Kyle Larson walked away from a scary wreck in the early stages of today’s race in Fontana.
Hurtling down the backstretch, the driver of the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet cut down his left-rear tire, turned into the outside wall, turned down the track and slammed the wall head-on. The car actually got airborne for a few seconds before coming back to Earth.
“I was going down the back stretch and I think it was my left-rear tire got cut,” Larson said. “It must have ripped the brake line because I went to push the pedal and it went straight to the floor board. I couldn’t slow down. It was definitely a hard hit there, probably one of the harder ones of my career. Even before that we were pretty sub-average there, we were pretty bad. Disappointed in our run today, but glad I’m alright.
“It was really good for about 20 laps on each run. The take-off speed was awesome and I don’t know I just couldn’t get the thing to last for a whole run. We just kind of struggled there at the end of each run, that kind of hurt us, but short-run speed that was a lot of fun. I thought we were as competitive as anybody on short-run speed. We just needed something there for the last 10 to 15 laps. We will work on it. The pit crew was awesome. They bounced back with great stops all day.”
It added to a miserable weekend that included being wrecked by Greg Biffle the day before in final practice.
“We were struggling all day,” Larson said. “We were really bad. And just on that backstretch, my left rear tire got cut and spun me to the outside wall and then spun me back into the inside wall. By the time I could hit the brakes it must have ripped the brake line and I had no brakes. They just went to the floorboard. I couldn’t slow down and had a hard hit there; head-on. I’m okay. I’m thankful for SAFER barriers and thankful that I’m all right. That was definitely probably the hardest hit I’ve ever had in my career. I’m glad to be on my feet right here.”
Larson leaves Fontana, California 24th in points trailing Kevin Harvick by 108 points.
