Kyle Larson will have to wait slightly longer for his first Cup win with Hendrick Motorsports, following a fourth-place finish at Homestead-Miami. Teammate William Byron took home the race victory, but he delivered minimum expectations by achieving yet another Top 5 finish at the venue.

Larson had briefly taken the lead in the final phase of the race. But he just lacked the grip on the tires to maneuver himself into maintaining the lead and winning the race.

He said, “It got pretty intense there at the end. I was just trying to take care of my tires and was just struggling on the long runs.”

Would have liked to finish second, said a disappointed Kyle Larson

“We were loose for a majority of the race and in that last run, we actually got kind of tight. But I felt like being tight was better for my long runs than loose, just because I could be a little more confident.”

In a matter of ten laps, he passed opponents one by one to get up into 5th. However, during the last stretch, Larson just did not have enough grip with his front tires, and so got overtaken by Tyler Reddick and Martin Truex Jr.

He continued, “I would have liked to finish second, but those guys were better than me in the end and I just couldn’t hold them off. I hate that I gave up those spots.”

Larson battled hard but also shielded Byron to help him win the race

“It’s really cool for William to get a win this early in the year. Hats off to their team and hopefully we can get it done soon.”

For a long time in the final stage, both Larson and Byron occupied the Top 2 slots. While the former was obviously battling for the win himself, one thing he did well was to block out any threat from the opposing teams’ drivers.

So despite missing out on a victory, Larson will do well to pat himself on the back for his efforts. But that said, he will hope that a race win arrives sooner than later.

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