"If it got crazy, I could have an opening": Kyle Larson reflects on calculated strategy falls short in HMS' 1-2-3 finish at Martinsville

Kyle Larson lost the Cook Out 400 to his teammate William Byron by 0.550 seconds on Sunday at the Martinsville Speedway. It was a perfect weekend for Larson, as he won pole on Saturday and dominated early on, leading the first 80 laps.

After the race, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion expressed his thoughts on his performance, believing he might have had an opportunity to win, but the aggressive tactics of Byron and Chase Elliott limited his chances of overtaking them.

Larson sounded happy to finish second and contribute to a 1-2-3 finish for Hendrick Motorsports on their 40th anniversary, telling Bob Pockrass:

“I thought for sure I may have a shot. I didn’t know how aggressive those two were going to be in front of me and they were really aggressive. I thought if it got crazy, I could have an opening to squeeze by, but I was (only) able to get one spot. “So, I’m happy to finish second (and) happy to have a 1-2-3 for Hendrick.”

On the final restart at Martinsville, Byron and Elliott started in the front row, with Larson behind them in third. Byron held off Elliott’s challenge, coming to the white flag and went on to win the race while also putting Elliott behind him.

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“I had a bad restart there” – Kyle Larson

The #5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet driver, who started from pole, led every lap on the first stage but lost his lead to Joey Logano when the latter took two tires and beat everyone off pit road. Logano led 83 laps before Kyle Larson reclaimed the lead for the rest of the race.

On the first restart, where he lost the lead, Kyle Larson said (via Racer.com):

“I had a bad restart there. I was really tight for a handful of laps and fell back to fourth. I wasn’t surprised that Joey hung on because we’ve seen it work in the past, and Joey is probably the best at doing that – fighting to stay up there on older tires. So, I was surprised, but I was hoping that we were going to have a better restart and then a better pit stop that next time.”

“But just being around this corner (on pit road), I think it’s hard for the pit crew to see when I’m coming, and they were a little bit late coming (off the wall). So, we were just a little bit slow then and didn’t gain a position there that next time. So, yeah, I just kind of hung out there the rest of the race."

Kyle Larson is atop the points table with 309 points after eight races.