Kyle Larson and Chase Briscoe are the first two NASCAR Cup Series playoff drivers to encounter trouble in the postseason after crashing out in the first stage of Sunday’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Larson is not sure what caused his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to turn right and hit the Turn 2 wall on lap 56. The No. 5 shot to the outside wall where he made heavy right-side contact before sliding back down the racetrack and getting hit in the rear by fellow playoff contender Briscoe.
“I’m OK; thankfully everything held up well inside the car,” Larson said. “That was a huge hit. I’m not really sure what caused it. I was actually sort of tight and loaded in the corner, and that was pretty far around the corner and it just stepped out. I don’t know, it all happened really fast.”
Larson felt perhaps he had overcorrected when the car started to get away from him. He was running third at the time of the crash.
Briscoe was running around the 14th position when he ran into the No. 5. Having earned a last-minute spot in the postseason with his win last weekend, Briscoe said he felt fine aside from the initial jolt after the impact with Larson and was glad nothing happened around his feet since the brake pedal “and everything” went through the floorboard.
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“That’s NASCAR,” Briscoe said of the incident. “You can be on top one week and you can be at the very bottom of the mountain the next week. It’s unfortunate. I thought our car was an adjustment away from being pretty good. We weren’t very good at all balance-wise and I still felt like I was able to kind of run right there around the seventh to 12th place guys. I was watching my outside getting into one because somebody kept trying to get to my outside and was probably a little late just trying to see [Larson] wrecking. I didn’t expect anybody to wreck because they weren’t really two-wide, and then I saw the smoke and tried slowing down.
“I knew he was coming down the racetrack and just kept trying to feed the thing left and slow it down and I couldn’t get left quick enough. Then he kind of started sliding back down the track at the very last minute, so I tried to turn back right to avoid him and just KO’d him. It was a big hit, one of the biggest hits I’ve had in a long time. I’m glad I’m alright and we just have to go win. That’s what we had to do at Darlington and I know we’re capable of doing it again, so we’ll just have to go to Watkins Glen and Bristol and try to do the same.”
Neither driver earned stage points as the crash happened before the end of the first stage in the Quaker State 400. The first two drivers out of the race, Briscoe will finish last, 38th, with one point and Larson will finish 37th with two points.
Larson began the postseason as the No. 1 seed with a 35-point advantage on the cutline. Briscoe, the No. 13 seed, was tied for the bubble spot entering the weekend.
Sunday was Larson’s fifth DNF of the season and his second in the last four races. It is also Briscoe’s second DNF in the last four races and his third of the season.