Kyle Larson drove to a hard fought fourth in Sunday’s YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. (Photo: Hayden Hutchison | The Podium Finish)
LINCOLN, Ala. —As a 23-car accident unfolded on the backstretch during Lap 184, Kyle Larson found himself in a rare position at Talladega Superspeedway — out of harm’s way.
Much like Cole Trickle clearing a smoke-filled Turn 4 in the 1990 film, Days of Thunder, Larson seized his moment in Sunday’s YellaWood 500. Dodging the Lap 184 backstretch mayhem and incidents on Laps 12 and 121, the 32-year-old from Elk Grove, California, refused to settle for a safe finish.
Once the race restarted for Overtime, Larson chose the inside of Row 2, pushing Brad Keselowski hard toward the front. With Larson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, William Byron, on his outside, Larson pushed Keselowski to maximize his result.
Coming to the line on the final lap, with Byron pushing Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Larson committed to the bottom line with Keselowski.
Though Stenhouse took the win, Larson stood by his lane choice, knowing he had done all he could to maximize his result in the chaotic final moments.
“I have to choose the closest to the front, so I was going to go wherever the No. 24 [William Byron] didn’t go,” Larson said. “I was happy to be on the bottom. If I could have chose outside or inside, even if I was in third-place to chose, I would have chosen the bottom. It was working.”
In Larson’s case, his decision hinged on a move he expected Keselowski to make, but one that ultimately never came as they approached the dogleg and stripe.
Kyle Larson drove methodically to place fourth in Sunday’s YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. (Photo: Hayden Hutchison | The Podium Finish)
“I got the No. 6 [Brad Keselowski] clear of the No. 47 [Ricky Stenhouse Jr.], which is what I wanted to do,” he observed. “I was anticipating the No. 47 having a run back, and I was hoping that Brad would take that and I could kind of be leading the bottom lane. But yeah, he stayed down low. I’m happy to finish in the top five. We’ll take it.”
The effort and execution by Larson and his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team finally paid dividends at the mammoth 2.66-mile superspeedway at a meaningful time in the Round of 12.
“It’s my second top-five on a superspeedway in my career, in general, so I’ll take that,” Larson shared. “It’s really cool. Obviously, there’s a lot of luck that plays into just finishing these races.
“I’m not going to blame my whole superspeedway career on bad luck because I know that’s not the case when we finish as bad as we do, as often as we do, on these. I feel like we do a great job and today just showed that.”
Leading on Lap 52 and placing fourth in Stage 1 and ninth in Stage 2, Larson tallied 42 points and enters the Round of 12 finale, the Bank of America ROVAL 400 at Charlotte, with a 52-point advantage over ninth place Joey Logano.
“We came from the back of the first stage and had a shot to win the stage,” he said. “The second stage, we executed as good as we could and got some points. And then there at the end, got lucky on the backstretch finally and got a good finish.
“I’m proud of the effort from all of Chevrolet, all the key partners and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. We had a great Chevy and great power. It’s cool to finally go into the Charlotte ROVAL with a 52-point gap. That race is so stressful. It’s way more stressful to me than Talladega Superspeedway, so I’m glad to not have to worry about it as much.”
