Kyle Larson said he was frustrated with himself after giving up the lead on the final lap of the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. However, the driver of the No. 5 miraculously recovered coming to the finish line to take the win in the 188-lap NASCAR Cup Series race.
Larson fell back to as low as 11th on the final lap. As the field stormed through the tri-oval and back to the finish line, Larson passed Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for the top spot and edged out Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron to claim the victory in thrilling fashion.
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It was Larson’s third win of the 2026 season, which have all come in the Chase, first career Talladega win, and first on a superspeedway.
Kyle Larson on Last-Lap Slip-Up: ‘I Was Mad at Myself’
During the call-in segment of “Dale Jr. Download,” hosted by NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr., Larson was asked about his mindset after getting shuffled back to 11th place with half a lap remaining at Talladega.
The two-time and defending Cup Series champion was frustrated, thinking he had just given up the easiest Talladega win possible. Yet, “Yung Money” said he stayed composed and focused on getting to the finish.
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“I was just mad at myself because I’m like, dude I can’t believe I’ve got all these allies out here and I just choked away this win that was going to be the easiest speedway win that I would ever have. I don’t deserve to ever win a speedway race if I lose this one. All that’s kind of running through my head. As you kind of just settle in you’re like, ‘All right, gosh darn, let’s just not make this any worse and get to the finish,'” Larson said.
From the point he fell back in the pack, Larson did not want to do anything spectacular. Ultimately, the door opened up for Larson to make something incredible happen.
“The whole time, the rest of the way was just like, ‘All right, how can I just take what I can get here and try to just get the best finish that I can? Not do anything special or crazy. That’s what happened. I didn’t do anything special or crazy and it just worked out all the way to the line,” Larson said.
The win gave Larson a 73-point advantage over Denny Hamlin in the battle for the championship. With two races remaining, Larson can clinch the title by scoring 59 points in Sunday’s Xfinity 500.
