“I wasn’t surprised”: Kyle Larson opens up on mid-race incident involving Bubba Wallace at Michigan

Kyle Larson spoke out on his mid-race spin at the Michigan International Speedway. The Hendrick Motorsports driver tried to move upwards as he steered through turn 4 but lost control of his #5 Chevy and spun around, wrecking into Bubba Wallace's left front before spiraling several cars.

Larson started his run from fourth place on the grid but fell to a 14th-place finish in Stage 1. While trying to save his second stage result, the 32-year-old started the massive pileup, one round after the Lap-115 restart.

The spin-off collected multiple drivers such as Wallace, Chris Buescher, Joey Logano, Christopher Bell, Tod Gilliland, and Chase Briscoe. However, the crash cleared the way for Kyle Busch's maiden stage win of the year.

Larson spoke about the incident while talking to the media and said that he would not call it expected.

"I guess, I wouldn't call it unexpected. You know how kind of weird that the air gets over there and with the hard tires that we run here, it's just really easy to lose traction. So, no, I wasn't surprised but you're just trying to be forceful and move yourself up the track. And like I said, I just put myself in a weird aero spot," the 32-year-old said.

As a result, Kyle Larson finished 11th in Stage 2 and constituted his fourth DNF of the season. He settled his 24th Cup Series run of the season in P34.

Kyle Larson's Michigan chaos has stripped Bubba Wallace of the playoff cutline

Earlier, Bubba Wallace was lingering below the playoff cutline, but after registering a fourth-place finish at Richmond, he pulled himself above the threshold. Moreover, with a fifth-place start and strong pace at the 2-mile Michigan track, the 23XI Racing driver was at high odds of churning another promising result.

The Alabama native finished fourth in the first stage, gaining one track position from his P5 start. While he could've landed another top-10 finish in Stage 2, Kyle Larson's wreck destroyed all chances. Furthermore, the #5 Chevy's wreck and the spiraling effect tainted Wallace's final standing in the 206-lap race, pushing him away from the top-16 drivers destined for the playoffs.

Bubba Wallace had to settle his Michigan International Speedway run in 26th place and is 1 point below the cutline in the 18th. Meanwhile, Ross Chastain is 1 point over the limit but still in 17th place as Martin Truex Jr., Ty Gibbs, and Chris Buescher are the current winless drivers above the cutline.

Kyle Larson, however, has dropped to fourth in the regular season standings, with Tyler Reddick taking the top spot after sweeping his second win this season at Michigan.