mobile-menu-icon
GM Authority

NASCAR Chevy Driver Larson Makes Critical Mistake, Loses Xfinity Sonoma 2023: Video

Kyle Larson is arguably one of the best drivers of the modern NASCAR era, having won the Cup Series championship in 2021 and winding up in Victory Lane quite a few times since. However, Larson made a critical mistake while racing in the Xfinity Series at Sonoma on June 10th, 2023, one that ultimately cost him and the No. 17 Camaro the win.

Larson showed the way in the No. 17 NASCAR Chevy for much of the race, defending against charges from Aric Almirola’s No. 28 Ford Mustang as the laps ticked down. However, the race changed in Almirola favor, as he put the No. 28 Mustang in the lead on a restart on Lap 65 and didn’t look back, even under pressure from Larson’s No. 17 Camaro. Then, on Lap 72, Larson overshot the No. 17 Camaro into Turn 11, missing the hairpin and lightly clipping the tire barriers, allowing Almirola’s No. 28 Mustang to take off with the race lead.

Larson’s mistake in the No. 17 Camaro also opened the door for A.J. Allmendinger to pass him for second in the No. 10 Camaro, relegating Larson to a third-place result.

“I just got too greedy,” said Larson. “I was kind of tucked up right behind [Almirola], clipped the tires, and it knocked the wheel out of my hands. After that the toe was off. I was really tight in the left and really loose in the right, so I couldn’t make runs at it…”

He added, “I’m really mad at myself right now, but I’m really proud of the car [Hendrick Motorsports] brought. Congrats to Aric, too. He did a really good job out in front of me, hitting his marks. He could kind of get away from me in a couple of important areas and would make me have to work hard behind him. So hats off to him and that team.”

It’s worth noting that the top four finishers were Cup Series regulars rather than full-time Xfinity Series drivers, including Almirola winning in the No. 28 Mustang, A.J. Allmendinger’s No. 10 Camaro in second, Larson’s No. 17 Camaro in third and Ty Gibb’s fourth-place result in the No. 19 Toyota Supra. Parker Kligerman’s No. 48 NASCAR Chevy finished fifth, the best of all the regular Xfinity Series drivers.

NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Results, Sonoma Raceway, June 10, 2023
Finish Start Car Number Driver Team Laps Run Laps Led Car
1 4 28 Aric Almirola(i) Michael Roberts Construction Ford 79 17 Ford Mustang
2 5 10 AJ Allmendinger(i) Gabriel Glas Chevrolet 79 2 Chevrolet Camaro
3 1 17 Kyle Larson(i) HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 79 53 Chevrolet Camaro
4 7 19 Ty Gibbs(i) He Gets Us Toyota 79 0 Toyota Supra
5 12 48 Parker Kligerman Big Machine Racing Spiked Chevrolet 79 0 Chevrolet Camaro
6 26 00 Cole Custer Haas Automation Ford 79 0 Ford Mustang
7 2 7 Justin Allgaier BRANDT Chevrolet 79 0 Chevrolet Camaro
8 13 21 Austin Hill Bennett Transportation Chevrolet 79 4 Chevrolet Camaro
9 10 18 Sammy Smith # Pilot Flying J Toyota 79 0 Toyota Supra
10 6 1 Sam Mayer Accelerate Pros Talent Chevrolet 79 0 Chevrolet Camaro
11 3 2 Sheldon Creed Whelen Chevrolet 79 0 Chevrolet Camaro
12 14 25 Brett Moffitt AM Technical Solutions Ford 79 0 Ford Mustang
13 8 11 Daniel Hemric Cirkul Chevrolet 79 0 Chevrolet Camaro
14 20 16 Chandler Smith # Quick Tie Products Inc. Chevrolet 79 0 Chevrolet Camaro
15 23 98 Riley Herbst Monster Energy Ford 79 0 Ford Mustang
16 9 20 John Hunter Nemechek Yahoo Toyota 79 1 Toyota Supra
17 24 51 Jeremy Clements Fox Sports/Spartan Waste Chevrolet 79 0 Chevrolet Camaro
18 15 91 Ross Chastain(i) Skip Barber Racing School Chevrolet 79 0 Chevrolet Camaro
19 25 36 Josh Bilicki SBC Contractors Chevrolet 79 0 Chevrolet Camaro
20 27 26 Kaz Grala FDC Black Cherry Bourbon Toyota 79 0 Toyota Supra
21 28 9 Brandon Jones Menards/Patriot Lighting Chevrolet 79 0 Chevrolet Camaro
22 18 8 Kyle Weatherman Team Schuler/Fanttik Ford 79 0 Ford Mustang
23 32 4 Ty Dillon(i) Chevrolet 79 0 Chevrolet Camaro
24 33 43 Dylan Lupton Lupton Excavation Inc Chevrolet 79 0 Chevrolet Camaro
25 11 29 Alex Labbe RSS Racing Ford 79 2 Ford Mustang
26 30 27 Jeb Burton Bommarito.com/EasyCare Chevrolet 79 0 Chevrolet Camaro
27 17 7 Daniel Suarez(i) Refology/Blast Equality Collab Chevrolet 79 0 Chevrolet Camaro
28 34 39 Ryan Sieg CMRroofing.com Ford 79 0 Ford Mustang
29 31 53 Brad Perez APEX Coffee Toyota 79 0 Toyota Supra
30 36 02 Blaine Perkins # To The Point Inc. Chevrolet 79 0 Chevrolet Camaro
31 38 38 Joe Graf Jr ArmsList.com Ford 79 0 Ford Mustang
32 29 24 Connor Mosack Open Eyes Toyota 78 0 Toyota Supra
33 19 8 Josh Berry Tire Pros Love The Drive Chevrolet 76 0 Chevrolet Camaro
34 21 44 Sage Karam Quality Roof Seamers/ToughGuard Chevrolet 71 0 Chevrolet Camaro
35 22 92 Josh Williams Alloy Employer Services Chevrolet 60 0 Chevrolet Camaro
36 35 45 Jeffrey Earnhardt ForeverLawn Chevrolet 59 0 Chevrolet Camaro
37 37 78 Anthony Alfredo DUDE Wipes Chevrolet 44 0 Chevrolet Camaro
38 16 31 Parker Retzlaff # FUNKAWAY Chevrolet 21 0 Chevrolet Camaro

# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver

Subscribe to GM Authority for more Chevy news, NASCAR news, GM motorsports news and around-the-clock GM news coverage.

Alexandra is a Colorado-based journalist with a passion for all things involving horsepower, be it automotive or equestrian.

Subscribe to GM Authority

For around-the-clock GM news coverage

We'll send you one email per day with the latest GM news. It's totally free.

No Comments yet

Leave a comment

Cancel