity Series, you’re in for a surprise. The Hendrick Motorsports driver’s run of bad luck continued through the day. The disappointment of relinquishing his near-certain win in the Xfinity Series was further compounded by an underwhelming performance in the Cup Series race qualifications, landing a distant 16th place.
Kyle Larson will start 16th in the Cup race after other drivers rallied in group qualifying to keep him from advancing to the final round. How he feels about his prospects at Sonoma: pic.twitter.com/OOsQJDnAgT
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) June 11, 2023
Larson told Pockrass, “Not a very fun day for me. Just a bad… from my end in both series… But my car felt really good… I just messed up the first run at it and in the second run I just drove a little too easy and didn’t find enough speed.”
Kyle Larson can only hope that his bad luck, or rather lack of judgment from Saturday does not carry into Sunday’s race.
