Phoenix was never going to be a good day for Kyle Larson. He started 22nd, struggled to make up ground, failed to score any stage points, and even went a lap down at one point.
But things got a lot worse for the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet after 281 of 312 laps. While battling for 16th with Austin Cindric, Larson's right-front tire blew on entry into Turn 1 and he slammed the wall.
The damage was terminal and his race was over, leaving Larson with just three points for his efforts at Phoenix.
Surprisingly, he still leads the championship standings, but that 49-point advantage is gone. He now leads Christopher Bell by just five points, and the entire top seven are now separated by just 56 points.
"Not a good one (day)," said Larson outside the infield care center. "I was just trying to salvage anything in the top 20 would have been great and then I just blew a right front, I guess -- like a lot of people were. It's just a bummer but we can still do it. It happens."
Larson entered this race with no finish worse than sixth in the Chase, only to finish 34th at Phoenix with his first DNF since the Brickyard 400 in July.
There are just three races left in the season with Talladega next up on the schedule. Larson has never won at the mighty superspeedway, and it's very difficult to avoid the chaos at the 2.66-mile track.
"I don't know," said Larson went asked about looking ahead to Talladega. "Just trying to go there and forget about today and get back after it and do a good job. We've done well at the superspeedways so hopefully we can just execute and score some points and yeah just keep ourselves in the hunt."
Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports
Photo by: Meg Oliphant / Getty Images
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