By Caleb Whisler, Staff Writer
It was a dominating performance for Kyle Larson at Darlington Raceway, but it ultimately got away on the final pit stop of the race with 22 laps to go.
Larson started the Bojangles Southern 500 in the second position. By Lap 12, Larson was in the lead setting sail with the lead and the first and second stage win.
When the final caution flew on Lap 345 for a spin by Jeffrey Earnhardt, Brad Keselowski was beginning to catch the No. 42. With tires being a hot commodity at Darlington, Larson and the remainder of the field came down pit road for the final time. However, Larson came down pit road first but ultimately came out second.
In the final 19 laps, Larson was unable to catch Brad Keselowski but ultimately fell back to third in the closing laps of the race.
“It’s always important to come out the leader off pit road or be the control car on the restart. I felt like if I could have been in clean air, I would have been all right. All day when I would get in traffic I’d get loose,” Larson stated.
“There on that last run I was just really loose and allowed Joey (Logano) to get by. I knew the only really weakness we would have throughout the race was a short run and that’s what it kind of came down to.”
Although not winning his first race of 2018 stings, Larson believed this was the best car that he has had this season.
“Yeah, I mean it sucks. I don’t know, I mean, last week sucked we had a terrible car and ran second and that sucked, so this week we had the best car and run third. So, I mean it obviously… everybody who doesn’t win isn’t happy. But at the same time, we haven’t had a car like this all year. I was extremely happy about that and looking forward to the next couple of months,” he stated.
Larson led 284 of 367 laps in the Bojangles Southern 500.