WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson went behind the wall with brake issues after just six laps in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International.
Racing mid-pack after qualifying 26th, Larson went for a spin entering the 90-degree Turn 1, immediately radioing to his team, “I got no brakes.”
Crew chief Cliff Daniels called him down pit road, where the two-time Watkins Glen winner gingerly brought his No. 5 Chevrolet in for service. He went behind the wall moments later as Daniels said the team needed to change a brake line over the radio.
Larson spent the conclusion of Stage 1 behind the wall before rejoining the race under caution at Lap 22.
RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Watkins Glen
“Incredibly unfortunate because I really wish that it would’ve shown up yesterday, or at any point sooner than five laps into the start of the race,” Daniels told NASCAR.com. “When we came in and realized how much brake fluid was coming out of the lines in that area, we just took our next steps to get it replaced, get it fixed, get the brakes bled and get the car back out there.
“Certainly a lot more assessment that we’ll need to do at the shop, pick it apart and figure out exactly what the root cause was.”
Larson returned to the race at Lap 22 during the caution ending Stage 1. Coming back on track at 16 laps down, he earned the free pass eight laps later during a debris yellow and finished 15 circuits behind.
Still, the No. 5 team had more to gain. Daniels explained the need to build their notebook and practice pit strategy with just two races remaining in the regular season. Larson even earned the point for the Xfinity Fastest Lap, throwing down a heater of 73.2 seconds around the 2.45-mile road course.
“It’s nice that we got the fast lap,” Daniels said. “The luster of it has gone away a little bit for us because we’ve had to do that twice now at road courses (Sonoma), but still a good team exercise to do. Kyle stayed dug in, the team stayed dug in and salvaged the best that we could.”
With a last-place finish, Larson dropped from 45 points behind teammate William Byron to 85 below, essentially ending his hopes at the Regular Season Championship. Three of the last five races have resulted in finishes of 28th or worse for the 2021 Cup Series champion, who is riding an inconsistent stretch since failing to complete the Double back in May.
MORE: Cup Series standings | Three Up, Three Down: The Glen
But as Richmond Raceway awaits on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App), a place that Larson’s won twice, Daniels invites the naysayers.
“There’s not a whole lot to be said about right now, other than we’re just not getting the results,” Daniels said. “We’re going to keep building on the momentum that we have as a group: our operation, our chemistry and all the things that we’ve been kind of fostering and growing this year.
“Never bet against yourself, and just being realistic about where we are, the fact that we have shown up with speed the last handful of weeks, I’m really hopeful that people count us out.”