Kyle Larson recaps "bummer" finish at Talladega, running out of fuel on last lap

Kyle Larson has 400 NASCAR Cup Series starts under his belt. Remarkably, Larson has never won a race on a superspeedway.

It was right there for Larson in Sunday’s Round of 8 playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway. He started on the front row in overtime, in great position to score that first superspeedway win. But coming down the backstretch on the final lap, Larson slowed up and cut out of line. His No. 5 Chevrolet ran out of fuel.

Crew chief Cliff Daniels said before the overtime restart that they thought they had enough for one green-white-checkered. That was not the case, and it added to Larson’s string of heartbreak at superspeedways.

“He was very sure about the numbers that he had in front of him that we could make it flipping the switch where we did,” Larson told NBC Sports. “Just unfortunate that it didn’t work out there. It started giving me a warning there in the middle of [Turns] 1 and 2, and then down the back it started stumbling, so I just got out of the way.

“It’s probably one of the more bummer superspeedway finishes I’ve had just because we were once again in contention, and it was right where I wanted to be, but it didn’t work out, so we’ll keep putting ourselves in contention, and it’ll eventually work out.”

Kyle Larson comes up short again on a superspeedway

A win would have clinched Larson a spot in the Championship 4, a chance to race for his second Cup championship next month at Phoenix Raceway. Instead, he’ll have more work to do next Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.

Larson is still in good position, sitting 36 points above the cutline. Christopher Bell is one spot ahead of him. If a driver below the cutline wins, Larson will need to make sure he’s at least one point in front of Bell to advance to Phoenix. Larson is anticipating quite the battle with Bell throughout 500 laps at Martinsville.

“You’ve got to assume that one of those guys below the cutline is going to win [at Martinsville]. They’re all really good there,” Larson said. “So, then kind of got to fight with [Bell] throughout the night and try to outpoint him.

“We have a decent Martinsville package, as does everybody in the Round of 8, so it’ll be a fight. Even if I didn’t win, I wish we would have had those 20 spots at least, so that part sucks. We executed a great day today. We’ll try to do the same next week.”