Larson: "Just thankful that I'm alright" after vicious impact

Kyle Larson spun on the first overtime restart at Talladega (Al.) Superspeedway, and was fortunate to escape the incident unscathed.

Larson was collected when Ross Chastain and Noah Gragson came together in front of him, spinning down onto the apron.

The No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet then shot back up the track, which is when Ryan Preece slammed into the passenger-side door of the car. The violent impact caused significant damage to the side of Larson's car, and a door bar inside the cockpit could be seen pushed upwards and twisted after the crash.

"Thankfully, I'm okay," said Larson. "My car is absolutely destroyed. The cockpit is a mess. Just thankful that I'm alright and all that, but just a bummer. We put ourselves in position once again on a superspeedway, and the end results don't show it. Another wreck not of my doing on a superspeedway. Just hate it, but we'll keep getting better and eventually, it'll have to work out."

Both he and Preece were checked and released from the infield care center. Preece said it was "definitely one of the hardest hits I've ever taken in my racing career."

NASCAR will be taking Larson's destroyed car back to the R&D Center for further inspection.