Kevin Harvick reacts to Kyle Larson running out of gas in final stretch at Talladega
Kyle Larson was in position to win Sunday’s YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Then, fuel mileage caught up to him. Fighting for the lead in the closing laps, the Hendrick Motorsports driver ran out of gas just after the final restart. It brought on another heartbreaking end to what could’ve been a gigantic superspeedway victory for Larson. Afterwards, Kevin Harvick and Mamba Smith broke down the moment on the latest episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour. The duo offered some perspective on the late-race strategy, and how it ultimately cost Larson a chance at victory. “We saw a lot of cars pit. You know, I think that the No. 12 and the No. 22, when that caution came out, they timed it to get the track position and didn’t time it to get to the end. They went for the track position, and it put them in a position where they had to pit,” Harvick explained. “So, obviously the No. 5 was close.” Mamba Smith followed with insight into just how razor-thin the margin was for Larson and crew chief Cliff Daniels: “I mean, without that last caution with the No. 17, he’s probably making it,” Smith added. “So, like, I think Cliff even said Kyle kind of talked about that in his post, where they knew they were close. “I thought that once they flipped the switch, they were gonna be right there. It just came up a little short. But good on him for realizing that, just backing down and getting completely out of the way. Now, it screwed the No. 24 regardless.” Alas, Daniels said before the overtime restart that the No. 5 team believed they had enough fuel for one green–white–checkered attempt. That proved to be overly optimistic for the team. Larson admitted afterward that they miscalculated by the slimmest of margins. “He was very sure about the numbers that he had in front of him that we could make it flipping the switch where we did,” Larson said. “Just unfortunate that it didn’t work out there. It started giving me a warning there in the middle of [Turns] 1 and 2, and then down the back it started stumbling, so I just got out of the way. “It’s probably one of the more bummer superspeedway finishes I’ve had just because we were once again in contention, and it was right where I wanted to be, but it didn’t work out. So we’ll keep putting ourselves in contention, and it’ll eventually work out.” Moreover, a win at Talladega would’ve clinched Larson an automatic berth in the Championship 4, securing a shot at his second Cup Series title at Phoenix Raceway. Instead, he’ll enter Martinsville Speedway this Sunday needing a solid performance to lock himself in on points. At the moment, Larson sits 36 points above the elimination line, neck-and-neck with Christopher Bell. If a driver below the cutline wins, Larson will need to outpoint Bell through 500 laps at Martinsville to secure his place in the championship finale. It should be a doozy of an event in Virginia.