Kyle Larson drove to a runner-up in Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. (Photo: Riley Thompson | The Podium Finish)
LINCOLN, Ala. — Kyle Larson continues to rewrite the script at superspeedways. After a third-place finish at Atlanta, Larson charged from 25th to a hard-fought runner-up Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway.
While Larson lacked the raw pace in qualifying, he was able to maneuver and draft his way toward the front with ease. Once Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 was underway, Larson bided his time with the field in fuel conservation mode until the first pit stops of the afternoon.
Avoiding the early race carnage that eliminated the likes of Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell and Chris Buescher, Larson took the lead on Lap 60 en route to a Stage 1 win.
A pit road speeding penalty during the race’s stage break caution relegated Larson to restart outside the top 30 when Stage 2 was underway. Much like the race’s opening stanza, Larson drafted his way toward the front of the field, finishing second to Bubba Wallace.
With a No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet that had the pace to lead the pack and handle well in the draft, Larson had a solid shot to win at Talladega. In a rarity, at least for the Next Gen car era, the remainder of Sunday’s 188-lap race went caution-free.
A well-timed pit stop with the Chevrolet teams inside the final 16 laps bumped Larson back inside the top 10 as a late race threat. Once the race reached its denouement, he ran inside the top five but with few options to attempt a race-winning move.
Kyle Larson drove to his best finish on Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway. (Photo: Riley Thompson | The Podium Finish)
Even with William Byron, Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman all inside the top 10 in the final laps, Larson did not have any opportunity to move from the inside to outside lane where his Hendrick Motorsports teammates ran. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, it was just about getting the best possible finish which he accomplished with a runner-up.
“There wasn’t really much I could do the final five laps,” Larson said. “I wanted to go to the outside lane when we got clear of William, but I felt like the gap was too big to move up and the No. 60 [Ryan Preece] was able to fill it.
“I was still happy to be second-row on the inside lane, obviously happy to be front row, but I just didn’t know how it was going to play out from there. There at the end, you’re just trying to give the right pushes to get clear and then maybe he starts blocking lanes and something would open up for me. I was just kind of jammed up there.”
Despite the limited options, Larson mulled over the best possible options to try for the win but that moment never surfaced.
“I just think that we were both doing a really good job of pushing the guys in front of us,” he told FOX NASCAR’s Bob Pockrass. “And their cars were very stable too, so maybe it was easy to push them. I guess I wasn’t surprised.
“I was trying there for the final 10 laps to shove him out clear to where I could get clear. But I just didn’t want to have one chance at that. So, and then we were just really doing a job of pushing.”
Kyle Larson emerged from Talladega with 54 points, his sixth top five of the 2025 season. (Photo: Riley Thompson | The Podium Finish)
Teammates be damned, Larson wanted to net his third win of the season and not so much about a maximum points-paying day.
“I think at that point, I was trying to do everything I could to win and get clear,” he said. “I wasn’t really thinking about any of that in the moment. I was just trying to do everything I could to advance my lane.”
Still, netting 54 points and leaving Talladega intact, Larson was delightfully surprised with his Sunday outing at “The World’s Fastest Superspeedway.”
“We had a great day, points-wise, for this No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet team,” Larson stated. “Winning the first stage was a bit unexpected, and then finishing third in the second stage from where we were on the final restart was also unexpected. Just a really good day, overall, for the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevy.”
