“Our day overall was good”: Kyle Larson reflects on his 5th-place finish in Michigan

Kyle Larson's fifth-place finish at Michigan International Speedway was the only silver lining for Hendrick Motorsports, who had yet another disastrous weekend after failing to crack the top 10 in Richmond.

Larson's #5 Chevrolet was the only HMS car that took the checkered flag as the other three drivers wrecked out of the race. Chase Elliott and William Byron were out by Stage 1 and Alex Bowman's #48 was damaged on Monday.

Kyle Larson was also involved in the crash that took out Bowman. The #5 Chevrolet driver believes his car was damaged after contact with Chase Briscoe's #14 Ford. Larson had to visit the pits to check for damage.

"Our day overall was good. For the majority of it I thought we were actually...the #19 was way good... I felt like we were top-3, top-5 guys, which we finished fifth but we had pit strategy work out for us to get to fifth," Larson told Frontstretch post-race.

"I think when the #14 hit me, we must've got some sort of damage because I was definitely a couple of tenths slower after that. It was harder for me to make runs and passes but my team did a good job with the fuel strategy," he added.

Despite the loss of pace, Larson managed to recover well with tape on the car's right front fender. With 60-odd laps left in the race, he rallied from 31st to fifth, credit to the team's fuel strategy, as mentioned by the driver.

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Kyle Larson sympathizes with the rest of the Hendrick Motorsports drivers

While Kyle Larson took a top-five finish, two other Hendrick Motorsports drivers who were in desperate need of such a result couldn't even race till the checkered flag. A DNF at Michigan has put Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman in desperate need of a win to qualify for the playoffs.

Larson sympathized with his teammates, who had a tough day on the track. He reckoned that Bowman's #48 Chevy was quick enough for a good result but was unfortunately involved in a collision.

"Hate to see Alex [Bowman] get tore up, because he really had very fast car today. Same with my other teammates Chase [Elliott] having a right rear blowout.. so tough day for those guys puts them in a tough spot," Kyle Larson said post-race.

Bowman and Elliott are 44 and 55 points behind the cut-off mark, respectively, with three races left before the playoff season begins.

Hendrick Motorsports standout driver this season, William Byron also had a forgetful day at Michigan. His recent slump and DNF last weekend have left him a distant third in the regular season standings.

Joe Gibbs Racing duo Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin occupy the top two positions with the #24 driver 96 points behind the leader, despite having more wins.