NASCAR insiders react to late caution for Kyle Larson incident at Homestead

Kyle Larson spun going for the lead late at Homestead-Miami Speedway, kicking off a chain of events that would shake the foundation of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

The Hendrick Motorsports wheelman decided to be super-aggressive in pining for the win when there was 13 laps to go, trying to pass Ryan Blaney, but it didn’t workout for him, as he couldn’t make it stick and the caution came out. During the latest episode of The Teardown, NASCAR insiders Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi tried to make sense of Larson’s decision.

“What did you think of his move at the end, where he’s racing Blaney and they’re coming up on Austin Dillon? In that moment, is discretion the better part of valor in the sense that, hey, yes, winning is good, but you’re running second, maybe Denny’s going to catch you and you’re going to finish third, but you look at the points situation and you don’t want to do anything silly or unnecessary to put yourself in a bad spot,” Bianchi prefaced. “I’m asking you, should he have maybe not been — I don’t want to say aggressive, but do you maybe rethink of how you attack that? Does that make sense?”

Evidently, Gluck believes Larson’s move made sense, and he had no problem with the former Cup Series champion trying to win the race right there.

“Honestly, no. I mean, the laps are winding down. That was with what, 10 to go or something like that? He had been chasing Blaney down and he got to him, and it looked like he was going to have a shot, and it looked like there was enough of a hole, — especially with Austin Dillon, who by the way, has had quite an impact on this season for a guy that’s not very high in points, you think, ‘Well, here’s a Chevy teammate,’ right? So this guy will really give Larson some leeway or whatever,” Gluck explained. “I just thought, I mean, he’s trying to go for the win and the championship. I think if that’s successfully right there, he’s in the final four. There’s no caution and he drives away. Period. Game over.

“By the way, he still finished P13. So yeah, I mean, you could say, ‘Well, you left 10 points on the table.’ So he’d be what, +3? Instead of -7? But I don’t know.”

Alas, Bianchi has no qualms with Larson either. The No. 5 team left it all on the track in Florida, it just didn’t go their way on Sunday afternoon.

“That’s the argument,” Bianchi responded. “I agree with everything you said, but that’s the argument is, ‘Hey, you may end up needing those points, so did you leave 10 points?’ I did ask him — I didn’t ask him if he questioned the move or anything, I just kind of asked him if he could walk me through it.

“He’s like, any driver in that situation, anybody in that situation, with that number of few laps left, with a possibility of getting a win, locking yourself in, with Denny coming, you’re going to go for it there. He’s like, I really didn’t feel like I did anything too aggressive there. It’s just, circumstances just kind of happened. He had no regrets.”

Kyle Larson can still make the Championship 4 when the dust settles at Martinsville Speedway this weekend, but he’s going to need some help if he doesn’t win the race. If he’s on the outside looking in at Phoenix though, many will pinpoint his decision at Homestead as the reason why.