Kyle Larson discusses disappointing second-place finish at Dover in 2024

Kyle Larson discusses his disappointing second-place finish at Dover Motor Speedway in 2024. Check out what Larson had to say!

[autotag]Kyle Larson[/autotag] pushed hard, but it wasn’t enough at Dover Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon. Despite catching race leader Denny Hamlin, Larson could not pass him in the closing laps. The Hendrick Motorsports driver had the best car at the end of the event, but the dirty air was too much to overcome as Hamlin was blocking his line on the top.

Following the event, a dejected Larson talked about finishing in second place behind Hamlin once again. When asked if there was anything more he could do against Hamlin, the driver of the No. 5 car didn’t believe he lost the race in the final 10 laps.

“Not in the last 10 [laps],” Larson said. “Just losing the lead when I got the restart as a leader. I went late in the zone. [Martin Truex Jr.] was trying to time it behind me. He hit me right when I wanted to go. Screwed up. Got a lot of wheel spin. [Denny Hamlin] was kind of able to out-race me into one. His car was really good on the short runs. I could pace it, get closer to him at the end of the runs. It’s so easy to air block. Not that he was doing anything dirty or anything like that.”

“It’s so easy as the leader, especially at a place like this, to shut off the air on the guys behind you. I knew when I got within three car lengths, he was going to start moving around. I couldn’t really do anything. I was trying all sorts of different angles and speeds, all that. Nothing could generate enough speed to get close enough I guess to do anything. That was a bummer…Always fast here at Dover. Just needed to be a little bit better on the restarts. I’ve lost a lot of races on restarts here. Just keep trying to get better.”

Larson came so close but he never could get to Hamlin’s quarter panels. It was a disappointing finish for the driver of the No. 5 car, but there is much to look forward to after having this much speed. Larson will now focus his attention on Kansas Speedway as he has shown much pace at the venue over the last few years with Hendrick Motorsports.

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