Kyle Larson relieved for Ty Gibbs after scary wreck into barrier at Chicago: 'Just unfortunate'

Kyle Larson missed out on potentially winning his fourth Cup Series race of the year after crashing into the barrier at Chicago on Sunday. After the crash, Larson spoke to NBC Sports about how he’s relieved that Ty Gibbs didn’t get caught in wreck.

“I’m okay. I think all of us were getting a little more confident and confident in breaking,” Larson said about the crash that happened at Turn 6 of the Chicago Street Race. “I just went to the brakes a little deeper in each lap. At that time, as soon as I touched the break, I knew I was in trouble.

“I wasn’t really aiming for anything. I was just gonna go where it was gonna go. It was a big hit. I’m glad Ty didn’t get caught up in it. Just unfortunate.”

In another interview with reporters, Larson was asked by Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports if changes needed to be made with the barrier after taking the big hit that took him out of the race. “I don’t know. I feel like everybody hit the barrier last year, and so far this week their cars were fairly fine,” Larson said. “I could tell it was destroyed as soon as I hit it. It was a big hit.”

Kyle Larson finshes third in Chicago’s Xfinity Series race

Larson’s wreck at the Cup Series race in Chicago comes after he finished third at the Xfinity Series race on Saturday. Interesting enough Larson finished behind Gibbs who earned a P2 finish. Shane van Gisbergen, who was the Cup Series Chicago Street Race last year, earned the victory on Saturday.

“I think today was a success. Obviously, we’d like to win, but our car just wasn’t quite as good as [van Gisbergen].,” Larson said after the Xfinity Series race. “He could just exit Turn 5 just way smoother than me. I just was bouncing so aggressively. I couldn’t accelerate. Same through Turn 9. I just couldn’t carry the speed that he could. If I carried just a little bit too much, which was never even close to how much speed he was pulling through there, I would just sheer and get loose. And that carries all the way to 11. It was a fun, fun race, even through the restarts in the beginning of the third stage was cool.”

On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this story.