Kyle Larson’s ‘Mistakes’ Cost Him Top Finish At Watkins Glen International

What started out as a promising day for Kyle Larson and his No. 5 car at Watkins Glen International turned into a finish out of the Top 25.

The 2021 Cup Series champion was running in the top five for the first two stages of the 90-lap, 221-mile race until he made a mistake that undoubtedly cost him a Top 5 finish and possibly a win on the historic track.

“We had another really good car here,” Larson told Frontstretch.com after the race. “Then I just sped on pit road and killed the race from there so pretty upset with myself once again.”

The speeding penalty was handed down to the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet driver at the beginning of stage 3 which caused Larson to start at the back of the pack on lap 54.

After working his way through the pack, Larson found himself battling with Austin Dillon for a Top-20 finish.

The two cars took turns bumping each other in several turns, which led to the final lap spinout for both cars.

A closer look shows Dillon bumping Larson first in turn six and then Larson sliding into the door of Dillon’s No. 3 car.

“I honestly wasn’t trying to crash him in the last corner,” Larson said. “I was just trying to maintain leverage into the final corner there and got in hot and hit him and crash so yeah, just a frustrating result to what was going to be a good day.”

Dillon did talk with Larson after the race in what appeared to be an animated conversation.

With two wins this season, Larson has already qualified for the postseason, while Dillon, trailing by 492 in the points race, will most likely not make the 10-race playoffs, unless he can win the final regular season at Daytona on Saturday night.

Larson also has 12 Top 10 finishes and 10 in the top five. Mentally he needs to refocus on the track.

“I just gotta quit screwing up and making little mistakes that turn into big ones,” Larson said.