KYLE LARSON EXPLAINS ROSS CHASTAIN WRECK AND SENDS MESSAGE TO KYLE BUSCH

Kyle Larson had an eventful time in the Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway. Somehow, he eventually finished in eighth place but that only told half of the story.

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Larson was the cause of an angry outburst from eventual race winner Joey Logano directed at Denny Hamlin after Larson had race Hamlin had and caused Logano to be impeded. Later in the race, he was in a hard race with Hamlin at the end of stage two causing Hamlin's crew chief Chris Gabehart to tell his driver not to retaliate.

Hamlin looked on course to win when he passed Ross Chastain for the lead only for an Austin Cindric spin to force overtime and drag Larson, running in third place, back in the mix. After the first restart, Larson tried to force his way inside Hamlin only to run up the race track and spin Chastain, ending his race.

That caused a scramble as drivers struggled for fuel, and when another caution forced a third restart, Larson's No.5 car failed to accelerate when crossing the line for the green flag. That saw Kyle Busch with nowhere to go but to run into the back of him, ending his race while Larson pitted for fuel.

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Eventually, Larson battled back to a top-10 finish amid the chaotic ending. But he could not help but feel regret for ending the races of Chastain and Busch for vastly different reasons.

Larson told NBC Sports: "I got in hot on that restart, got myself hot and just got myself tight and into Ross, hate that.

"The next one I just kind of got out of shape through the gears, and then we ran out of fuel after that. Salvaged a top 10 but disappointed, but OK to get a top 10, I didn't think that was possible."

Asked about racing with Hamlin, which caused the innocent Chastain to be wiped out, Larson explained: "Just trying to race for the win. Was hoping to kind of get him out of shape and get me some clean air to the bottom. I knew being second row you're kind of in trouble so was just trying to do what I could to get him washed off the bottom.

"I ended up getting myself tight and into Ross. Like I said I hate that for Ross. Just doing what I thought I needed to do to try to get myself a decent opportunity to get some clean air and get myself a shot to win."

Discussing the incident which ended the unlucky Busch's race, dealing his hopes of securing a playoff berth another crushing blow, Larson said: "Obviously we knew we were close on fuel, but I had no warning on my dash, no low fuel pressure or anything like that. I went to hit the gas and it was just dead.

"Man, I hate that for Kyle Busch because he's had a rough go of it here and really needs some points, and he was going to have a great day.

"So unfortunate that our lack of fuel there at the end and lack of warning, I wasn't able to get out of the way and not cause a wreck."

The race was eventually won by Logano, who booked himself a playoff berth and snapped a 49-race winless streak in the process. He admitted after the race he himself was running out of fuel as he crossed the finish line.

2024-07-01T03:07:39Z dg43tfdfdgfd