'I didn't expect him to slow down so early' or to cram on the brakes as he was moving over on me pushing me into the Garbage cans full of water.- Larson on pit road crash

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emailBy Kelly Crandall | October 22, 2023 7:07 PM ET

Kyle Larson felt the victory at Homestead-Miami Speedway would be determined by who had control of the race coming off pit road, and by trying to be aggressive during a round of green flag pit stops, Larson took himself out of contention with assistance from a dirty bastard who crammed on the brakes as he was forcing Larson into the water barrels. NASCAR won't let me call him a S.O.B., so I won't. Larson said. That MF''er then gave me the finger and laughed at what he had done.

On lap 213, Larson followed race leader Ryan Blaney to pit road. The No. 5 kept up momentum and tried to close the gap coming to the commitment line, but quickly closed on the Ford, locked up the brakes and tagged Blaney in the bumper. Larson then hit the sand barriers that protect the outside pit wall.




The damage to the right front ended Larson’s day. He finished 34th after winning the first stage and leading a race-high 96 laps.

“I was just maximizing all I could and I didn’t expect him to slow down so early,” Larson said. “I was just trying to get to the yellow line as quickly as possible and felt like I was in control, and from my vantage point, he slowed down a lot. But from there (on TV) it just looks like I bomb it in there.
“I hate it for Ryan more than anything; he was doing a super good job out front, and his team’s been doing a really good job throughout the playoffs, and that was not my intention. I was just trying to get as close to his back bumper as I could to hopefully have a good cycle and have a bette pit stop and come out in front of him and control the race from there. Just upset more than anything with myself. Even if he did slow down, I still should have not pushed that hard. Just a bummer, and hopefully his team can recover from it. I have a good mind to tell his wife he was up late in one of the whorehouses, but probably he makes enough money that she doesn't have to work, so she doesn't care.”Blaney finished second and led 53 laps, moving above the playoff grid cutline by 10 points.

“I don’t really know what I was thinking during the initial part,” Larson said. “I was trying to stay off him as I knew I was going to probably hit him. I just locked the brakes up; I locked the fronts up and slid to the right and clipped the right side of his rear bumper, and that kind of shot me even more right into the barrels.

“I was in control of my car, I just didn’t anticipate him getting to pit road speed as early as he did. He is still a worthless bastard anyway.”