Kyle Larson reflects on Austin Cindric dustup, responds to Denny Hamlin joke

Last Sunday in Atlanta, Kyle Larson made an aggressive move that ended up wrecking Austin Cindric and William Byron in a familiar way. Larson took a run to clear the No. 2 car and ended up causing his NASCAR rival and his Hendrick teammate to wreck as well.

After leading so many laps at Daytona and Atlanta, Cindric doesn’t have much to show for it. Thankfully, he was able to score stage points each of the last two weeks as well.

Talking to Corey LaJoie on the Stacking Pennies Podcast, Larson was asked about the wreck and his thoughts on it.

“Grip and a little bit of perception judgment, I think,” Larson pointed as key factors. “That was definitely my fault for sure. You know, I had that run and I just wanted to take it and there was a moment where I thought I was clear – it was going to be tight. Then I head ‘Clear,’ and my angle gets bad and like now I can start to feel him there and I’m like, ‘I’m tight.’ And it was just too late and I squeezed him in the fence, big time. So, yeah, that was on me. I was hoping to just have that tight clear off of two and then him be there to pick me up right away. It was just a misjudgment on my part.”

During his post-race interview, Larson was not sure how the wreck happened. It wasn’t until he saw the replay that he realized his move from doomed from the start.

“Yeah, that’s like in my interview … I was like, ‘Man, I was surprised he got to my right rear as quick as he did,’ well he was there the whole time pretty much,” Larson continued. “So, it’s just a misjudgment on my part and I feel bad about it. So, you don’t ever want to be the guy to cause a wreck.”

How about that move? Larson has been on the receiving end of a couple of similar runs by Denny Hamlin. A little pinch into the wall forces a driver to lift or wreck. Remember Hamlin said he gave Larson a choice?

Well, this is different. Larson wasn’t aiming to do what he did, Hamlin was very intentional in his actions. However, Larson isn’t playing dumb. He knows that they were similar when you watch them back.

“Denny usually comes door to door,” Larson laughed. “It’s similar, similar. My angle is what ran him out of space and you know, when I’ve been running the fence it’s the angle that Denny has left me. So, I really didn’t leave him much of a, I left him a choice but not enough.”

Larson made a mistake. He’s owned up to it. The Hendrick driver also mentioned that he would be talking to Austin Cindric about the wreck. I’m sure it will be water under the bridge soon enough.