NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs drivers Kyle Larson and Chase Briscoe crashed out early in Sunday’s postseason opener at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Larson was running in third place through Turns 1 and 2 at Lap 56 when his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet snapped loose in the center of the turn. An overcorrection shot Larson nose-first into the outside retaining SAFER barrier and into a skid. Briscoe, who was 14th across the start/finish line before the incident, could not avoid Larson’s back bumper, resulting in heavy, race-ending damage for the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford.
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“There was no warning at all,” Larson said after being evaluated and released from the infield care center. “If anything, I was getting tighter and tighter. Yeah, it just caught me way off guard. I was never once, even in that same corner, like loose. It just started stepping out and I overcorrected and yeah, just overcorrected.
“I feel fine,” Larson said of the big hit off of Turn 2. “Thankfully, everything held up great, so thanks to Hendrick Motorsports and NASCAR for the safety.”
Neither driver was able to continue due to the damage incurred in the wreck. Larson will be credited with a 37th-place finish and Briscoe 38th, last, with both earning just one point in Sunday’s Quaker State 400.
Larson entered the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs as the No. 1 seed with a 35-point advantage above the elimination line. Briscoe, who earned his way into the 16-driver postseason bracket with a win in the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in the Sept. 1 regular-season finale, entered 13th in the playoff standings, tied with Alex Bowman and Harrison Burton but beneath the elimination line.
Following Sunday’s race, Larson remained above the elimination line by 15 markers, with Briscoe plummeting to 16th and last on the playoff grid, 21 points behind Ty Gibbs, who holds the 12th and final transfer spot with two races remaining in the round.
“That’s NASCAR, right?” Briscoe told reporters outside the infield care center. “You can be on top one week and then you can be at the very bottom of the mountain the next. Unfortunately, our car, I thought, was an adjustment away from being pretty good. We weren’t very good at all balance-wise but I felt like I was able to run around the seventh- to 12th-place guys.
“I was trying to watch my outside getting into Turn 1 and I was probably a little late to seeing the No. 5 car wrecking, I didn’t really expect anyone to wreck because they weren’t two-wide. I saw the smoke and was trying to slow down, I knew he was coming down the race track. I just kept trying to feed the car left to slow it down and I just couldn’t get left quick enough.”
Drivers fought handling early in the first stage, which totaled 60 of the scheduled 260 laps that the Cup Series will turn to finish the 400-mile event at Atlanta. Briscoe fought loose in the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford before his day ended.
“You are hanging on for sure,” Briscoe said. “This place is hard; you are just on the ragged edge. For me, I was almost spinning out. That’s what I kept telling my guys. I needed to make the first pit stop to get our car better, but unfortunately, we didn’t get that opportunity. These guys are on pins and needles, that’s for sure.”
The Round of 16 consists of races at Atlanta, Watkins Glen International (Sept. 15) and Bristol Motor Speedway (Sept. 21) with the bottom four drivers without a victory in the 16-driver grid eliminated from championship contention following the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol.
Their crash occurred with just four laps remaining in Stage 1 at Atlanta, ending the stage under caution conditions. Ryan Blaney, the defending Cup champion, earned the stage victory over Team Penske teammate Austin Cindric, Alex Bowman and Joey Logano, all playoff drivers, while Ricky Stenhouse Jr. completed the top five. Ross Chastain, Chase Elliott, William Byron, Martin Truex Jr. and Ty Gibbs rounded out the top 10.
Ultimately, Logano went on to win the Quaker State 400 in overtime ahead of Daniel Suárez and Blaney. The Round of 16 continues next week at Watkins Glen (Sunday, 3 p.m. ET, USA, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).