Kyle Larson spun Ryan Blaney during Sunday's Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway, but he remained adamant that nothing malicious led to this incident. In Larson's eyes, he just messed up.
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Blaney and Larson battled for fifth place with six laps remaining. Each sought to secure precious stage points. Larson veered up the track and hit Blaney, which sent the No. 12 Ford spinning and brought out the caution. Larson went on to finish stage in fourth place while Blaney fumed.
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"I just told him I messed up," Larson said on pit road after a conversation with Blaney. "I wasn't meaning obviously to go in there and hit him. The lap before I had got in there and got inside of him, slid up, got to his door, got him tight, got to where I could race him down the frontstretch.
"I was just trying to do that again. I was a little further back into (Turn 3) than I was the lap before. Just misjudged the point of where I wasn't going to get next to him and tuck in. I just clipped him.
"Yeah, all on me. But wasn't intentional at all. I hope he understands that. Obviously I hurt his day where he could have gained more points."
The spin didn't fully ruin Blaney's day. He recovered and scored a fourth place finish. He just left the track with five or six fewer points.
The 2023 Cup Series champion did not angrily confront Larson on pit road, nor did he start an altercation. Blaney simply pulled Larson away from reporters so that they could have a conversation about the incident. They then parted ways to return to their respective media responsibilities.
"I just wanted to know what I did to deserve it," Blaney said on pit road. "He just said he made a mistake. That's fine. Make mistakes. But like at the end of the day I still got turned. Came from all the way up the bottom of the racetrack, hit me in he left rear.
"I know he most likely didn't mean to do it, but it happened anyway. That's one I've got to remember. I was happy we bounced back, not to get turned around, did a good job of coming out where we need to be."
Blaney is now 42 points above the cutline heading to the Round of 16 cutoff race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Larson is 60 points above the cutline. He is in the best position among the drivers who haven't won this round.
Interestingly, Larson is not the only Hendrick Motorsports driver who said he messed up on Sunday. Chase Elliott took the blame for contact with Josh Berry that wrecked the Wood Brothers Racing driver in stage 1.
