Last weekend’s race at Gateway featured several incidents, including Christopher Bell’s engine failure and Ryan Blaney’s shocking lack of fuel with one lap to go.
Aside from the technical failures, it was Kyle’s battle that garnered a lot of attention. Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch were locked in a fierce battle after the final lap of Stage 2.
At this point, Busch was running in the top seven, while Larson was trying to pass the #8 RCR car to improve his track position. However, both drivers were unable to stay calm and made contact, causing an accident.
Larson survived the accident unscathed, while Busch recorded his first retirement of the season.
Even watching replays, it’s hard to pinpoint either driver definitively, but Kyle Larson acknowledged he was partially at fault in the accident and seems hopeful Busch will bear no grudges this weekend.
Frustration got the better of the two drivers at Gateway Park
Kyle Busch’s No. 8 car was a top-10 finish at best. This became evident during the race.
He was unable to hold off drivers like Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski, who passed him throughout the race. However, it was made worse by his stubborn refusal to pass Larson, who had a better race car than him.
However, Larson took responsibility for the accident after investigating it himself.
During this weekend’s pre-race press conference at Sonoma Raceway, the HMS star explained: “You look at that and you can see that he wasn’t excited if I hadn’t touched his side panel a little bit to get into the crosswind and then I would have caught him on the straight and pushed him into first place.” I didn’t go to 1 to race him and have a comparison match.
I was just trying to get into the corner.” But this whole thing could have been avoided. Larson was too aggressive in overtaking on the final lap of the stage, while Busch didn’t score any points despite defending his position on the track.
Larson also acknowledged that the whole situation could have been handled better if he hadn’t followed the rules. “If I hadn’t touched his quarter, we would have been able to get through 1. So I consider it my fault. I know I spun, but I don’t think it’s all my fault.”
Meanwhile, Larson himself had a cloud of uncertainty hanging over his head after missing the points race at Charlotte.
He had to go through a difficult waiver process and didn’t even know he was playoff eligible during last weekend’s race.
But now that the verdict has been handed down, he feels relieved.
Larson wasn’t too bothered about his waiver situation
Hendrick Motorsports and Kyle Larson found themselves in a difficult position of having to choose between the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600.
But after all the planning and preparation for his Indycar debut, and of course the rain delay, they made the difficult decision to stay at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
This had an impact as NASCAR systematically tried to justify Larson’s release. And as they took their time, an already tense situation became even more complicated.
Although he has yet to receive an official waiver from NASCAR, Larson feels some of the pressure has been released.
“And hopefully after that,” Larson said ahead of the qualifying round at Sonoma, “I hope I don’t have to talk about waivers in this press conference.”
Larson is trying to downplay his waiver situation, but the fact is that it cost him some crucial points in the playoffs and, more importantly, his lead in the points standings.
