Kyle Larson’s 2023 season was a rollercoaster of highs and lows that kept fans eagerly watching. The first half of the season had some fantastic results. However, following Martinsville, he faced a challenging winless streak spanning 17 races. What caused this unexpected winless stretch? It was a combination of factors, including driver errors and team mistakes. Once again, an error proved costly for him, robbing him of a potential victory at Kansas.

During the second playoff race at Kansas, his path to the checkered flag was filled with chaos, as multiple incidents at the later stage of the race cost him his lead. What caused these troubles? In a surprising twist, an insider from Rick Hendrick’s team took responsibility for the incidents and unveiled a jaw-dropping revelation.

Rick Hendrick’s insider makes a brave claim

Kyle Larson made a strong start by taking the lead from polesitter Christopher Bell in Stage 1. He showed excellent momentum, leading the most 98 laps and securing a Stage 1 win. However, Larson encountered difficulties in stage 2, which led him into trouble.

Chase Elliott then managed to take the lead from Kyle Larson, but the real chaos unfolded after the 6th caution. Following the restart, with Chase Elliott leading from the inside and #5 leading from the outside, Larson fell to 6th place due to issues at turn 2. As laps went by, he further dropped to 20th place. The main culprits were old tires and traffic. Larson revealed that the #5 team had not made a 4-tire pit stop.

Kyle Larson revealed, “We stayed out on tires, we had like 10 laps on them. There was a lot of people that pitted for four. I had a bad restart and almost spun in [turns] 1 and 2 and lost all my track position and abused my right rear tire on that first corner. Just had to nurse it to the next pit stop and then fight from there.” 

Cliff Daniels, crew chief of the #5 team took responsibility and said on the radio, “I know we scr**ed you. It’s my fault. It was a bad call.”

In fact, even the runners-up in the race placed the blame on HMS’ legendary crew chief for poor decision-making.

Watch This Story: Kyle Larson Namedrops Top 3 Guy As Biggest Championship Roadblock

Denny Hamlin criticized HMS’s crew chief over making Larson ‘drop like a rock’

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During the “Actions Detrimental” podcast, the discussion centered around Toyota’s performance in the later stages of races, with examples like Tyler Reddick’s Toyota winning races by taking the lead on the final lap. The conversation then shifted to Kyle Larson, who had initially led the race but faced setbacks due to a mistake by his crew chief.

Denny noted his surprise at how far Larson fell back after that decision, explaining that losing even one spot can lead to a significant drop in position.

Denny said, “I would love to see us kind of racing up front straight up we kinda got off sequence those guys when Cliff made the decision to keep him out that one restart. (…) and Larson dropped like a rock. So Kyle was really good up front.”

Kyle Larson triumphed at Bristol in 2021, but can he repeat that feat this year? Or will the errors continue to haunt the Hendrick Motorsports star?

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