By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
Starting from pole, Kyle Larson was a predicted winner for many heading into the AAA 400 from Dover International Speedway. And coming at a track where victory has been feet away, Sunday may be his day.
That all hit some trouble before the green flag even flew, as Larson was thrown to the tail end of the field for failing pre-race inspection. His No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet had a full field and 400 laps to make it work.
But it didn’t come easily from there, either. Larson struggled to make ground with Dover’s track conditions and, adding insult to injury, was handed a pit road tire penalty on lap 103. It was one thing after another, which made a 10th-place finish something to be happy about.
“Yeah, it was a hard-fought top 10 for sure,” he said. “We were three laps down at one point. I guess happy about the top 10.”
Well off the pace for some time, Larson received the free pass on lap 273 and eventually saw the lead lap for the final 75-lap run.
“I was hoping we could pick off some cars there that last run once we finally got on the lead lap,” he said. “But it was just so hard to pass.”
Though the outside lane was used by many in the field, Larson found it difficult to make serious ground.
“Everybody was the same speed until the very end of the run and then you could kind of move around,” he said. “I found a little bit of time and was catching a few of them in front of me, but just ran out of time.”