NEWTON, Iowa — The fastest car doesn’t always win in the NASCAR Cup Series, and that was certainly the case for Kyle Larson on Sunday night (June 16).
Despite the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports car’s incredible speed in the Iowa Corn 350, allowing Larson to pass at will around Iowa Speedway, a crash late in the going thwarted his shot at a win. Instead, Larson finished 34th, 36 laps off the pace and left to ponder what might have been.
“Our car was extremely good, so that’s a bummer,” Larson said.
At the start of the final stage, Larson was climbing his way back up through the field after losing track position on pit road. He made it three-wide between Daniel Suarez and Brad Keselowski, looking to make the most of a green-flag restart.
Instead, it all went horribly wrong. Contact with Suarez sent Larson spinning into Denny Hamlin, heavily damaging both his No. 5 and Hamlin’s No. 11.
“I haven’t seen a replay yet, but I guess I could’ve just not gone to the middle and been more patient, knowing how fast my car was and who I was around,” Larson said. “I wanted to get as many cars as I could in the beginning of that little run, and yeah, probably just ended up biting me.”
Suarez noted that Keselowski and Larson were not where he was expecting them to be on corner exit due to both drivers pinching down.
“Honestly, during the race, I was so confused,” Suarez said. “Like I didn’t know exactly what happened. I didn’t know if I went up or he came down.
“I just saw the replay for the very first time, and I noticed that the No. 6 [Keselowski] … had like a quarter of a car [length] from the wall, because he was trying to pinch down the No. 5 [Larson]. And the No. 5, had another quarter of a car to the No. 6, trying to pinch me down. And I was expecting those two guys to be closer to the wall like everyone else.
“I’m the one that made contact with the No. 5, and I take responsibility for that, but I feel like they were lower than I was expecting.”
Larson thought the three drivers should’ve been able to make it through the corner without incident.
“I mean, we had room,” Larson said. “We made it until the exit of the corner. And then yeah, I’m not sure if Suarez got loose beneath me or what happened. But yeah, he just got into my left rear and kind of got me out of control.”
Following the wreck, Larson cleared the damaged vehicle policy but then pulled into the garage so that the crew could fix the car even more. He returned to the track after 36 laps had passed and finished the race.
The 34th-place result tied Larson’s worst finish of the season, with the other coming three races ago at Darlington Raceway. It’s also the second time in a row Larson has followed a win with a 34th.
The finish was not befitting of one of the few cars that could pass with ease. Larson carved his way through the field not just once but nearly a second time.
“Our car was extremely good, so I felt like I could go anywhere and pass people,” he explained.
Larson started the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa from the pole position and led 48 laps early before losing stage one to eventual winner Ryan Blaney. He took the lead to start stage two but pitted for an unscheduled stop when the caution was thrown six laps later. Fearing a tire issue, both driver and team figured they’d rather be safe than sorry with a car that built a 10-second lead the stage prior on every driver other than Blaney.
Restarting from the rear, Larson showed that strength all over again. Within eight laps, he was inside the top 20, carving his way through the field to take the lead once again and win stage two.
“Thankfully, our car was really good, to drive from last to win that second stage,” Larson said.
But Larson again lost the lead when he came to pit road on the stage break. This time, it was for a scheduled stop while others on a different strategy stayed out.
On the next restart, the 2021 Cup champion was again making moves to get back to the front, feeling frisky as the No. 5 dove to the inside of Keselowski and Suarez.
Seconds later, any shot Larson had at the win was gone.
To add insult to injury, the wreck also took Larson out of the points lead. He now trails Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott by eight points with nine races left in the regular season.
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About the author
Michael Massie joined Frontstretch in 2017 and has served as the Content Director since 2020. Massie, a Richmond, Va., native, has covered NASCAR, IndyCar, SRX and the CARS Tour. Outside of motorsports, the Virginia Tech grad and Green Bay Packers minority owner can be seen cheering on his beloved Hokies and Packers.
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At 11:30 Nascar. Com has Larson leading Chase by 14 points AFTER Iowa.