No further penalties for Kyle Larson after Talladega
Already missing three of his crew members going into the weekend, Kyle Larson didn’t get a chance to qualify but won’t face any further penalties.
NASCAR officials didn’t allow Larson to qualify due to unapproved adjustments to the roof rails. They said the team made those adjustments as they rolled his car to the grid for qualifying.
Larson started 38th (last) Sunday at Talladega.
Earlier this season, NASCAR docked 35 driver points from Noah Gragson and Ryan Preece and 35 owner points for their Stewart-Haas Racing teams due to improper roof rail deflectors. Officials found this issue during tech inspection.
MORE: NASCAR hits 2 Stewart-Haas Racing teams with L1 penalties
In the case of Larson, he passed tech inspection after officials found the unapproved adjustment. However, he had to drop to the rear and did a pass through pit road under green at the start of the race.
Larson merged in with the pack after pass-through penalty. After pit stops, he worked his way to the front with a push from teammate Chase Elliott.
Coming to the end of the stage, Larson was out in front and in position to not have to take the free pass. However, he got too far out in front and both Elliott and Cindric swallowed him up as they battled for the stage win.
Larson got the free pass under the stage caution. During stage two, he worked his way up to sixth before pit stops began.
After pit stops, he sat 12th but worked his way to third at the end of stage two.
In stage three, Larson lost the grip on track position and ended up 21st.
Larson still holds the points lead by 15 over Martin Truex Jr., heading into Dover next Sunday.
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com