“I wasn’t racing him to have a d**k measuring contest”: Kyle Larson accepts blame for Kyle Busch collision at Enjoy Illinois 300

Kyle Larson spoke about his collision with Kyle Busch at the World Wide Technology Raceway. Larson's #5 Chevrolet got loose while the duo battled for contention on the 1.25-mile oval.

The Gateway Motorsports Park hosted the Enjoy Illinois and witnessed Team Penske driver Austin Cindric clinch his maiden win this season. After engine failure and fuel disaster struck Christopher Bell's Toyota Ryan Blaney's #12 Ford, Cindric dashed toward the checkered flag to snap his 85-race winless streak.

On the other hand, the top-10 runners Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch battled for the lead on Lap 140, where the #8 Chevy got nudged on the quarter panel, following which Busch expressed his anger by squeezing Larson to the inside as the duo ran on the straightway heading into Turn 1. However, the HMS driver got loose on the turn and slid into the Richard Childress Racing driver's ride.

As a result, Busch's Chevy rammed into the outside wall, damaging his car beyond repair and earning his first DNF of the season. Meanwhile, Kyle Larson salvaged a P10 finish after the #8 Chevy's carbon fiber body absorbed the majority of momentum from the #5 Camaro.

The wreck shattered Kyle Busch's bid to defend his WWT Raceway win, and he was left frustrated after the incident. Moving forward, almost a week after the incident, Larson has taken the blame as he gears up for the Sonoma race.

"I look at that one, if I didn’t barely touch his quarter panel to get to a side draft, you know he wouldn’t have gotten upset and start running into me down the straightaway and then crowd me into [Turn] 1. I wasn’t going into 1 to race him and have a d*ck-measuring contest. I was just trying to make it into the corner,” Larson said via FOX: NASCAR on X. (0.29)

“If I didn’t touch his quarter we would’ve raced fine through 1. So I look at it as probably more of my fault there. I know that I’m the guy that spun but I don’t think that part was all my fault,” the HMS driver added.

"Very frustrating"- Kyle Busch after Kyle Larson destroyed the former's shot to make it to the playoffs

Per NASCAR's rulebook, the driver should participate in all 26 regular season Cup Series races and clinch at least one win to ensure their spot in the playoffs. While Kyle Larson's entry is guaranteed as the HMS driver was granted the waiver after his inability to start at the Coca-Cola 600, the RCR driver is shy of a race win to seal his spot in the Round of 16.

Kyle Busch posted the tenth fastest lap time during the qualified run, placing his #8 Chevy three positions ahead of Larson in the 13th spot. Busch has scored two top-5s and five top-10s this season. Though he came inches close to sealing his maiden win at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, Daniel Suarez edged out Blaney and Busch to steal the victory by a whisker margin of 0.003 and 0.007 seconds, respectively.

After suffering from the dismal weekend, Busch outlined his crash as he took a jibe at Kyle Larson's bid to earn one extra point which apparently led to the crash.

"It looked like he got loose, I guess, down the front straightaway into Turn 1. He was on older tires and trying to get us for a spot. Not sure what that single point was really gonna mean for him, but certainly hurt us a lot because (it) took that point away as well as the others that we’d get for the stage and then also the rest of the day. So very frustrating," Busch said.

Despite the wreck, Kyle Larson's ranking remains unfazed at P2 while Kyle Busch plummeted three spots down to 17th.