Kyle Larson drove from 11th to first in the final mile to win the YellaWood 500 on Oct. 25 at Talladega and be on the cusp of his third NASCAR Cup Series title.
Larson's points lead is up to 73 points ahead of Denny Hamlin and 74 ahead of Christopher Bell. The driver of the No. 5 can clinch the title as soon as next week's race at Martinsville.
Larson's final lap was remarkable. He led at the white flag, then got shuffled back as his drafting line disintegrated. As Ricky Stenhouse Jr. got too large of a lead, Larson was 11th into turn three before making a move on the bottom.
Austin Hill suddenly lost power at the entry of the tri-oval, and the front of the pack was completely scattered.
Larson and Ross Chastain were the only organized drivers in the draft,
and NASCAR ruled that they legally stayed above or on the double yellow line through the tri-oval as Larson drove to the win.
The race featured two major multi-car crashes, including a Lap 183 crash that saw Joey Logano flipping and sliding to a stop on his roof and a major hit by Riley Herbst on the inside wall. Both drivers were checked and released from the infield care center.
Here are the winners and losers from the NASCAR Talladega fall race.
NASCAR Talladega winners and losers
Winner: Kyle Larson and his trophy case
Kyle Larson added a Talladega Cup Series trophy to his case for the first time in his career. He's in line to add a third Cup title to the collection in a week or two.
Larson's run from 11th to first on the final lap removed most of the doubt for the Cup Series Championship battle from the field's perspective.
Only the No. 5 team's performance can add any intrigue into the title fight.
Larson can clinch the Cup Series title next week at Martinsville if he earns four points more than Denny Hamlin and three more than Christopher Bell.
Winner: Chevrolet
Kyle Larson's Chevrolet mates delivered at Talladega, whether it was on purpose or not.
Larson was able to bank 16 stage points, then had plenty of help at the end after avoiding the two major wrecks.
Ross Chastain, who was able to get back on the lead lap via the free pass during the final caution despite being the trigger on the accordion that caused the crash, pushed Larson to the front in that frantic final lap. Whether you agree with Chastain's tactics in staying at the front of the field while a lap down, he ended up being a major factor in helping the Chevy driver best chance to claim the Cup title.
Chevrolets claimed the top six finishing positions, led by Larson. Job done for the bowties.
Loser: The state of racing at Talladega and Daytona
The finish delivered, as it often does. And the crashes, as long as all drivers remain healthy, will get the usual play on SportsCenter and on social media.
But in between all of that is some problematic issues with the state of racing at Talladega and Daytona.
NASCAR has two main points of contention when it comes to two of its marquee tracks: The draft racing is better at Atlanta, and the fuel-saving strategies are suffocating the quality of the "race".
The former is something that is more of a feature than a bug, though more of a perceptive issue. Atlanta is constantly entertaining, and its style is different.
The latter is a major issue.
NASCAR made an adjustment to the stage lengths (up to 98 laps from 60) before the race in response to the recent trend of running less than full throttle to leverage green-flag pit times. It's good news that NASCAR has ID'd the issue. Now comes the fix.
Why is it an issue? In the minds of crew chiefs across the series, the less fuel used and needed to add on pit road, the faster the stop. And since fueling takes longer than tire changing, fueling has become a major variable.
So for the first 30 laps or so, the field ran laps well off of 100% pace. For a while, the pace lowered into the 54-second bracket. By lap 30, laps were being run at 58 seconds, nine seconds off the pole speed.
RFK Racing saved the day for race fans, somewhat, by beginning to run full speed, with laps in the 49-second bracket. The trio of Fords nearly lapped the main pack before green-flag stops, and RFK eased to a 1-2-3 stage finish without trouble by 17 seconds ahead of the field.
Those strategies produce something much less than quality NASCAR racing. Whether NASCAR considers a minimum lap time or other measures, major changes have to be on the table.
Loser: Christopher Bell
While most of the championship competition were caught in the normal-fare crashes and havoc that Talladega creates, Christopher Bell's day ended on his own accord.
On the first green flag stop of the day, Bell locked up his tires and spun before the entry of pit road. Bell's No. 20 Toyota slapped the wall, and he drove to pit road.
Still under green, Bell's team sent him back out on the track with visible damage around the wheel wells on the right side.
Bell had to make three more stops under green before the end of the stage — two for tire failures and once for a pit-road penalty.
That ended his competitive chances at Talladega, and he finished 12 laps down in 35th.
The incident also was a major hit to his title chances; Bell lost 69 points to Larson and is 74 points behind the points leader going into Martinsville next week.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: NASCAR Talladega winners, losers as Kyle Larson closes in on Cup championship
