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| Hendrick Motorsports |
Kyle Larson came into the Charlotte ROVAL race, with little to fear in terms of playoff contention. He arrived 18 points to the good, tied with competitor Joey Logano, scored as the sixth seed. Although not clinched into the Round-of-Eight, the No. 5 team only needed to secure a decent finish to advance to the next round.
As the race embarked, Larson drove an alright race. Dominance was clearly not on the plate for the No. 5 team, but a top-15 finish was a clear expectation. That all changed when late in the race, Larson hit a wall and significantly damaged the right rear toe-link on his Camaro ZL1.
Coming down pit road to repair the toe-link put the No. 5 team five laps down, with only 10 laps remaining in the race. This ultimately ended Larson's Round-of-Eight chances, but the chaos was just about to begin.
Signage that had made its way on-track, caused the first natural caution of the race. The field was bunched up, and would turn a rather uneventful race into utter chaos.
In the first turn, several competitors crashed. Dominant drivers like Chase Elliott and Joey Logano would be spun out. Nobody was safe. Racers broke the turtle/curbing in one of the chicanes, causing a red flag. The next restart was no better. Great runs were ended abruptly, and surprising drivers made their way to the front.
This was a glimpse of hope for Kyle Larson, as other Playoff competitors experienced hardship. Ultimately this was not enough to push Larson above the cut-line and his fate was sealed with the drop of the checkered flag.
The 2022 season for Kyle Larson has been far less dominant than his 2021 season. Now, Kyle Larson is a glaring statistic for NASCAR, as the driver who won 10 times and earned the championship last season will get nowhere close in 2022.
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