Kyle Larson destroys his car on Lap 5 at Darlington during Goodyear 400

Only five laps in and one of the favorites for today is effectively out of the race. Kyle Larson has destroyed his car at Darlington. That beautiful Terry Labonte NASCAR throwback is not going to find Victory Lane today.

This is not the norm for Kyle Larson. While we have seen him overdrive his car and push the limits, it usually doesn’t happen this early in the race.

Watching the replay, Larson just loses his car. He was side-by-side with Joey Logano and then he was spinning out. The No. 5 team towed the car to the garage, but this is going to end his hopes of any kind of salvageable day.

Larson came out of Turn 2 and put his left-side tires under the hash marks. That was too much for his car as he raced with Logano.

Big trouble and heavy damage for Kyle Larson! #NASCARonFS1 pic.twitter.com/E5Qgzbii0i

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) April 6, 2025

Kyle Larson and that great Labonte throwback are done before they really got started. Not much to talk about when it comes to his weekend at Darlington. Good thing he has that win from Homestead-Miami to lean back on early in this season.

The biggest consequence of this, in the short term, is the points standing. Larson came into the weekend P2 behind William Byron.

Chase Elliott, Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, and Bubba Wallace are all between 16 and 35 points behind Larson right now. Depending on how the race plays out, a few or all of those drivers could pass him up.

Kyle Larson goes to garage under new DVP rule

If you are Kyle Larson and Cliff Daniels, then this is the worst-case scenario. No one wants to be out of the race this early. Good news, they might be able to pick up a few points. That is if we have more wrecks.

The Damaged Vehicle Policy is much like it used to be in previous eras of NASCAR. Before, if you were deemed unable to drive under your own power and needed a tow, that was an automatic DNF. No repairs.

This season, teams get seven minutes on pit road, if they can drive to pit road. If not, they will be towed to the garage and repairs can begin at that point. Larson is technically in this race, but after 50 laps have gone by in this race, he still hasn’t returned.

I can’t blame Cliff Daniels for wanting to repair the car. They lost the regular season championship by a single point last season. If Larson is able to eventually run more laps than just one or two cars and gets an extra point or two, that could make all the difference in the season.