With just a 15-point advantage over the elimination cutline, Kyle Larson will begin the NASCAR Cup Series race on Sunday at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL with a significant disadvantage in starting at the rear of the field.
That’s because Larson crashed pretty significantly in practice on Saturday, and the damage will force him to miss qualifying and necessitate starting at the back. The crash will even force him to go to a backup car.
The incident transpired coming off the infield road course portion and back onto oval Turn 1. Larson appeared to have gotten loose on the transition back onto the oval and then overcorrected into the wall. That’s exactly what he says happened.
“I got loose into (Turn) 8 and over-corrected, got my right front into the wall,” Larson said. “It kind of gets bouncy over there and I just stepped out.”
So what now?
“I don’t think we can go for stage points from 37th,” Larson said. “The silver lining is that maybe we can opt for track position to be up front at the end of the race. When you go for stage points, you end up like 26th and it’s hard to pass, so that’s one positive we can try to make out of it.”
Larson says his strategy is more straightforward now.
“I think it will be harder to pass and get stage points but hopefully we can find a way to the front by the end and have a good points day that way,” Larson said. “I mean, you never know. There could be a lot of cautions in the middle of the stage and maybe we can still get stage points.”
Larson got out of the car and was immediately met by Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon. They didn’t say much and just watched as crew chief Cliff Daniels and their team started to diagnose their No. 5.
“It’s only been 30 minutes since then so I think it’s okay to be pissed off at myself,” Larson said. “Come tomorrow, I hope we’ll be fine and I’ll try to forget it before the race.”
Is it okay to be pissed at yourself?
“I mean, we weren’t the fastest so I was trying to gain more, you always push to get better and I made a mistake.”
Larson says he has faith in Daniels to get the team where it needs to be before Sunday’s race.
“We haven’t been in this position, at least in the NextGen era, but he’s an extremely good leader,” Larson said. “It’s nice that we’re home and it’s easier to be prepared and can go back to the shop and get parts if you need it. It still sucks. It’s a Saturday night at home, but instead, they’re going to be at the track and working.”
The backup car the No. 5 team will now using on Sunday at the Charlotte ROVAL was already set up to be their backup car for next weekend at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. That means the long night away from their families will be an exceptionally late one as they work to turn a car around from an intermediate setup to road course spec.
The team will complete these repairs at their ship, which is located directly behind Charlotte Motor Speedway.
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Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.