Kevin Harvick offers surprising take on Kyle Larson, Austin Cindric incident at Atlanta

Austin Cindric might have had the best car in Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta but had nothing to show for it thanks to a late incident with Kyle Larson.

With three laps left, Larson passed Cindric for the lead in the middle of Turns 1 and 2. Coming out of Turn 2, Larson looked as if he thought he had cleared Cindric; that wasn’t the case. Larson put Cindric into wall, who then came down the racetrack and collided with William Byron. Cindric crashed into the inside wall down the backstretch and finished 28th.

Kevin Harvick, who was calling the action on FOX, said that Larson put Cindric in the “worst position possible,” which he said is what you have to do to give yourself an opportunity to win races.

“Those are the chances you got to take to win these types of races is put your car in a position that it shouldn’t be in and see how it works out. Those are the things that Kyle Larson and some of these guys do well,” Harvick said on his Happy Hour podcast. “They’re willing to crash and willing to take themselves out of the race by taking the risk to win the race. That was ultimately one of the moves that could have been a winning move if it shakes out in the end down the back straightaway when the caution comes out.

“I understand Cindric’s frustration. He had a great day. He was my pick to win the race. I thought he was still in contention to win the race at that particular point. But Larson put him in a bad spot that was questionable. And Larson said it was his fault after the race. But you got to be willing to put yourself in those positions to take that chance to win the races.”

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Austin Cindric frustrated with Kyle Larson after Atlanta

Cindric led 47 laps at Atlanta, one week after leading a race-high 59 laps in the Daytona 500. So, you can imagine his frustration in coming up empty at both superspeedways.

“I got put in the wall, and wrecked, and didn’t win,” Cindric told FOX Sports‘ Bob Pockrass. “Not clear, not clear. I don’t know what information [Larson]’s getting, but obviously, my car was on his outside, so it definitely merits conversation. So, it’s unfortunate because we led a lot of laps and had four of the fastest cars in Atlanta and didn’t win with one of them.”

Larson, meanwhile, was racing alongside Christopher Bell and Carson Hocevar on the final lap of overtime when the caution came out. Bell, out in front at the time of the caution, was named the winner. Larson finished P3. He took responsibility for the contact with Cindric.

“Yeah, just a little bit of a lazy kind of up the track,” Larson said. “[Cindric] got there a little bit quicker than I thought he would. I thought he was going to pick me up on the exit at two. Yeah, that was probably my fault. I haven’t seen a replay, but I’m sure that was my fault.”