TALLADEGA, Ala. — Kyle Larson threw his left hand off the steering wheel in disgust with a half-lap remaining at Talladega Superspeedway, watching helplessly as his No. 5 Chevrolet plummeted from the lead.
“I screwed up,” the Hendrick Motorsports star said. “I felt like, ‘Man, another one I just gave away.’ And I probably never am going to have an opportunity to win a speedway race that easily with so many allies around me. And so I was just mad.”
Some 30 seconds later, he was jubilant after picking the perfect time to make some perfect moves for his first victory at the 2.66-mile oval that has been among his worst in the NASCAR Cup Series.
“All of a sudden, everything just opened up,” he said. “An unbelievable way to get my first speedway win. It all just worked out.”
Desperate for a rebound after his worst finish of this year’s postseason Chase, the reigning Cup Series champion expanded his points lead by a wide margin with a breathtaking rally from 11th to first through the last two corners of the final lap.