NASCAR All-Star race winner Kyle Larson admitted he was completely at fault for the biggest crash of the 600-mile Cup championship round at Charlotte.
Ganassi driver Larson’s victory in the previous weekend’s non-points race had turned around a previously miserable 2019 season.
He was among the frontrunners late in Sunday night’s main event when he clipped Clint Bowyer and went into a spin across the pack.
Larson’s car collected Austin Dillon’s Chevrolet on the inside and then rebounded into Dillon’s brother Ty on the outside, while Bowyer was sent into the wall too.
Ryan Preece, Paul Menard and David Ragan were also caught up in the accident.
“I just got in there and lost grip and slid up into Clint,” said Larson.
“I got stuck in the middle and then just put myself in a bad spot and got sideways.
“I got tight on that restart. An up and down day for us.
“I hate that I did that, it was all me.”
Larson has still not finished higher than third in a championship round this season.
Retiring at Charlotte leaves him 16th in the drivers’ standings – the last position for qualifying for the playoffs via points – at the halfway point of the regular season.
“We’ll try and clean it up and go where we race next week and try to be better,” said Larson.