Playoff Chaos Starts Early as Larson, Briscoe Involved in Lap 57 Crash at Atlanta

By David Morgan, Associate Editor

HAMPTON, Ga. – Entering the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, nearly every driver was wary of the Playoff opener at Atlanta Motor Speedway and the unpredictability the track brings.

And rightly so.

Just 57 laps in, two contenders in the postseason saw their race go up in smoke after points leader Kyle Larson had an apparent tire issue in Turn 2, causing his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to get loose and then make a beeline for the outside wall, where he made heavy impact and ricocheted back across the track.

His battered machine sitting broadside on the track was then struck by Chase Briscoe’s Ford, ending the day for both drivers.

Both Larson and Briscoe were thankfully evaluated and released from the Infield Care Center, but now they’ll have work to do over the final two races of the Round of 16.

Larson came into the day with a 35-point buffer over the cut-off line, which had fallen to just a 12-point buffer by the end of Stage 1. From here on out, he’ll have no more mulligans if he hopes to be able to advance on.

The crash also continues the streak of bad luck Larson has had at Atlanta, marking a fourth straight finish of 30^th or worse.

“I’m OK. Thankfully everything held up well inside the car. That was a huge hit,” said Larson. “I’m not really sure what caused it. I was actually sort of tight and loaded in the corner. And then I was pretty far around the corner and it just stepped out. I don’t know.. it all just happened really fast.”

Asked if he had any warning that the car was about to snap loose, Larson explained that it came out of nowhere and when he tried to correct it, it sent him into the wall.

“Never.. not once. If anything, I was getting tighter and tighter. So yeah, it just caught me way off guard. I was never once loose, even in that corner. And then, it just started stepping out. I corrected it and overcorrected it, I guess,” he said.

“We’ll see how the rest of the race plays out and where the points shake out. I have no idea where I sit currently, but I’ll for sure be much closer.”

Meanwhile, Briscoe has fallen into must-win territory to keep his Cinderella story alive in the Playoffs. After his walk-off win at Darlington to punch his ticket to the postseason, Briscoe came into the day in a three-way tie for 12^th, but now will likely have to win at either Watkins Glen or Bristol to move on as he now sits dead-last in the Playoff standings in 16th.

“That’s NASCAR.  You can be on top one week and you can be at the very bottom of the mountain the next week.  It’s unfortunate,” said Briscoe. 

“I thought our car was an adjustment away from being pretty good.  We weren’t very good at all balance-wise and I still felt like I was able to kind of run right there around the seventh to 12th place guys.  I was watching my outside getting into one because somebody kept trying to get to my outside and was probably a little late just trying to see the 5 car wrecking. 

“I didn’t expect anybody to wreck because they weren’t really two-wide, and then I saw the smoke and tried slowing down.  I knew he was coming down the racetrack and just kept trying to feed the thing left and slow it down and I couldn’t get left quick enough and then he kind of started sliding back down the track at the very last minute, so I tried to turn back right to avoid him and just KO’d him. 

“It was a big hit.  One of the biggest hits I’ve had in a long time.  I’m glad I’m alright and we just have to go win.  That’s what we had to do at Darlington and I know we’re capable of doing it again, so we’ll just have to go to Watkins Glen and Bristol and try to do the same.”