Kyle Larson earned his first checkered flag of the season Sunday during the Wise Power 400 at Auto Club Speedway, but was left to defend himself for a run-in with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott.
Larson sent Elliott into the wall with less than 20 laps remaining, and Elliott was not thrilled following the incident. Larson, the driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro, explained how he never saw the No. 9 on the outside due to his focus on Joey Logano, who was on the inside of the three-car battle.
“I didn’t get to three and four very well, Joey did a good job on the bottom and then we were side-drafting each other and I’m not even looking at my mirror at that point because all I’m worried about is Joey. And I’m looking at my A-Post window and I had a run so I went to peel off and as soon as I peel off my spotter is yelling ‘Outside! Outside! Outside!’ I had no clue he (Elliott) was even coming,” Larson said, as shared by NASCAR reporter Bob Pockrass. “So yeah, I mean, I hate that I ended his day after they worked so hard to get back in contention to win.
“But it’s just an honest mistake on probably both of our faults. I should have had more awareness in my mirror, my spotter could have told me he was coming with a big run and we would have avoided that mess,” Larson continued. “I would have probably not been side-drafting on Joey as hard as I was. I would have been more so protecting on Chase than worrying about Joey. But it just happened and I hate it. I know that they’re upset, but we’ll talk and hopefully we’ll get on the same page. I would never go run into my teammate or block him that aggressively or that late on purpose.”
Larson explained how, given the respect they have for each other as drivers, competitors and teammates, he is hoping he and Elliott will be able to talk it out and move on from it.
Hendrick Motorsports general manager Jeff Andrews also shared how he did not think there was anything intentional by Larson.
