“Our day overall was good”: Kyle Larson reflects on his 5th-place finish in Michigan
Kyle Larson's fifth-place finish at Michigan International Speedway was the only silver lining for Hendrick Motorsports, who had yet another disastrous weekend after failing to crack the top 10 in Richmond.
Larson's #5 Chevrolet was the only HMS car that took the checkered flag as the other three drivers wrecked out of the race. Chase Elliott and William Byron were out by Stage 1 and Alex Bowman's #48 was damaged on Monday.
Kyle Larson was also involved in the crash that took out Bowman. The #5 Chevrolet driver believes his car was damaged after contact with Chase Briscoe's #14 Ford. Larson had to visit the pits to check for damage.
Here is the latest incident, which derailed the day for Alex Bowman, who was looking to work his way inside the Playoffs cutline: pic.twitter.com/arWJplR6yd
"Our day overall was good. For the majority of it I thought we were actually...the #19 was way good... I felt like we were top-3, top-5 guys, which we finished fifth but we had pit strategy work out for us to get to fifth," Larson told Frontstretch post-race.
"I think when the #14 hit me, we must've got some sort of damage because I was definitely a couple of tenths slower after that. It was harder for me to make runs and passes but my team did a good job with the fuel strategy," he added.
Despite the loss of pace, Larson managed to recover well with tape on the car's right front fender. With 60-odd laps left in the race, he rallied from 31st to fifth, credit to the team's fuel strategy, as mentioned by the driver.
Kyle Larson sympathizes with the rest of the Hendrick Motorsports drivers
While Kyle Larson took a top-five finish, two other Hendrick Motorsports drivers who were in desperate need of such a result couldn't even race till the checkered flag. A DNF at Michigan has put Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman in desperate need of a win to qualify for the playoffs.
Final results from Michigan. pic.twitter.com/7lAAk22hs9
Larson sympathized with his teammates, who had a tough day on the track. He reckoned that Bowman's #48 Chevy was quick enough for a good result but was unfortunately involved in a collision.
"Hate to see Alex [Bowman] get tore up, because he really had very fast car today. Same with my other teammates Chase [Elliott] having a right rear blowout.. so tough day for those guys puts them in a tough spot," Kyle Larson said post-race.
Bowman and Elliott are 44 and 55 points behind the cut-off mark, respectively, with three races left before the playoff season begins.
Hendrick Motorsports standout driver this season, William Byron also had a forgetful day at Michigan. His recent slump and DNF last weekend have left him a distant third in the regular season standings.
Joe Gibbs Racing duo Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin occupy the top two positions with the #24 driver 96 points behind the leader, despite having more wins.