NASCAR Cup Series: No. 5 Kyle Larson Victorious in Talladega

Credit: Sean Gardner VIA NASCAR Digital Media

Talladega Superspeedway rarely delivers a boring raceday. Sunday was no exception.

In the eighth race of The Chase, Kyle Larson delivered his most recent stint in a string of domiannce, driving to the lead with just two more competitions left in the season.

Prior to the weekend, six drivers sat within 50 points of Larson, the leader in The Chase. Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano rounded out the group.

Briscoe earned the pole heading into Sunday's race, followed by Austin Hill, Connor Zilisch and Shane van Gisbergen.

The green flag kicked off a busy start, with Hill taking the lead on Lap 3 ahead of Austin Dillon. On Lap 7, Cody Ware challenged Hill for the lead before Ryan Preece received a push from Josh Berry to make a run in the top lane. After several lead changes involving Brad Keselowski, Ware, Preece and Chris Buescher, the RFK Fords lined up to pull away from the field.

By Lap 43, the RFK Fords had built a six-second lead over the field, while van Gisbergen ran in fourth ahead of the second group. Laps 50 and 51 brought a round of pit stops. Preece, Buescher and Keselowski pitted on Lap 52, allowing Bell to take the lead ahead of Tyler Reddick and Riley Herbst.

Following the pit-stop cycle, Buescher led on Lap 66, followed by Preece and Keselowski. By Lap 78, the trio had extended their advantage to more than 30 seconds. Larson ran in fourth, while William Byron held fifth.

Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain battled for fourth on Lap 89, but Wallace eventually fell out of the lead pack. Larson and Byron remained at the front of the second group.

Stage 1 Results

1. No. 17 Chris Buescher

2. No. 60 Ryan Preece

3. No. 6 Brad Keselowski

4. No. 5 Kyle Larson

5. No. 24 William Byron

6. No. 35 Riley Herbst

7. No. 19 Chase Briscoe

8. No. 12 Ryan Blaney

9. No. 22 Joey Logano

10. No. 2 Austin Cindric

Credit: Sean Gardner VIA NASCAR Digital Media

Stage 2 began with pit stops under a yellow flag. Herbst and Logano led the restart from the outside and inside lanes, respectively. Herbst cleared the field for the lead on Lap 104, followed by Logano, Keselowski and Buescher. By Lap 117, Logano and Keselowski had worked their way to the front, with Logano leading from the inside lane.

Blaney moved into second by Lap 125 after starting 27th on the grid. Keselowski ran third, just 0.06 seconds behind Blaney.

By this point, 25 lead changes had taken place among 13 different leaders.

Following several laps of racing in the middle of the pack, Wallace made contact with Blaney on Lap 132 while battling behind the leaders. The contact triggered a multicar accident involving Chastain, Noah Gragson, Daniel Suarez, Chase Elliott, Hamlin, Blaney, Wallace, John Hunter Nemechek, Reddick, Ty Gibbs, Preece and Gray Gaulding.

Despite the crash, the race restarted seven laps later on Lap 139. Larson took the lead from the inside lane while Logano led the outside. The two battled through the end of Stage 2, with Logano ultimately taking first place at the stage finish.

Stage 2 Results

1. No. 22 Joey Logano

2. No. 5 Kyle Larson

3. No. 19 Chase Briscoe

4. No. 2 Austin Cindric

5. No. 24 William Byron

6. No. 17 Chris Buescher

7. No. 7 Connor Zilisch

8. No. 97 Shane van Gisbergen

9. No. 43 Erik Jones

10. No. 33 Austin Hill

Credit: Sean Gardner VIA NASCAR Digital Media

The final stage began with 33 laps remaining, with Buescher and Erik Jones leading the field back to green. Buescher briefly cleared Jones for the lead before Jones fought back on the inside. The two continued to battle as Custer and Gilliland moved toward the front. By Lap 154, the inside lane had cleared the field as the middle and outside lanes began to lose momentum.

Larson worked his way to the front on Lap 155, followed by Byron and Hill. Larson started 10th and had led eight laps across two separate stints. However, the battle at the front remained tight, with 32 lead changes among 14 drivers already recorded.

As the inside lane began to form single file, Stenhouse challenged Larson for the lead with a push from Hamlin. The two battled side-by-side on Lap 168 before Larson and Byron cleared Stenhouse on Lap 170. Following the restart, Logano surged forward in the outside lane alongside Chastain, who was a lap down, to challenge Larson and Stenhouse.

By Lap 174, Larson began to fade as the inside lane lost momentum. Logano moved alongside Stenhouse on the backstretch to challenge for the lead, setting up another shuffle at the front with 14 laps remaining. With five laps left in the race, Todd Gilliland sat at the lead, followed just 0.10 seconds behind by Larson. 

Then disaster struck. As Gilliland took the lead, Logano was bumped by Hocevar, causing another multi-car accident highlighted by Logano’s car flipping upside down. 15 other cars were also impacted in the event, which led to an immediate red flag on Lap 184.

The race restarted under caution with Gilliland in the lead, under one second ahead of Larson and Austin Hill. The No. 34 car started 35th on the grid. On Lap 188, the green flag was waved, giving Larson and Hill the opportunity to overtake Gilliland with just one lap remaining.

Larson maintained his lead until the end, securing yet another first place finish in the 2026 season.

Final Results

1. No. 5 Kyle Larson

2. No. 24 William Byron

3. No. 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

4. No. 1 Ross Chastain

5. No. 41 Cole Cluster

6. No. 77 Carson Hocevar

7. No. 34 Todd Gilliland

8. No. 11 Denny Hamlin

9. No. 48 Alex Bowman

10. No. 71 Michael McDowell

11. No. 3 Austin Dillon

12. No. 21 Josh Berry

13. No. 60 Ryan Preece

14. No. 33 Austin Hill

15. No. 10 Ty Dillon

16. No. 51 Cody Ware

17. No. 54 Ty Gibbs

18. No. 7 Daniel Suarez

19. No. 38 Zane Smith

20. No. 4 Noah Gragson

21. No. 44 Joey Gase

22. No. 23 Bubba Wallace

23. No. 66 Gray Gaulding

24. No. 6 Brad Keselowski

25. No. 78 Daniel Dye

26. No. 35 Riley Herbst

27. No. 2 Austin Cindric

28. No. 43 Erik Jones

29. No. 88 Connor Zilisch

30. No. 97 Shane Van Gisbergen

31. No. 16 AJ Allmendinger

32. No. 17 Chris Buescher

33. No. 19 Chase Briscoe

34. No. 22 Joey Logano

35. No. 20 Christopher Bell

36. No. 9 Chase Elliot

37. No. 45 Tyler Reddick

38. No. 12 Ryan Blaney

39. No. 42 John. H Nemechek

40. No. 62 Casey Mears