While the Daytona Cup Series race gave us good action, there was a big wreck, and Kyle Larson may be to blame for it. Superspeedway races are tricky. One wrong move or air push or bump, and it all goes up in smoke.
Kyle Larson was right there when Bubba Wallace and Kyle Busch came across Joey Logano and caused a mess of a wreck. It changed the playoff battle and the outlook of the race itself.
Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic broke down the race after the finish on Saturday night. The two talked about the big wreck and how was to blame, if anyone.
“I think it was Larson that caused it,” Gluck said on The Teardown. “I mean, people are blaming Bubba or Logano but Larson…”
“Just racing. It’s just racing. … ‘Oh, this guy’s to blame,’ it’s like, you’re racing in a pack and you get a little loose and you give a guy a little bit of a push and it doesn’t take much,” Bianchi interjected, defending Kyle Larson a bit. “I don’t know.”
“That wreck though, took out a decent amount of storylines right there,” Gluck shot back. “Kyle Busch immediately misses the playoffs. Man, Kyle Busch, two years without the playoffs. I really think NASCAR needs Kyle Busch in the playoffs.”
A great regular season finale and a fun finish. Four-wide to the line and separated by less than half a second. Just everything you can ask for in a Saturday night at Daytona.
Kyle Larson would have liked to have gotten his first superspeedway victory. It just wasn’t meant to be this time.
Kyle Larson improving on superspeedways
Either Kyle Larson has been doing his homework on superspeedways, or he’s just getting lucky. He has been running up front a number of times this season, but still has no wins to show for it on the drafting tracks.
People who watch NASCAR and don’t like superspeedway racing perhaps don’t get the nuances in the events. There is a lot going on, even when it looks like they are just running practice laps out there.
To keep these cars steady going two, three, and four-wide at 190+ MPH is impressive. It doesn’t matter if their foot is on the floor or just halfway on the pedal. Kyle Larson was right there at the end and almost had it this time. Will he ever get a drafting track win?
