RADIO
Kyle Larson Falls to Fifth at Darlington After Competing for the Win
Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson had an uphill battle at Darlington Raceway, but finished fifth and had a shot at winning the Cook Out Southern 500. Larson's uphill battle started from the beginning when he was given a starting position of 25th after qualifying was canceled due to weather. The No. 5 Chevrolet driver spent the entire first stage making up positions, but only reached 13th and failed to score stage points. In the second stage, Larson took a contrarian strategy of running out longer before pitting during green-flag pit sequences. This paid off as the tire advantage Larson gained over other drivers moved him up to second at the end of the stage behind Christopher Bell. In the final stage, Larson led on the restart after coming out first after pit stops during the stage break. Larson led through most of the stage until a lap 317 caution caused him to lose the lead on pit road to Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe. The Hendrick driver lingered behind these two until the race was stopped for rain on lap 338. Once the rain went away, Larson decided to stay out on older tires for track position on the race's final run. Larson held the lead until lap 356, when Bell passed him and then fell back to fifth as he was unable to hold off other drivers on older tires until the race ended. After the 27th race of the season, Larson remains seventh in The Chase standings, but cut the gap to first down to 49 points with nine races left before the championship.
Source: NASCAR.com
Source: NASCAR.com
