Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch now find themselves outside of a NASCAR Cup Series playoff spot for two drastically different reasons after Sunday night at World Wide Technology Raceway.
The two former champions were involved in an incident on the final lap of the second stage, both racing inside of the top-10 when they started door slamming down the frontstretch, leading to the incident in Turn 1.
Busch broke a right rear toe link after slamming into the wall. Larson bounced off Busch and was able to drive to a top-10 finish. Busch finished 35th and fell from 14th in the championship standings to 17th in the standings and outside of a playoff spot.
“It looked like (Larson) got loose down the front straightaway into Turn 1,” Busch said upon being released from the infield care center. “He was on older tires and trying to get us for a spot. I’m not sure what that single point would mean for him, but it certainly hurt us a lot.
“It took that point away, as well as the others that we would get for the stage and then also the rest of the day. It’s very frustrating. We can’t afford days like that. The No. 8 Rebel Bourbon Camaro wasn’t what it was last year, but it was a top-10 car and we were going to finish there. Now we’re not going to finish at all.”
After the race, Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports got a hold of Larson, who said he didn’t expect that outcome.
“I was a little bit better than (Busch) … and side drafted him and barely touched his quarter panel,” Larson told Pockrass. “I don’t know. I’m guessing it ticked him off. He squeezed into me. I honestly thought I had a flat when I went into Turn 1 because it just turned around backwards, but I guess he just must have took the air off me. … I’m not sure what his side of it was. That was my side.”
“I think every point is important for everybody in the field. Even guys at the front of the field like myself, we’re trying to win the regular-season championship. Those 15 bonus (playoff) points go a long way, so yeah, every spot was important.
“I thought if I could just hang with him down the frontstretch, we could race through (Turns) 1 and 2 and maybe hang with him again down the backstretch and maybe clear his through (Turns) 3 and 4 because if I could hit my marks there, I was a little bit better than him. Just hard racing. I’ve got nothing bad to say about Kyle. We’ve always raced extremely well together. Nothing changes on my end.”
Larson, who is now second in the standings and having won twice this season, is also no longer in the playoffs because NASCAR has for the moment listed him as ineligible in the updated championship standings rundown.
Technically, he has earned 17 playoff points, second only to Denny Hamlin but is waiting for NASCAR to issue a decision on the playoff waiver request made as a result of Larson skipping the Coca-Cola 600 to race the rain delayed Indianapolis 500.
Hendrick Motorsports filed that waiver request last week but has yet to receive an official ruling from the sanctioning body.
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.