Kyle Larson Wins the YellaWood 500 at Talladega

Credit: Courtney Horn for Skirts and Scuffs

Kyle Larson earned his third win of the 2026 NASCAR season at Talladega SuperSpeedway, holding off Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron during NASCAR Overtime. 

The YellaWood 500 victory is Larson’s third of the season and the 35th win of his NASCAR Cup Series career. It is also Larson's first superspeedway victory as well as for his crew chief Cliff Daniels.

"It means a lot," Larson said of the win. "There was a long time where I felt really bad on speedways. Then, I felt like the last however many years I've been at Hendrick, I feel like we've been one of the better teams on these tracks."

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished third, while Ross Chastain and Cole Custer rounded out the top-five finishers. Carson Hocevar finished sixth after being caught up in a late-race crash that sent the event into overtime. 

Todd Gilliland finished in the seventh position, while Denny Hamlin, Alex Bowman, and Michael McDowell rounded out the top 10. 

Joey Logano finished in 34th place after being involved in the “Big One” late in the race. Logano got turned and ended up on his roof after receiving a push from Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar. 

Riley Herbst took two big hits in the same wreck, the second of which had the 23XI Racing driver hitting the inside wall’s SAFER barrier. Herbst was seen after the race with his left wrist wrapped up, after being released from the infield care center. 

A multi-car crash on Lap 132 collected championship contender Ryan Blaney, and left him with a 38th place finish. Blaney now sits sixth in the Chase standings, 107 points behind the leader.

Larson has a 73-point lead over Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin. Christopher Bell (-74 points) and Chase Briscoe (-79 points) are third and fourth, respectively. 

Two races remain in the 2026 season before a champion is crowned. The series heads to Martinsville Speedway next Sunday, November 1st at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.