Kyle Larson, despite being Kyle Larson, is also having a tough time keeping up with the Kyle Larson level of results this season. This is, as for most drivers, largely down the new car, but when you throw in a reconfigured track in the mix, it gets even tougher.

Now, the defending Cup champion has all that it takes to persist and overcome anything despite the circumstances, but sometimes it just isn’t your day. And Atlanta wasn’t Larson’s day.

His No.5 Camaro suffered damage to the front after an earlier incident in the race. But then, as he was ahead of Denny Hamlin, hoping to use the push from behind, he spun out, hit the wall, and got K.O’d not by Hamlin’s mistake but by his luck.

This was something Larson knew, and something that reflected in his post-race comments was also this; he had no beef with the Fed Ex Camry driver.

“He was just trying to help me get a run down the front and just got to me in the corner and got me loose,” Larson said. “So hate that that happened, but it’s just kind of a product of this racing and a product of pushing and trying to draft and get your lane going.”

“Nothing’s intentional.”

Denny Hamlin explains his side of the incident with Kyle Larson

Denny Hamlin, who finished in 29th, said he was just “trying to help” Kyle Larson, which eventually turned out to be counterproductive.

“I was just trying to help Kyle (Larson) there and I just needed to let him go off turn four,” Hamlin described. “The track gets light there, the car starts to lift up and that’s where I needed to back off of him and I just didn’t and spun him out.”

Denny Hamlin described how “it’s easy” to mention the ‘what ifs’ of this situation, but when one is “in the moment,” it’s a lot more complicated.

“You are trying to battle for some stage points there and we’ve got good grip, and I’m pushing him, and everything is going well and then all of a sudden the car lifts up and he’s gone,” he said.

“Just split-second decision making.”

Also Read: Bubba Wallace Takes It Out on “Darfs” After Disappointing End to Atlanta Race