Kyle Larson threw his left hand off the wheel in disgust with a half-lap remaining at Talladega Superspeedway, watching helplessly as his No. 5 Chevrolet plummeted from the lead. "I screwed up," he said. "I felt like, 'Man, another one I just gave away.' About 30 seconds later, he was jubilant after picking the perfect time to make some perfect moves for his first victory at the 2.66-mile oval that has been among his worst in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Desperate for a rebound after his worst finish of the Chase, the defending series champion expanded his points lead by a wide margin with a breathtaking rally from 11th to first through the last two corners of the final lap. Larson took the white flag in the lead but lost 10 spots in the first two turns after being unable to handle several bumps by the No. 33 Chevy of Austin Hill, who was trying to push him to the win. "Just crazy to get the win after falling back as far as we did," said Larson, who benefited from a drafting push by the No. 1 Chevy of Ross Chastain (who took fourth).
In a three-wide finish, Larson took the checkered flag by a few feet over Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron, who spent much of the race pushing Larson to the front. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished 0.066 seconds behind in third place. With his third victory in the past seven races, Larson moved 73 points ahead of Denny Hamlin in the Chase standings with two races remaining. There are 76 maximum points available for a race win, so it's possible that Larson could clinch his third championship with a win Nov. 1 at Martinsville Speedway.
Source: ESPN General · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing