RELATED: Results | Standings post-Dover
DOVER, Del. -- As Kyle Larson pulled onto Dover International Speedway's pit road following his runner-up finish in Sunday's AAA 400 Drive for Autism, he sat in his No. 42 Target Chevrolet a moment before slipping his gloves off. He paused again and stared forward before removing his helmet and finally climbed out of the car to speak to the noticeably large group of reporters waiting for him.
The day's third-place finisher, 20-year-old Chase Elliott walked up to shake the 23-year-old Larson's hand after a fantastic final 20 laps of competition among the two youngsters and 2003 Cup champion Matt Kenseth, who scored his first win of the year. Then Larson's team owner Chip Ganassi came by with a huge grin and high-five.
Larson had come less than two-tenths of a second (.188) from earning his first ever NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory. He drove his heart out.
And by the time Larson began answering reporters' questions, the disappointment had turned into pride. It was a fantastic -- if not perfect -- ending to the day and Larson proved himself a clean, adept competitor. Just not a winner this day.
Yet.
"We were really good today," Larson said. "A lot of good cars wrecked and I knew I was probably the car to beat. I tried to be patient but could see Matt was pretty loose in front of me and it's so hard to pass someone on the bottom there. I was too patient there for a while and allowed Chase to get by. Then I got by (Elliott) and I got another shot at him (Kenseth) there at the end and was trying to do all I could to pass him without getting into him.
"Matt is probably the cleanest driver out here and I wanted to race with a lot of respect and I feel like I did a good job with that. I probably could have gotten into him in (Turns) one and two and gotten by him, but I didn't want to do that to him."
Larson said he was intent to race Kenseth cleanly and apologized for any role he may have had when the previous leader -- and Kenseth's Joe Gibbs Racing teammate -- Carl Edwards crashed with 39 laps remaining as the two competed closely for position.
RELATED: Edwards frustrated with Larson after hard hit
"From my view, I got a run on the 19 (Edwards) to go to the bottom and the 41 (Kurt Busch) and him were outside," Larson recounted. "I'm not sure if Carl got loose or went to block me, but I got into him and feel bad about that, even if it's not my fault."
When told of Larson's comments, Edwards said he was glad to hear the acknowledgement.
Kenseth said he was impressed with the way both Larson and Elliott raced in the final laps.
"He was freer than me and turning better," Kenseth said. "I started trying to find the grip in the middle of the track and held him off.
"I think if he would have snuck inside, it would have been over. He raced me really, really hard, but clean at the same time. He's a great race car driver. To me it doesn't even seem right that he hasn't won yet. He's got a bunch of victories in front of him for sure. He's a really, really clean, hard racer, and a fast learner."
Larson's team owner Chip Ganassi was all smiles walking away from the series 2014 Rookie of the Year on pit road.
"Obviously, the driver's doing the job, but it's a lot of hard work these guys have been doing for a long, long time," Ganassi said. "That's the good thing about this business, it's kind of self-motivating. If you're not a self-starter it's hard to be in this business. You get motivated every Sunday at 1 o'clock, you better be ready.
"So I was happy."
Larson's 85 laps out front Sunday was nearly a personal best -- he led 90 at Bristol Motor Speedway last year -- and was easily the most this season considering he had only led nine total (at Talladega Superspeedway).
This was his third career runner-up finish (also at Auto Club Speedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway in 2014) and marks his second top-five run this season after a third-place showing on April 3 at Martinsville Speedway. This was Larson's fourth top-10 finish in five races at Dover.
"We've been building better race cars," Larson said. "We've been learning stuff with the chassis, a lot of bodywork. Just everybody at the shop has been working really, really hard. It's been really hard to stay positive but it's showing now. I think everybody has stayed positive, but really deep to build better stuff and we all just keep working hard."
MORE: Relive the day in photos