Kyle Larson crew chief Cliff Daniels reacts to Bristol Night Race backlash for lack of 'chaos'

Cliff Daniels, the crew chief for Kyle Larson, does not agree with the backlash the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway is receiving. On SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Daniels explained why not having “chaos” during the race was a good thing.

“The Bristol race, everyone wants to say was so amazing in the spring because of the tire coming apart. Well no, it was the tire coming apart that created chaos, and it wasn’t a good race,” Daniels said. “The chaos was fun for the moment, but that’s not sustainable. That type of chaos is not what our sport needs on a weekly basis.

“We don’t need chaos and calamity, we need good pure racing. To me, when I look at the Bristol night race that we just had, even guys we were racing who were trying to put them a lap down, they were fighting so hard and we would be side by side with guys for 20 laps because they’re fighting for their spot in the playoffs. They’re fighting for their team and their position. And of course, we have our own racing going on.”

Daniels added: “That makes a really good race. There’s multiple lanes high, low, middle, on the bottom. To me, that’s a really good expectation for a good race of this car where there is not much margin in the car. To walk away and say Goodyear needs to give us something that will create pure chaos, as a competitor I couldn’t disagree more.”

Cliff Daniels talks Kyle Larson’s win at Bristol

Daniels also revealed the goal of the NextGen car which was to “create parity. And now we have so much parity that we’re trying to create disparity with the tires. My opinion all the heat doesn’t belong to Goodyear.”

Cliff Daniels helped Kyle Larson win the Bristol night race and advance to the second round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. After the race, Daniels spoke to reporters about finishing the first round strong.

“I definitely think it was important, and the way we see it is when each round resets, you really have to make sure you’re batting with what everybody else is or scoring close to par, however you want to say it,” Daniels said. “There was a lot of stage points that we missed out on the last two weeks, of course, and race wins, just with some issues that we created for ourselves.”