Massive Kyle Larson Heartbreak at Pocono After Last-Lap Disaster: NASCAR Throwback

Lady luck has not been on Kyle Larson’s side as the Hendrick Motorsports driver returns to Pocono Raceway this season. The #5 Chevrolet Camaro driver’s past few visits at the 2.5-mile-long track have seen him come close to winning at ‘The Tricky Triangle’. However, the 2021 Cup Series champion has fallen short of victory lane on multiple occasions.

While getting run out of the road by Denny Hamlin during last year’s event at the Long Pond, Pennsylvania facility was seen as hard but fair racing by the HMS driver, Larson’s 2021 heartbreak was nothing of the same sort. The Elk Grove, California native was seen leading the race on the final lap when he suffered a front left tire failure.

NASCAR was seen running the sixth-generation Cup Series car at the time, with Larson on his way to an almost certain victory. However, the flat tire caused him to careen into the wall, with teammate Alex Bowman taking over the lead of the race and winning on the final lap.

He reacted to his fate at the time in a post-race interview, “Disbelief still. I don’t know, just a bit laughable just because I can’t believe it still. Hate that we didn’t get another win. Would have been cool to get five in a row.”

The heartbreaking incident brought an end to Larson’s four-race win streak during his championship year, a season where he also won a startling 10 races throughout the 2021 Cup Series calendar.

Kyle Larson’s crew chief previews this Sunday’s Cup Series race to Pocono

Cliff Daniels, the acting crew chief for the #5 crew at Rick Hendrick’s racing outfit recently spoke about how strategy comes into play at Pocono Raceway. The flat 2.5-mile-long track consists of a unique layout with three contrasting corners. This often helps the track behave like a road course in terms of strategy where track position is key to winning races.

Daniels elaborated on the same while also touching on how the #5 crew’s setups at the track have been proficient and told Speedway Media, “We had a good baseline setup at Pocono last year and we’re going to try to build on a little bit of momentum we had there. The fun part about a Pocono race is that strategy always comes into play, even if you have issues like we did with the spin last year.”

He added, “You can create opportunities to be different to catch cautions and, if things work out, to get you back up front. We’ll need to be aware of the different strategies and make sure we make the right decisions at the right time.”

The NASCAR Cup Series goes live from Pocono Raceway this Sunday at 2:30 pm ET for The Great American Getaway 400.