4 Takeaways From Kyle Larson Taking Control Of The Chase With Talladega Rally

Talladega Superspeedway (Talladega, Ala.) — Kyle Larson had never won a superspeedway drafting race, and when he dropped to 11th on the final lap Sunday, it appeared that streak would hit 59 races. Instead, the streak ended. And now the Cup championship is firmly in his hands. Larson’s incredible comeback put him 73 points ahead of Denny Hamlin, 74 points ahead of Christopher Bell and 79 points ahead of Chase Briscoe with two races left in the season. If he leaves Martinsville 77 points ahead of the entire field, he will clinch the title a week before the season ends Nov. 8 at Homestead. His initial reaction when seeing the points? “Holy sh–,” Larson said in his winning news conference. That was the reaction that many folks had after seeing Larson win at Talladega. Here are my takeaways: 1. Kyle Larson In Control Larson nearly lost control of the victory and the lead in points. He said that, as he was making the winning pass, his hands came off the steering wheel in his excitement. He nearly had his left-side wheels go below the yellow line that separates the apron from the racing surface, which would have been a penalty. NASCAR ruled his wheels never went fully below the line. The fact he was in that position was wild. It appeared the holes opened up for Larson, who also had help from his Chevrolet brethren for much of the race. NASCAR said all Chevrolets were full throttle in the final two turns and they didn’t believe any driver relinquished a position to help Larson. “I felt like Dale [Earnhardt] Jr. out there with half the field kind of helping me,” Larson said in his USA Sports interview after the race. With that type of control of the final lap, the championship is now firmly in his control. Larson seeks his third title, having won in 2021 and then again in 2025. “There’s still a lot of racing left,” Larson said. “So much [racing] in The Chase. … I’m not going to let you guys get me ahead of myself.” Nine drivers were eliminated from championship contention: Austin Cindric, Ty Gibbs, Chase Elliott, Carson Hocevar, Bubba Wallace, Daniel Suárez, William Byron, Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece. 2. Big Wrecks Wipe Out Contenders Wrecks wiped out five of the seven drivers who are in contention for The Chase. Christopher Bell wrecked on his own, spinning as he entered pit road. Ryan Blaney and Tyler Reddick were caught up in the first big wreck. Joey Logano and Chase Briscoe were caught up in the second big wreck, with Logano ending up upside down on his roof. They all remained mathematically in contention for the title but none are all that close to Larson. “Just got to go win,” Briscoe told me outside the medical center when he didn’t know the exact amount of points he was behind. Blaney, in talking after the accident, summed up his championship chances by saying, “it’s on life support, that’s for sure.” 3. More Hamlin Frustration Regular-season champion Denny Hamlin would have been satisfied with an eighth-place finish at Talladega — except Larson’s win ruined his hopes of keeping pace. Hamlin didn’t score any stage points (Larson earned 16 of a possible 20) but was in the top 10 for much of the time near the end of the race. “Obviously, the [No.] 5 [of Larson] is on a massive run at the right time of the year,” Hamlin told me and other reporters after the race. “And so that’s what we’ve got. It’s disappointing but also our day could have been a s—-ton worse. “We didn’t get stage points. We tried. There’s lots of games going on, and it’s tough to do it.” 4. RFK Snookers Field In First Stage NASCAR has worked to keep teams from having their drivers compete at 50-60 percent throttle to save fuel on superspeedways. The idea is that, by doing so, their pit stops prior to the end of the stage or race can be shorter because they will need less fuel to get to the finish. One of the changes was a longer first stage, which at Talladega was 98 laps.  It started with the drivers saving fuel. But after 30 laps, the RFK Racing drivers went full throttle and quickly built a 20-second lead on the rest of the field and eventually it was more than 40 seconds. Chris Buescher, Ryan Preece and Brad Keselowski easily went 1-2-3 in the stage. “When everybody else is going 40 percent throttle, it’s possible,” Preece told me and other reporters after the race. “I don’t want to speak a whole lot on it other than you’ll never see that again. “You’ll see every team in this garage react and will not allow that to happen ever again. That was pretty neat. Hope you enjoyed it.” 4 ½. What’s Next: Martinsville Martinsville Speedway, the shortest track on the NASCAR circuit at 0.526 miles, will serve as the penultimate race of the 2026 season. Chase Elliott won there in the spring and William Byron won there a year ago. Both have been eliminated from Chase contention. In the nine Next Gen races at Martinsville, Larson has one win, two seconds, a third and two fifths. He was ninth in the spring.