CUP: Kyle Larson’s superspeedway woes continue after massive multi-car pileup in Talladega
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: Steven Taranto, @STaranto92
Kyle Larson picked up the 11th last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 at the Talladega Superspeedway when his #5 Valvoline Chevrolet was collected in a multi-car accident after he completed 114 of 188 laps.
The finish, which came in Larson’s 412th series start, was his first of the season and first in a Cup Series race since August 27, 2022 at Daytona, 128 races ago. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it as the 24th for the #5, the 705th from a crash, and the 886th for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 43rd for the #5, the 1,453rd from a crash, and the 2,039th for Chevrolet.
For the most part, Larson has remained as much of a weekly contender as ever in NASCAR’s NextGen car, scoring a combined 13 wins across the last three seasons. He also won his second championship last fall at Phoenix, though under less-than-desirable circumstances after teammate William Byron drew a late-race caution, slapping the title out of Denny Hamlin’s hands. Even this was offset by further analysis, showing that Larson would have still been crowned champion under other points formats. But through the first nine races of this season, Larson has remained winless – a streak that as of last week extended for a full year. In his last two starts, Larson led 284 laps at Bristol and 78 in Kansas, but finished just 3rd and 2nd to the Toyotas of Ty Gibbs and Tyler Reddick. Now Larson had to face Talladega, having never excelled at superspeedway racing.
Larson was one of 41 drivers entered for 40 spots in Talladega, marking only the second time all season that at least one Cup Series team would be sent home after qualifying. Rain washed out those time trials on Friday, where Larson would have been next-to-last on track. This ended up to his benefit as his ranking awarded him the outside-pole alongside Reddick. It did not benefit Casey Mears, who was handed his first DNQ since the 2011 Daytona 500. Mears would have made the race if he drove for Garage 66, as he had in this year’s 500, but instead drove Beard Motorsports’ #62 The Gracie Foundation Chevrolet, the team that was bumped out of February’s field due to a technical infraction.
Securing the 40th and final starting spot went to Daniel Dye, who made his Cup Series debut as part of a four-race deal with Live Fast Motorsports that was announced earlier in the week. Dye’s #78 – and the team’s hauler – were re-wrapped in red-and-white for sponsor Champion Container Corporation, which also backed his 10th-place finishing #24 Ford in Saturday’s ARCA Menards Series race. Coming to the one-lap-to-go signal from NASCAR, Dye radioed his team and thanked them for the opportunity. “The last 22 years, I've had literal dreams that looked just like this, racing on Sunday, and what a spectacular opportunity it is to be a part of,” he said. Through those same laps, Dye was reminded constantly to save fuel.
No teams incurred pre-race penalties, so Dye took the green flag to the outside of Joey Gase in the NY Racing Team’s #44 National Fire Prevention Association Chevrolet. Heading into Turn 1, Dye inched ahead of Gase by drafting off the #66 Knox Hydrate / Carter’s Royal Dispos-all Ford of Chad Finchum, dropping Gase to last at the end of Lap 1. On Lap 2, coming off Turn 2, Gase and Dye then drafted each other to work to the high side of Shane Van Gisbergen’s #97 WeatherTech Chevrolet. The now 40th-place Van Gisbergen worked to the outside of teammate Connor Zilisch’s #88 Red Bull Chevrolet in the tri-oval, following Ty Dillon’s #10 Grizzly Nicotine Pouches Chevrolet as he dropped Zilisch to last off Turn 2. Zilisch responded on Lap 4, pulling to Van Gisbergen’s outside by the stripe to put the #97 in last place once more.
On Lap 9, Van Gisbergen was following the tire tracks of new 39th-place runner Michael McDowell in the #71 Gunk Chevrolet, then got a big run on him into Turn 3. Van Gisbergen pulled low, zipping past McDowell, Zilisch, and 37th-place Cole Custer in the #41 Haas / Autodesk Chevrolet. At the stripe, McDowell was now last, 2.227 seconds back of the lead. Moments later, with McDowell still drafting behind Zilisch, a scoring error on HBO Max showed McDowell in 77th position while NASCAR.com listed everyone 93 laps behind the leader. Both issues wouldn’t be fixed until the first round of pit stops. By then, McDowell dropped Zilisch to last on Lap 15, then Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.’s #47 Chef Boyardee Chevrolet on Lap 16, Todd Gilliland’s #34 Love’s Travel Stops / Fleetguard Ford on Lap 19, and Gase again by Lap 20.
During this exchange, much of the field was running only part-throttle to save fuel in what was now a 99-lap opening stage. Taking the lead was a surprising Finchum, who took the spot on Lap 10 and held it for the next eight laps – the first laps he’d led in his Cup career – before Denny Hamlin took over the lead. Finchum then dropped back in the lineup as the pace increased, which caught Gase off-guard in the last spot. Around Lap 25, Gase went full-throttle across the stripe, but still lost the draft to 39th-place McDowell. By Lap 32, he was a half-lap back of the leader, and 38 seconds behind the lead on Lap 38. On Lap 40, Gase committed to the middle lane in Turns 1 and 2 as the leaders sped past in single-file formation, dropping him a lap down. The whole field passed Gase by the time he entered the tri-oval, and he again slotted behind McDowell to catch his draft. This time, he was successful, though green-flag stops were about to begin. Between Lap 40 and 47, six different drivers incurred pass-through penalties for various violations during their stops, but none took the last spot. Gase made his first stop without incident on Lap 44, then lost a second lap to the leaders as he got up to speed off Turn 2. He was now a lap behind 39th-place runner Chase Briscoe, whose #19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota was among those penalized. Gase tried to link up with Dye, who was also stranded, but Dye too incurred a pit penalty, separating the pair.
By Lap 55, Briscoe had climbed to 37th, taking the “Lucky Dog” spot, with Dye back to 38th and the also penalized Finchum now 39th. That same time by, a penalized Denny Hamlin drove by Gase down the backstretch without any drafting help, his #11 Kings Hawaiian UBE Coconut Rolls Toyota showing 45.139 seconds back of the closing leaders. On Lap 58, Gase had earned one of his laps back, but fell a second lap down again when the leaders passed him down the backstretch, though much slower than the last time. This time, Gase slotted into the draft behind 26th-place Chase Elliott and stayed glued to his #9 Amazon Prime Chevrolet. The leader who had lapped Gase was Ty Gibbs, who on Lap 66 caught two of his penalized Joe Gibbs Racing teammates in Hamlin and Briscoe, but deliberately didn’t lap them. This caused a bit of a logjam, including a two-car draft of 37th-place Finchum and 38th-place Dye to their outside. This formation remained the same until Lap 69, when Hamlin finally lost his lap by pitting during the next sequence.
On Lap 70, Gase made his own second stop, making sure not to collide with Kyle Larson to his right, then a fast-moving Jesse Love, whose #33 1-800-PACK-RAT Chevrolet zipped past Gase to his left before he pulled into Stall 39, just the fourth stall past the entrance. Gase drafted Love as both returned to the track on Lap 73, when Gase reported he’d picked up a small vibration. He remained two laps down in last place, joined on Lap 79 by 39th-place Dye, who pulled to the high lane off Turn 2 as he went down his second lap to the onrushing leaders. Riley Herbst, whose #35 Beatbox Toyota had already been caught speeding on Lap 47, was caught again on Lap 81, dropping him a second lap down after he served it on Lap 87. He then picked up a third penalty for unspecified reasons, which dropped him another two spots to 39th.
When the caution to end Stage 1 came out on Lap 99, Gase remained last, now scored three laps down, with the thrice-penalized Herbst now two down in 39th, on the same lap as 38th-place Finchum and 37th-place Dye. During that yellow, Gase brought up how fast Larson’s car had been in the draft. “When the fucking 5 wanted to go, he just pulled out and was gone - fucking amazing,” he said. “Who would've thought that 400 employees and about $25 million a year could do that?” his team answered.
On the Lap 105 restart, Gase remained in last place with Herbst now up to 37th ahead of now 38th-place Dye and 39th-place Finchum. Two laps later, Gase tried to make a move around traffic in the high lane, but five cars zipped past him to the inside, dropping him back to the tail end of the field. Gase was still running there on Lap 115, when his spotter alerted him to trouble in Turn 3. As smoke rose from the track and cars scattered, Gase pulled to the high lane, only to be struck in the side by Finchum, stuffing Gase into the outside wall. Both managed to make it to pit road, but others hadn’t. The wreck unfolded up front, when Bubba Wallace’s loose-handling #23 XFINITY Toyota was bumped sideways by a closing Ross Chastain in the #1 Jockey VentraCool Air Chevrolet. Wallace crossed the nose of Custer’s #41 to his outside, putting him in the outside wall and triggering a 26-car pileup. Among those collected was Larson, who was running to the outside of Brad Keselowski’s #6 Castrol Ford when both slammed the wall, just before Larson ran into Wallace.
Larson’s wrecked car towed to the garage. (PHOTO: Jake Alcorn, @Alcorn94)
The garage area, which had been empty for the race’s first 114 laps, was now busy as a procession of tow trucks brought at least eight cars to the infield. Among these was Larson’s, which was one of the only cars to be towed in backwards. When the red flag was lifted, Gase pulled out of his pit stall and onto the track, driving around the tow truck that was towing Wallace’s car. The still last-place Gase reported he had an issue with the toe link, and the crew prepared to make repairs. On Lap 117, Finchum took last from Gase, but team owner Carl Long reported the car looked in good shape, needing minor repairs and fresh tires. As a result, Finchum’s was the first car to return from the garage area on Lap 120, just six laps down to the leader. His previous completed lap was shown at 1,306.778 seconds, or nearly 22 minutes. On the Lap 122 restart, Finchum dropped Larson to last place, the #5 car parked outside the garage area with the crew still working under the hood. Curiously, FOX’s leaderboard disagreed, showing Keselowski in last place.
On Lap 124, as Chase Briscoe returned to the track in his damaged #19, William Byron’s wrecked #24 Phorm Energy Chevrolet pulled behind the wall, done for the day with five more laps completed since the incident. That time by, Larson was declared out by NASCAR along with Custer, plus Penske teammates Ryan Blaney in the #12 Wurth Ford and Joey Logano in the #22 Shell / Pennzoil Ford. This was also when a damaged Ty Gibbs blew a tire in Turn 4 and destroyed his #54 Saia Freight + Logistics Toyota, collecting McDowell’s #71 that joined him behind the wall. On Lap 131, just before the restart after the Gibbs wreck, NASCAR declared Wallace and Gibbs out along with Byron. By then, most of the drivers at the tail end of the field were declared out except for 38th-place Keselowski and 39th-place Berry. Keselowski’s crew repaired the toe-link and a pinched oil line, then sent him on track on Lap 138, 22 laps down. Berry followed on Lap 143, 28 laps down. This lifted Berry to 35th behind 34th-place Keselowski and completed the Bottom Five with Logano, Custer, Blaney, and Wallace.
Ware and Front Row Motorsports join Hocevar as big underdog stories from Sunday
Sunday saw a weekend of three first-time winners completed with Carson Hocevar taking his first checkered flag in his 91st series start, leading to a particularly memorable on-track celebration in his #77 Chili’s Ride the ‘Dente Chevrolet. Not far behind him, all three Front Row Motorsports cars finished 11th or better, capped by 5th-place Zane Smith, whose #38 Aaron’s / Boys & Girls Clubs of America Ford escaped “The Big One” by making an unscheduled stop just seconds before it happened. Smith has finished 7th or better in all three superspeedway races this season. Teammates Noah Gragson (9th) and Todd Gilliland (11th) completed the showing.
On top of Chad Finchum’s first laps led in the early stages, a day where he salvaged a 28th-place finish, Cody Ware recovered from his controversial spin in Kansas to battle inside the Top 10 for much of the race’s second half. Ware’s #51 Super.com Chevrolet was running around the 14th spot coming to the checkered flag, and was just making a bid in the high lane when a three-car wreck unfolded in front of him, knocking him back to 21st.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place run for the #5 in a Cup Series race at Talladega since April 25, 2021, when Kyle Larson’s crew forgot to remove a radiator cover on his #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, causing an engine failure after three laps.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
40) #5-Kyle Larson / 114 laps / crash
39) #22-Joey Logano / 114 laps / crash / led 3 laps
38) #41-Cole Custer / 114 laps / crash
37) #12-Ryan Blaney / 114 laps / crash
36) #23-Bubba Wallace / 114 laps / crash / led 3 laps
2026 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing (2)
2nd) Garage 66, Kaulig Racing, Live Fast Motorsports, Rick Ware Racing, Trackhouse Racing, Wood Brothers Racing (1)
2026 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (6)
2nd) Ford, Toyota (2)
2026 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
