Kyle Larson wins wild Talladega NASCAR Cup race after starting from 11th on final lap

Kyle Larson was thrown off the line on the final lap and fell back to 11th, but he somehow fought back to win the race.

With Ross Chastain drafted, they moved through the disorganized field as Ricky Stenhouse Jr. held the lead. Behind him, Austin Hill ran out of gas, leaving Stenhouse as an easy target.

Larson surged, passing Stenhouse in a 1-2 Hendrick Motorsports with William Byron second, Stenhouse and Chastain fourth. There was only 0.041 seconds between Hendrick’s teammates at the finish line and 0.073 between the top four.

Cole Custer was fifth, Carson Hocevar sixth, Todd Gilliland seventh, Denny Hamlin eighth, Alex Bowman ninth and Michael McDowell 10th.

Larson now leads the championship standings by a whopping 73-point margin over Hamlin.

Step 1

Briscoe led the race from pole position, but Hill quickly took the lead after starting alongside.

The entire peloton went to three for a moment before becoming strictly two by two. T. Dillon lost a lap early after serving a drive-through penalty for unapproved pre-race adjustments.

While everyone was conserving fuel, Keselowski hit the gas to the bottom and passed the entire field unassisted, rejoining his teammates at the front.

While the RFK trio led the results, it was the underdogs who controlled the top with Cody Ware, Daniel Dye and Gray Gaulding. Gray and Dye led laps for the first time in their Cup careers.

After about 30 laps of racing, the RFK trio decided to leave, completely abandoning the peloton and moving away. They took 40 seconds ahead of the peloton.

On lap 50, the Chevrolets were the first to stop in two separate groups. Hocevar, Chastain, Suarez, Gase and Mears were all stopped for speeding and received penalties.

The RFK trio came back down two laps later and merged into the peloton.

When the Toyotas stopped, Bell lost control and hit the inside wall, severely damaging the right front. The race remained green, but the driver who entered this race second in the standings was now in great difficulty. Bell had to stop again as the damage damaged a tire. Things only got worse from there as he was penalized by NASCAR.

When the Ford group pitted, Gragson had to jump into the grass to avoid a collision, earning him a penalty.

Zane Smith had to make an unscheduled pit stop for a flat tire, but once again the race remained green.

The RFK trio reached the end of the stage, with Buescher winning the first stage ahead of Preece and Keselowski. Far behind them, Larson led the main field in fourth, Byron fifth, Herbst sixth, Briscoe seventh, Blaney eighth, Logano ninth and Cindric tenth.

Stenhouse, 27th, got the free pass.

Step 2

Logano took the lead on a wild restart, leading the RFK Fords.

The field ended up side by side, but there were many more jockeys this time and no green flag pit stops were planned.

With just over ten laps to go, the first major incident of the race occurred. A pileup in the top lane ended with Wallace and Blaney tangling, crossing the track and damaging several cars.

Two title contenders were eliminated from the race: Blaney and Reddick. Hamlin, Elliott, Nemechek, Gibbs, Wallace, Suarez, Gragson and Gaulding were all involved.

Blaney, Reddick, Elliott and Nemechek were unable to continue, while Mears dropped out of the race at the same time due to a mechanical problem.

In the wild race for stage points, Logano narrowly won Stage 2 over Larson, Briscoe, Cindric, Byron, Buescher, Zilisch, Van Gisbergen and Hill.

Step 3

A handful of cars remained on track, with Buescher and Jones leading on the remaining 40 restarts.

Once things were settled, Larson took control of the race with several Chevrolets right behind him.

The third line began to form with Chastain moving back in front of Logano, and both heading to the front, even with Chastain a lap behind.

With a few laps to go, Logano lost control after a bump from Hocevar in the tri-oval, spinning around in a monstrous crash. Several cars were recovered, but fortunately all drivers were later checked and released from the field care center. NASCAR signaled the race as they put Logano’s car back on its wheels.

On the restart, the pushes were massive and Larson had the lead at the white flag. However, Hill pushed him off the line exiting Turn 2, and suddenly Stenhouse surged for the lead.

Larson fell back to 11th entering Turn 3, but he had Chastain directly behind him and a disorganized field in front of them.

Stenhouse was all alone as Hill ran out of fuel and Byron followed. But Larson was flying on the inside, followed by Chastain, and driver Hendrick took the checkered flag.

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– The Motorsport.com team