By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
Generally, Kyle Larson brings the speed at any 1.5-mile track in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. That includes the annual All-Star Race at Charlotte, where Larson has now competed in three times after Saturday night’s running of the non-points race.
Having led in his prior two starts, starting near the rear of the 21-car field wouldn’t prevent him from leading again, taking the top spot for six laps on the night. And with a new restrictor plate package, Larson was a front-runner for Chevrolet again.
But Kevin Harvick was too much for the No. 42. Harvick took the lead and was running away with the win while Larson was stuck battling Joey Logano for a top-five spot. And just the night looked to be a top-five finish, contact was made between Larson and Logano with two laps to go which forced Larson sideways through the frontstretch grass.
The contact looked to be intentional from Larson’s perspective after he ran the No. 22 Ford wide exiting the fourth turn.
“I was just trying to carry as much throttle as I could,” Larson said. “I got really tight, I tried to bail. He tried to leave me as much room as he could […] I realized I wasn’t going to make the corner and just shoved him in the wall. He obviously retaliated.”
Avoiding significant contact, Larson was able to continue for the overtime finish to come home seventh.
“I want to be frustrated because I got wrecked on purpose but I put him in the fence, too,” Larson admitted.
But the night wasn’t a complete loss, still. Larson found positives from the plate package debuted in the All-Star Race and sees it being used at more tracks potentially.
“I hate to admit it, but the package was kind of fun. At times, anyways,” he said. “I’d hate to go this slow every week but for select tracks, it was pretty good. I’m not sure what other tracks it’d be good at right now.”
Mirroring other’s feedback, Larson saw a distinct advantage of holding the lead position and wonders how well his Chip Ganassi Racing Chevy would’ve handled if he held it throughout the night.
“You try and pull off to the bottom and you get hung out if you couldn’t clear the guy,” he said. “I didn’t feel we had nearly the speed the No. 78 [Martin Truex Jr.] had, then the No. 18 [Kyle Busch], and the No. 4 [race winner Harvick]. If I could ever get the lead, you never know how my car would’ve been out in the clean air.
“From my seat, it was a good time.”