The Daytona 500 is one of, if not the most popular, American races. The California track has a legacy of its own, getting all the fans around the US glued to their TVs. However, the Superspeedway also has a rather dark reputation, having taken away Dale Earnhardt’s life. But it turns out, Kyle Larson could have joined the drivers who met Daytona’s grim reaper.

And that too on his very first Xfinity Series race, as he revealed in a 2019 interview.

A 2019 episode of the Waltrip Unfiltered Podcast featured Larson, where he talked about his love for racing. But in conversation, his scariest crash came up, which got the 2021 Cup Series Champion to take a trip down his Xfinity Series debut. And that too was his very first race at Daytona.

Kyle Larson recalled the scary accident he had suffered

Larson detailed, “So, My first Xfinity race ever. And I was running good. I think we’re all drafting off of four, coming to the line. And I was probably 6th,7th-ish 8th. But then, yeah, they started shot at the track and crashing and we’re all just wide open at that point, just not really having to care in the world for who’s sliding across track.” He further added on the stakes at the California Superspeedway, leading drivers to just run through other drivers to reach the finish line, “You’re just trying to get to the finish line, and you got to plow through somebody you’re gonna.” 

Reality came crashing for Larson though because soon he realized he was launched up in the air. The Hendrick Motorsports driver recalled the horrific incident, “Somehow, I got like somehow lifted up in the air. And I was like, oh, all right, we’re flying. And nothing hurt, you know, like I remember getting up in the air, gets quiet, you know, I guess I didn’t really know I got into the fence.”

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The truth of the incident hit Larson when he stepped out of the car

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The HMS driver wasn’t aware of the true extent of the incident. And he wouldn’t realize until he saw flames coming from his car. He said, “But then I came down and I’m sliding to the infield. And I didn’t realize how damaged my car was, but I’d seen some flames coming in, so I was like, all right, I gotta get out of here quick and got out.”

Fortunately, he got out of the car on time before anything worse could happen. Possibly, even escaping death from a crash that could have taken a few lives. Of course, the Xfinity Series rookie Larson glanced at the car when he sat in the ambulance to get a glimpse of it. He described the damage done to his car, “At that point, I saw the front of my car. I was like, wow, that must have been pretty big. And then I get into the ambulance. We’re rolling down Pit Road. And I remember glancing out the window and there was a big, empty section.” 

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It just goes to show how much safer stock cars have gotten with time. If this had happened back in the 1980s, we could have easily seen some severe injuries putting drivers out of their careers, if not casualties. Fortunately, safety has become quite a priority. Yet, we saw some seriously terrifying safety issues in the 2022 Next-Gen cars. So, do you think NASCAR will take plenty of examples and work on fixing them in the upcoming 2023 season? Let us know in the comments.