Kyle Larson extends Chase points
lead with first NASCAR win at Talladega after last-lap scramble
[October 26, 2026]
TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) — 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.’ And I probably never am going to have an opportunity to win a
speedway race that easily with so many allies around me. And so I
was just mad.”
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.
“All of a sudden, everything just opened up,” he said. “An
unbelievable way to get my first speedway win. It all just worked
out.”
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 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). "I went left, and everybody was
just staying high.”
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.
“It’s good that Kyle won,” Byron said. “We worked really well
together all day. If I couldn’t win, I wanted him to win.”
Larson credited the drafting help from Byron and several other Chevy
drivers who kept him near the front.
“I felt like the rest of the Chevys were going to go wherever I
went,” Larson said. “I could kind of carve the way, and they would
follow, and that just gives you a lot of confidence.”
His faith in a title repeat was also restored.
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. After leading by only five points
entering the race, Larson gleefully blurted out a vulgarity when he
saw the postrace standings that had Hamlin virtually conceding
defeat.
“They’ve done a lot of things right, and a lot of things have really
gone right, and we’ve not done that,” Hamlin said. “And so we’ve got
a big old gap, and I think as long as (Larson) can keep his four
tires on it the next two weeks, then he’ll be a champion again."
[to top of second column] |
Kyle Larson, top right, celebrates with his chldren Owen, Audrey,
and Cooper after his win in a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday,
Oct. 25, 2026, in Talladega, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)
Larson drove like a champion Sunday as he rarely
has at the Cup circuit’s three drafting tracks where drivers run
inches apart at 200 mph.
Prior to his 35th career victory, Larson had a series-worst average
finish of 30.6 at Talladega, Daytona and Atlanta, and hadn’t won on
any of the tracks in 58 prior starts (the longest superspeedway
drought among active drivers).
But he led 21 laps and engineered two impressive comebacks, the
first starting with 15 laps remaining after he dropped from the lead
to 21st in four laps.
He had made his way back to second with six laps remaining when a
15-car crash erupted. The race went into overtime after a 13-minute
cleanup for a pileup that included Chase driver Joey Logano’s Ford
landing on its roof.
While Larson made nearly all the right moves in the finicky draft
where a split-second mistake can a large pileup, other title
contenders made some costly errors over the course of 500 miles.
A 12-car crash on the 132nd lap collected five Chase drivers,
effectively ending the championship hopes for Ryan Blaney and Tyler
Reddick.
“Just a bumper car-type thing,” said Blaney, who lost control of his
No. 12 Ford on a bump from Bubba Wallace after swinging into the top
lane. “Ended up crashing and took a lot of others. Maybe it wasn’t
the best move by me. I have to think about it more.
“This one hurts. We needed to have a good day.”
Christopher Bell, who entered just five points behind Larson,
crashed after spinning while entering the pits under green for his
first pit stop on Lap 56. He finished 35th and dropped to third in
the standings. 74 points behind Larson.
Snookering the field
The Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing trio of Chris Buescher, Ryan
Preece and Brad Keselowski swept the top three spots in the first
stage with a unique strategy that had the rest of the field nearly a
lap down at one point.
With many drivers conserving fuel to shorten their first green-flag
pit stop, Buescher, Preece and Keselowski broke from the pack with
laps that were 10 seconds faster. They had a lead of more than 40
seconds and easily stayed more than half a lap ahead of the field
through the end of the stage on the 98th lap.
“A great game of poker where we just called the field,” Keselowski
radioed his team. “I love it.”
Up next
The NASCAR Cup Series will head to its final short track of the
season with Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, Nov. 1. Chase Elliott
outdueled Denny Hamlin for the victory earlier this season.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
