For the second year in a row Kyle Larson was eliminated from playoff contention at the end of the Round of 12.
Unlike past playoff efforts, Larson was “glad that nothing stupid” was responsible for the No. 42 team’s exit.
The Chip Ganassi Racing driver, who is winless this season, got the boot after he finished third Sunday at Kansas Speedway. That followed a 12th-place finish at Dover and an “embarrassing” run at Talladega, where he placed 11th.
“We had that battery come out at Dover a couple years ago. Blew up an engine here last year,” Larson said after Sunday’s race. “Obviously I would have liked to have made it into the next round. But I’m glad it wasn’t anything other than just us not performing where we needed to be that kept us out of the next round.
“Just trying to figure out how to make our cars better. Try to figure out this new package we’re running next year, try to be prepared, good all season long.”
On NASCAR America, Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte discussed Larson’s exit and who deserves the blame.
“Everybody thinks that Kyle Larson’s a great race car driver and I agree,” Burton said. “I think the team has to take a tremendous amount of responsibility about how slow they were at Talladega. That put Kyle Larson in a terrible spot as a driver. “
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