“That was my only hope”: Kyle Larson breaks down the rare window of opportunity carved by JGR teammates’ last lap showdown

In the final laps of Sunday’s Cup Series Shriners Children’s 500, Kyle Larson tried his best to dethrone Christopher Bell from his winning streak but failed. However, the Hendrick Motorsports ace found a few positives on his way to his second top-five finish of the season.

It all came down to the two-lap, green-flag sprint to the finishing line. In an attempt to stay upfront, Bell and his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin veered to the top lane, while Larson remained close behind in P3.

Larson could have tried and drifted down the track. However, he felt it would have caused him to wreck his fellow drivers. Speaking of the same during a post-race interview with Regan Smith of FOX Sports, the 2021 Cup Series champion said,

“I felt like that was my only hope. Yeah, I felt like I made the correct decisions there… I thought being patient to try and keep them side by side down the back was good. I could have shot to the bottom, but I felt like I would have wrecked everybody there. Yeah, just kind of gave ourselves a shot for them to maybe get into each other and us squeak by.”

Larson is currently vying for his first win of the season. His run at Phoenix marked his second straight P3 finish in two consecutive weeks; that too behind Christopher Bell.

“Good to finish third,” Larson continued. “I felt like we were going to be lucky to finish top 10. Pit crew did a great job there that last stop. They made good adjustments compared to our first option tire round two.”

Today, Kyle Larson sits 11th in driver standings with 108 points to his name. In his previous four starts, the Elk Grove native has amassed two top-fives and two top-10s.

“Just have to keep working”- Kyle Larson reflects on his battle alongside Denny Hamlin

Following the 312-lap of madness, Kyle Larson spoke about that green-white-checkered finish. He was running side-by-side with Denny Hamlin at the time, waiting for the latter to make a mistake and thus allow him to pass.

On that note, Larson explained (quoted by Speedway Digest),

"I was hoping to help Denny (Hamlin) down the back and then they would get racing, like they did, and then maybe they would make a bigger mistake in front of us and we could sneak by. It almost happened, but we just came up a little bit short.”

Being the only Hendrick Motorsports driver to finish inside the top five, Larson also spoke about how his teammates Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman, and William Byron fared. Elliott finished 10th, Bowman ended up seventh and Byron delivered a P6.

“We still have a lot of work to do. William (Byron) seemed decent, but the rest of us (Hendrick Motorsports drivers) weren't very good. We just have to keep working and try to make things a little bit easier,” Kyle Larson added.

Larson’s next race is scheduled for March 16 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Fans can watch it on Fox Sports 1 from 3:30 pm ET onwards or listen to radio updates on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.