Kyle Larson lost not only a potential victory at Michigan but also his championship points lead after a mid-race spin knocked the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet out of the race. Three sudden flat tires forced a yellow flag near the end of Stage 2, and some drivers opted to stay out for stage points. Larson was among the most to pit and restarted ninth for the five-lap race. After losing a lot of ground on the backstretch as a line of cars pushed past him on the outside, he turned flat into turn three and got caught at the bottom of a triple-line. Struggling to keep the car on the white line, he pushed up and spun on corner exit, triggering a multi-car accident.

Bubba Wallace, Christopher Bell, Joey Logano, Todd Gilliland, Chris Buescher and Chase Briscoe were all damaged in the melee. Larson’s No. 5 Chevy was destroyed and retired from the race with 85 laps to go. He finished 34th and scored just three points.

“I just messed it up,” Larson admitted. “You try to get everything you can on restarts. I just tried to push my way up the race track. I didn’t want to get caught triple down. I just got into a difficult aerodynamic position and lost it. It’s unfortunate. I made a mistake and cost us a lot of points today.”

He wasn’t the only experienced driver to lose everything under his own steam at Michigan. Denny Hamlin spun on the exit of the same corner yesterday while battling for the lead, and Martin Truex Jr. hit the wall late in the race. But did the 2021 NASCAR Cup champion realize he was in a difficult situation before the car spun around him?

“Yeah, I mean, you get a little warning before you start spinning,” Larson explained. “But once these next-generation cars get going, it’s really hard to save them. I just did what I thought was right to push us up and put myself in a bad spot in the process.”

Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports, HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro, Chris Buescher, RFK Racing, Fifth Third Bank Ford Mustang, Todd Gilliland, Front Row Motorsports, Grillo’s Pickles Ford Mustang, Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing, Rheem Toyota Camry accident

Photo by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images

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The accident proved costly in the battle for the regular season championship, as he came to Michigan with a five-point lead over Tyler Reddick and a six-point lead over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott.

Unfortunately for Larson, Reddick won the race and moved a lot closer to the all-important 15 bonus points for the playoffs. Reddick now leads Elliott by 10 points, while Larson has dropped to fourth in the standings, now 32 points behind.

Before the playoffs, there are two races left at the legendary Daytona International Speedway and Darlington Raceway, which will conclude the regular season.