Kyle Larson can’t catch a break in 2019.
The five-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series winner has only had two top 10s so far this season and seems to have something go wrong nearly every week.
On Saturday night (April 13) at Richmond Raceway, Larson crashed out with a flat tire on lap 126 and finished in 37th — dead last.
“Yeah, just having a blast this year. Lot of fun,” Larson told his team after the wreck.
Larson’s night went sour several laps earlier when Daniel Hemric dove underneath of him and made contact with the No. 42’s left rear tire. This created a tire rub, and the situation didn’t get any better when Larson came down on Aric Almirola a few laps later.
Larson made an unschedule pit stop under green flag conditions, but only a few laps after going back out, the No. 42 was in the wall with another flat tire.
“I don’t know who I got into, but I got some [left] rear damage. I guess we didn’t do a good enough job pulling the fenders out,” Larson told FOX. “I still had a tire rub when I went back out.
The result marks Larson’s third consecutive finish off of the lead lap.
“We’ve had a pretty crappy start to the year,” Larson said. “We’ve had decent speed. We didn’t have speed tonight, but on the night’s we’ve had speed, we’ve run into issues.”
Fortunately for Larson, the Cup Series has an off week before going to Talladega Superspeedway.
“Hopefully, this break came at a great time,” Larson said. “We can regroup and try to be better with some better luck.”
About the author
Michael Massie is a writer for Frontstretch. Massie, a Richmond, Va. native, has been a NASCAR superfan since childhood, when he frequented races at Richmond International Raceway. Massie is a lover of short track racing and travels around to the ones in his region. Outside of motorsports, the Virginia Tech grad can be seen cheering on his beloved Hokies.
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