WATCH: Kyle Larson gets a flat tire at the Homestead Miami playoff race
Playoff contender Kyle Larson ran into trouble early in Sunday's Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the second race of the Round of 8. The 2021 Cup Series champion suffered a flat tire, shuffling him back in the field.
The driver of the #5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was running second when he suffered a flat tire on the 47th lap of Sunday's 267-lap event, bringing out the first caution of the day.
The California native took a moment to vent following the incident and took issue with the next-gen car for the flat tire. Jordan Bianchi, motorsports insider for The Athletic, took to X to share Larson's in-car audio. The driver said:
"These f***ing cars are stupid. How can you get a flat tire and be done ... or you get a flat tire and wear out a little bit of your diffuser and your race is killed. Stupid," Kyle Larson said.
Larson got mired back in traffic and finished 25th in stage one. However, he worked his way to 15th by the end of stage two. In stage three, Larson cracked the top five for the first time since the early flat tire and was in the mix with the likes of Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, and Hendrick teammate Chase Elliott battling for the lead.
Larson seeks his seventh win of the 2024 campaign and his second win at Homestead-Miami Speedway, with his last victory at the track coming in 2022. A win on Sunday would clinch Larson a spot in the Championship 4 race at Phoenix in two weeks.
Kyle Larson seeking his second Cup championship this season
Kyle Larson has reached the pinnacle of the sport once before and aims to do so again in 2024. The 32-year-old claimed his first championship in 2021, his first season driving for Hendrick Motorsports.
This year, Larson has six wins, which is twice as many as any other driver. He won the third race of the season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He followed that up weeks later with a win at Kansas Speedway, edging out Chris Buescher for the victory by 0.001s in what was the closest finish in NASCAR history. Larson won at the Sonoma Raceway in June for his third victory of the season and picked up his fourth win of the year at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July.
Kyle Larson has won a race in each of the first two rounds of the playoffs. He led over 400 laps at Bristol Motor Speedway en route to victory for his fifth win of the season. He then won three weeks later at the Charlotte Roval to close out the Round of 12. Along with the wins, Larson has recorded 13 top-five finishes.