Kyle Larson had a clear plan on what to do to win the Cup Series race on the final restart at Kansas Speedway.
Larson started second on the outside lane behind Ryan Blaney on the last restart with two laps to go. The Hendrick Motorsports driver wanted to push Blaney so as to fight for the win between the two of them.
However, the plan failed miserably.
“My plan was just to push (Blaney) as hard as I could and try and be with him on the backstretch to shove him and hopefully get them guys racing in front of me or potentially get inside or outside for the lead somehow,” Larson said.
“Hate that I screwed that up and cost ourselves a good finish.”
Rather Larson turned Blaney’s car and both of them collied with the wall. As a result, Larson finished 19th and Blaney even further behind on the 21st.
“Nobody got to the lead from the second row (all race), so I knew I was in trouble, and like I said, I just wanted to do a good job to keep (Blaney) side-by-side with Kyle and maybe get them racing and punch a big hole for me to get a run somehow,” Larson said.
“Obviously I didn’t want to be on the second row the final restart. I had Brad lined up behind me the one before, and he wasn’t able to get to my back bumper. He had to protect from the guys behind him trying to pull out of line, so just got our lane slowed up, and that just didn’t work out.”
Larson led the race nine times and a race-high 132 laps. However, it was another missed opportunity for him to add to his one Cup win in the 2021 season.