Kyle Larson crew chief explains bizarre Darlington crash

Kyle Larson's crew chief Cliff Daniels has explained why the champion and Bubba Wallace crashed at Darlington, in a race ending incident for the 2021 Cup Series champion.

During the closing stages of the Goodyear 400, Wallace went into the back of Larson bringing out the race's final caution as the No. 5 driver spun.

According to Wallace, Larson checked earlier than he expected to avoid an incident with Tyler Reddick, and Jeff Gluck revealed what Larson's crew chief said on the incident via X, writing: "We didn’t catch Kyle Larson before he left, but Cliff Daniels said Kyle told him he felt bad about being part of the last caution.

"They were trying to stay out of the way of the leaders and stay low, and Larson checked up early to make sure he didn’t get into Reddick, but Bubba didn’t know Larson was going to slow down that much."

Can Larson recover from nightmare Darlington race?

Larson failed to finish the Goodyear 400, a result which has prompted a drop to sixth in the standings below Reddick, but he remains just above Ryan Blaney and Bubba Wallace.

However, Larson remains 71 points behind standings leader William Byron, who finished second behind Denny Hamlin at Darlington thanks to the late caution.

The champion's contact with Wallace was not his only error during the race, and on the third lap spun and hit the inside wall, where his car was towed back to the garage.

Larson's crew managed to repair his car so he could return to the race, but his second incident with Wallace undid their hard work and the team will instead be looking forward to a clean slate at Bristol Motor Speedway.

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