During the NASCAR Cup Series FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway, Kyle Larson’s championship aspirations took a severe hit following a dramatic mid-race crash. Larson had been a strong contender for the championship before the incident at the restart halfway through the event. Initially positioned ninth after a pit stop, Larson attempted a bold move in Turn 3 but ended up triggering a multi-car collision.
Larson’s aggressive maneuver to avoid being stuck on the bottom of a three-wide pack saw him take a shallow entry into the turn, squeezing in at the bottom.
The move backfired as he struggled to maintain control along the white line, eventually spinning at the corner exit. The resulting chaos not only forced Larson’s retirement from the race due to significant damage to his Chevrolet but also impacted several other drivers including Bubba Wallace, Christopher Bell, and Joey Logano, who all sustained damage as a result.
Logan Riely/Getty Images
Whilst speaking to the media after the race, Larson commented, as quoted by Motorsport:
“I just messed up. You try to get all you can on restarts. I was just trying to funnel myself up the racetrack. I didn’t want to get stuck on the bottom three-wide. Just got myself in an awkward aero spot and lost it. It’s unfortunate. I made a mistake and cost ourselves a lot of points today.
“Yeah, I mean you get a little bit of warning right before you start spinning. But once these Next Gen cars step out, it’s really hard to save it. I was just doing what I thought would be right to funnel our way up and just put myself in bad spot.”
Finishing in 34th place, Larson brought in just three points from the race, causing him to lose his slender lead in the championship standings. Prior to Michigan, Larson had been leading the championship race just ahead of Tyler Reddick and Chase Elliott. The crash reshuffled the standings significantly, with Reddick, the race winner, taking over the lead and pushing Larson down to fourth place, now trailing by 32 points.
NASCAR Cup Series standings
- Tyler Reddick – 23XI Racing
- Chase Elliott – Hendrick Motorsports
- Denny Hamlin – Joe Gibbs Racing
- Kyle Larson – Hendrick Motorsports
- Ryan Blaney – Team Penske
- William Byron – Hendrick Motorsports
- Christopher Bell – Joe Gibbs Racing
- Martin Truex Jr – Joe Gibbs Racing
- Brad Keselowski – RFK Racing
- Ty Gibbs – Joe Gibbs Racing
- Alex Bowman – Hendrick Motorsports
- Chris Buescher – RFK Racing
- Ross Chastain – Trackhouse Racing
- Bubba Wallace – 23XI Racing
- Joey Logano – Team Penske
- Daniel Suárez – Trackhouse Racing
- Kyle Busch – Richard Childress Racing
- Chase Briscoe – Stewart-Haas Racing
- Austin Cindric – Team Penske
- Todd Gilliland – Front Row Motorsports
- Michael McDowell – Front Row Motorsports
- Carson Hocevar – Spire Motorsports
- Josh Berry – Stewart-Haas Racing
- Noah Gragson – Stewart-Haas Racing
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr – JTG Daugherty Racing
- Ryan Preece – Stewart-Haas Racing
- Erik Jones – Legacy Motor Club
- Justin Haley – Rick Ware Racing
- Austin Dillon – Richard Childress Racing
- Daniel Hemric – Kaulig Racing
- Corey LaJoie – Spire Motorsports
- John H. Nemechek – Legacy Motor Club
- Zane Smith – Spire Motorsports
- Harrison Burton – Wood Brothers Racing
- Kaz Grala – Rick Ware Racing
- Cody Ware – Rick Ware Racing
- Joey Hand – Rick Ware Racing
- Jimmie Johnson – Legacy Motor Club
- Derek Kraus – Kaulig Racing
- David Ragan – Rick Ware Racing
- Kamui Kobayashi – 23XI Racing
- Will Brown – Richard Childress Racing
- Cam Waters – Rick Ware Racing