NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Larson lit off an expletive-laden rant directed at his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott during Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 — all before finishing 26th.
Sunday saw the sophomore running of NASCAR’s Cup Series at Iowa Speedway, a 0.875-mile track tucked away in the corn fields of Newton, Iowa, and what started as a compelling an strategic race descended into a crash fest in Stages 2 and 3.
The first stage went caution-free as William Byron and Brad Keselowski battled hard for the playoff points accompanying a stage victory. It looked like the full race was shaping up to be a caution-free event… until everything started to fall apart midway through the race.
Iowa Corn 350: From clean racing to wreckfest
The first caution for cause in the Iowa Corn 350 didn’t come until Lap 171, when Australian Supercars legend Shane van Gisbergen spun on his own in the midst of Stage 2 and proceeded to kick off a maddening slew of incidents.
The Iowa Corn 350 went green again on Lap 176; then, on Lap 181, the No. 51 of Cody Ware had his own spin, bringing out another yellow.
The field went green again on Lap 185; on Lap 204, Ty Dillon and Todd Gilliland made contact, which brought out another yellow.
Next came the Stage 2 caution break between laps 212 and 219 — and when Stage 3 got underway, everything seemed to fall apart.
On Lap 222, Denny Hamlin spun his No. 11 off Turn 4, resulting in a five-lap caution period that ended on lap 227.
On Lap 230, the No. 77 of Carson Hocevar and the No. 38 of Zane Smith made contact in Turn 2 and brought out a five-lap caution period.
On Lap 244, Erik Jones and Chase Briscoe had ai incident on the front stretch that resulted in another five-lap caution period.
On Lap 254, Briscoe, Tyler Reddick, and Christopher Bell were all involved in chaos, bringing out a six-lap yellow period.
On Lap 264, van Gisbergen and Kyle Busch had a front-stretch incident that resulted in a four-lap caution period.
On Lap 272, we had a four-lap caution for Ty Dillon once again, followed by a four-lap caution on Lap 282 for debris at Turn 3.
Kyle Larson loses his temper
The restart-wreck-yellow-repeat cycle was maddening for fans and drivers alike — but Kyle Larson was one of the drivers who couldn’t keep his cool.
With 25 laps remaining in Stage 2, Larson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott cracked into Larson while trying to go three wide through the middle of Larson and Chase Briscoe. At that point, Larson was annoyed — but didn’t have much to say.
But on another restart 20 laps later, Larson and the No. 9 of Elliott made contact again as they both dived for the middle lane.
Then, with 99 laps to go, Christopher Bell slid up into the left side of Larson’s No. 5 — and Larson exploded.
“F*ck every single mother f*cker!” he yelled over the radio. “F*ck!”
That was just the tip of the iceberg; when the next caution period came out, Larson queued up the mic to ask, “How much f*cking room do I have to leave people? How’s my right-rear quarter? All that stupid sh*t.”
Larson’s crew chief Cliff Daniels stepped in to serve not just as a guiding light during the race itself, but to become something like Larson’s therapist as he replied, “Yeah, we’re gonna look at it.
“I know those guys have been hard on you, man. Vent. Yell at me and then we’re gonna figure out how we’re gonna reset. I know you’re mad. Stay mad for a few minutes and we’ll figure out our next move. I’ll let you know on damage. Standby.”
Larson was keen to take that advice, yelling, “Been quiet for 45 minutes. F*ck, man! I’ve been trying to be a good — a good teammate. I’ve been trying to be a good competitor and it hasn’t got me anywhere here in the last f*cking hour!”
After all the chaos, the best Larson could manage come the checkered flag was 26th.
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