Kyle Larson explains controversial shove of Erik Jones in closing laps of Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona

Erik Jones was one of the many drivers looking to win their way into the postseason during Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway. Jones was up front late but fell to the back after getting shoved out of line by Kyle Larson.

From Larson’s point of view, the shove was meant as a way to get their line moving. He said that the Chevrolets and Toyotas don’t “latch bumpers” as well as the Fords, so he tried something different.

“I’m just trying to hit him and get our lane going,” Larson told Dustin Long of NBC Sports. “I feel like the Fords you can just really lock on to and push. Like, Toyotas and Chevys, we don’t latch bumpers very well, so I feel like the slams help advance the lane more. Maybe he thinks differently. I did get him a little out of shape one time I think and then I think that’s when I got by him.

“Dude, you’re just staring at a f*cking rear bumper in front of you. You can’t see in front of them, so I’d have to see the replay to even know if I shoved him into the guy in front of him. I can’t remember, there’s so much stuff that happens at the end. We’re all just trying to advance our lanes.”

Erik Jones tells his side of the story, disagrees with Kyle Larson

Jones managed to work his way back up to the front, finishing fifth. Unfortunately for Jones, fifth didn’t do him any good. He needed to win, and that he failed to do. Larson, meanwhile, finished one spot behind Jones in sixth.

Jones said he wants to talk with Larson about the shove. He disagreed with Larson’s explanation, saying the shoves were “slowing us down.”

“I gotta ask Kyle,” Jones told Toby Christie of TobyChristie.com. “The run before, you could see the 7 [Justin Haley] and I working well together and pushing to the lead. Even the 22 [Joey Logano], the 17 [Chris Buescher], all of us were pushing really well together and pushing to the lead when we could and taking the runs with what they were. The 5 [Larson] got behind us and was just super aggressive kind of bulldogging through us. He kept getting me a little more out of shape and it was just too much at one time. Fortunately, we didn’t wreck.

“I gotta ask him. I don’t know what his thought was. It wasn’t really helping us go forward, it was kind of slowing us down before I got too out of shape. I just gotta see what his thought was.”