Why Did Kyle Larson Say ‘I Hate Joey Logano’ During Atlanta Race?

Hot mics can make things interesting, especially in the middle of a heated race.

Kyle Larson was looking for the lead late in the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 on Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, but found himself held up behind Joey Logano.

That allowed Ryan Blaney to sneak up and pass Larson with inches to spare, and eventually take the lead.

Naturally, Larson wasn’t happy. And he let out his true feelings over his radio.

“I hate Joey Logano, man,” he said.

Blaney ultimately won while Larson placed second. The latter seemed a bit flustered by the final few laps during his postrace interview with FOX.

“I just think he (Blaney) got a lot better there that last stage and it kind of change up my flow of the race a little bit,” Larson said. “You know, I could get out to such a big lead and then I can take care of my stuff and run the bottom where it was maybe slower, but I could take care of my tires. He was fast there and I just wanted to maintain that gap that I had, so I had to run on the faster part of the race track and just use my stuff up. And then he was just a lot better than me there late in the run.

“Hate to lead a lot of laps and lose, but really good car we brought to the track. Our Chevy was stupid fast there for a long time. I don’t really know (what happened). I don’t know if we got that much worse or he just got way better and it just kind of changed up the flow of my race.”

There’s always next time.