Kyle Larson lost the championship lead after losing a chance to take victory at the FireKeepers Casino 400 due to an incident midway through the race.
The American driver sparked a multi-car crash, forcing his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to drop down the order.
Larson scored just three points after finishing in 34th place, conceding the championship lead as Tyler Reddick claimed the top spot in the standings after winning the race in NASCAR.
This incident continues an inconsistent run over the last five races for Larson, with two finishes outside the top 30 in Chicago and Michigan and a victory at the Brickyard 400.
Kyle Larson took full responsibility for the crash at Michigan International Speedway
Larson’s costly incident has put him on the back foot in the title race. With two rounds to go before the playoffs, he has slipped to fourth in the championship standings.
A caution was called after a sequence of tyre failures in the closing stages of the second stage and a flurry of drivers stayed out in a gamble to pick up points.
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Larson pitted and lost multiple positions before being pinned down at the bottom of the circuit at Turn 3 as three cars drove side-by-side.
The American touched the white line and lost grip, which spun him into other cars, causing severe damage to his No. 5 car.
Larson explained his side of the incident via motorsport.com: “I just messed up. You try to get all you can on restarts. I was just trying to funnel myself up the racetrack. I didn’t want to get stuck on the bottom three-wide. Just got myself in an awkward aero spot and lost it. It’s unfortunate. I made a mistake and cost ourselves a lot of points today.”
Kyle Larson believes the current NASCAR machines are difficult to save when sliding
Restarts are a critical aspect of racing in NASCAR and competing on ovals as they present a good opportunity to gain places.
The 32-year-old was conscious of getting trapped near the apron of the circuit which leaves a very minimal margin for error.
Larson explained that the current cars in NASCAR are challenging to regain control once they have lost grip and start sliding.
He added: “I mean you get a little bit of warning right before you start spinning. But once these Next Gen cars step out, it’s really hard to save it. I was just doing what I thought would be right to funnel our way up and just put myself in bad spot.”
The American will be aiming for a better result at the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway a circuit he failed to deliver a strong result at last season.