Kyle Larson expressed frustration with Sam Mayer on Saturday evening after a late restart took away his second win of the weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Larson had led 132 laps in a dominant performance, but he settled for a fourth-place finish after Mayer hit him from behind on the overtime restart and disrupted his launch.
"I can't go when my rear tires are off the ground," Larson told CW Sports' Dillon Welch after the race. "I know it looks like I choked another one away, but I did everything I thought I could.
"The 41 just lagged back and slammed the s--- out of me. Bummer, but cool to have as big of a lead that we had. I would have loved to get a win for everybody in the 17 car -- don't get to race all the time -- so it's good we can run up front like we did today."
.@J_Allgaier comes through in the clutch!!!
Homestead-Miami win ✅
Dash 4 Cash win ✅Watch the entire overtime and the thrilling finish! pic.twitter.com/W90VeWzk83
— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) March 22, 2025
The first two stages featured Larson battling Mayer at the front of the pack. They both led laps and then Larson won stage 2 while Mayer crossed the line second.
The final stage was pure domination by the Hendrick Motorsports driver. He led 66 laps in the No. 17 Chevrolet, made his green flag pit stop, and then led 50 more laps. Larson built up a 16-second lead while lapping all but six cars.
The situation drastically changed with eight laps left in the race. Taylor Gray blew a tire and spun on the frontstretch. This brought out the caution and bunched up the field for an overtime restart.
Mayer lined up directly behind Larson for the overtime restart while Austin Hill took the outside of the front row with Justin Allgaier. As they entered the restart zone, Mayer hit Larson from behind and partially turned the No. 17 Chevrolet.
This contact -- while it didn't wreck Larson -- stunted his momentum enough to open up an opportunity for Hill and Allgaier. Hill jumped to the lead and put himself in position to win the race, but Allgaier ultimately took control.
The JR Motorsports driver went on to win the race and the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus. Larson saw his shot at a tripleheader sweep fade away.
"Got to his bumper a little too early," Mayer said after the race. "He went really, really late in the box just playing games -- that's what you gotta do at this level to get the advantage. He kind of played it really long, and I wasn't ready for him to wait that long. I was giddy to get going."
With this overtime restart disrupting Larson's race, Kyle Busch remains the only driver in Cup Series history to sweep all three races in a weekend, something he did two separate times at Bristol Motor Speedway.