"He just took the air off me and spun" - Kyle Larson addresses incident with Kyle Busch at WWT Raceway

Kyle Larson recently opened up to Fox Sports journalist Bob Pockrass about his crash with Kyle Busch during the final lap of Stage 1 in this year's Enjoy Illinois 300. According to the Hendrick Motorsports icon, he got caught in the dirty air coming off of Busch's Chevy and spun to the outside of the track.

While Kyle Larson ended the race in the top 10, Busch received a DNF; his first one since the beginning of this season and also since the last playoff race at Texas Motor Speedway last year. As of today, Busch stands 17th on points while Larson is second with 348 and 513 points, respectively.

Recalling the moments before they crashed on Lap 140, Larson said:

"We were coming to the end of that stage and I was a little bit better than him and left four to side-draft him and barely touched his quarter panel and I don’t know, I am guessing it ticked him off and he squeezed into me."

Initially, Larson thought that he had cut his tire. Revealing his side of the story, the 2021 Cup Series champion explained:

"I honestly thought I had a flat when I went into one because it just turned around backwards, but I guess he just took the air off me and (I) spun."

Larson's last victory came in the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway, which was also his second victory this season. The American now awaits his playoff waiver for missing last week's Coca-Cola 600. However, he remains eligible to run the number 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for the Owner's Championship.

Kyle Larson on why that "single point" mattered to him

Moments after the race was over, Kyle Busch told the reporters that he wasn't sure what an extra point would mean to Larson, especially when the latter was already second in the point standings and just 21 points behind the leader, Denny Hamlin.

"Not sure what that single point was really gonna mean for him but certainly hurt us a lot because took that point away as well as the others that we get for the stage and also the rest of the day," said Busch.

Larson responded to that in the aforementioned interview with Pockrass. According to Kyle Larson, the 15 bonus points that are awarded to the regular season champion matter a lot throughout the 10-race postseason. Therefore, he feels every point counts.

"I think every point is important for everybody in the field," explained Larson. "We are trying to win the regular season championship and 15 bonus points go a long way. So yeah, every point was important."

Kyle Larson thought he could ride next to Busch through Turns 1 and 2 and then pass him down the straightaway and around Turns 3 and 4. However, Larson clarified that he has no hard feelings towards Busch.

"Just hard racing; I've got nothing bad to say about Kyle (Busch) at all. Nothing changes on my end," he added.

The veteran racers will face off next in the Toyota Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway. The race will start at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday and air live on FOX.