Kyle Larson had mixed emotions after Michigan finish: 'It was not a pretty day'

Kyle Larson had mixed emotions about finishing fifth at the NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday. After the race, Larson was asked about recording his ninth top-five finish of the 2025 season.

“I thought early I was surprised running 75-80 percent, I could just kind of maintain the gap,” Larson said, per NBC Sports. “Then those other guys started coming, and my balance was already shot by then anyway. I didn’t think I had a chance to push even if I wanted. I ran that whole last run not hitting wide open more than 2-3 seconds. Just glad to make it. It was not a pretty day. We weren’t very fast, but we were able to get a top five.

“Days like today aren’t the most fun, but they feel really good, too. Proud of the whole team. Wish we could have got a win for Chevrolet, but we’ll try again next year. Days like last week and this week were very similar. We weren’t fast on speed, but made the most out of it last week and today. For a point of that last run, I thought we might have a shot to win. So it just says a lot about the team and how really strong we’ve stayed through some bits of adversity. Hopefully, we can just run better from now and run in the top five all day.”

Kyle Larson just finished a challenging weekend

Kyle Larson started the race in fifth place and was in seventh after the first stage. He never led but earned his second consecutive top-10 finish after suffering a DNF at the Coca-Cola 600 last month.

The Michigan race ended a challenging weekend for Larson. On Friday night, the 32-year-old was involved in a violent crash in a sprint car race in Wisconsin. He did not suffer any injuries and explained what happened after the wreck.

“It just kind of launched me, and I was along for the ride,” he said, per Motorsport.com (via ESPN). “Bummer, but I felt really good pacing Rico [Abreu] there and just finally catching traffic and get racing there. Glad I’m OK, big hit but all-in-all, feel fine.”