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Jim Utter

NASCAR Cup Martinsville: Larson wins after late pass on Logano

Passing was at a premium in Sunday’s race and Larson struggled to run mid-pack most of the day, but he moved into the top-five by staying out when most others pit for a caution on Lap 305 of 400.

While under another caution on Lap 343, Larson pit but took on only two new tyres and lined up fifth on a restart behind four other drivers who had remained on the track.

With 29 laps remaining, after a duel with leader Joey Logano, Larson emerged with the lead and never looked back, driving away to pick up the win by 4.142 seconds.

The victory is the second this season for Larson, 21st of his career and first at Martinsville, which was an enormous shock to the 2021 series champion, who said the circuit does not suit his driving style.

Logano held off Martin Truex Jr. at the line to hold on to second place, Denny Hamlin was fourth and Chase Briscoe rounded out the top-five.

Completing the top-10 were Aric Almirola, Ryan Blaney, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Bubba Wallace and Chase Elliott, who was making his first start after missing six races with a broken tibia in his left leg.

Polesitter Ryan Preece dominated Stage 1, leading all 80 laps on his way to win the first section of the race, ahead of Almirola.

Joey Logano, Team Penske, Verizon 5G Ford Mustang (Photo by: Rusty Jarrett / NKP / Motorsport Images)

Taking an early command of the race, he held a 1.5s lead over Daniel Suarez after 25 laps.

With 21 laps remaining, Preece put reigning series champion Joey Logano a lap down, with the No. 22 Ford driver having started from the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to his car prior to the race.

Stage 2 saw Kevin Harvick’s four-tyre pit call finally kick in, and he ran down Ross Chastain for the lead to take his first stage victory since the 2020 season.

Preece led Suarez into the stage on the lap 92 restart, before a caution 40 laps later as Harrison Burton spun around off Turn 2 after contact from Erik Jones and came to a stop on the track.

All the lead-lap cars pit with Preece again first off pit road but he, Truex and Wallace were all penalized for speeding on pit road and had to restart from the rear of the field.

The race returned to green on Lap 143 with Chastain – who stayed out – in the lead followed by Suarez and Almirola as Preece lined up 30th.

With 20 laps remaining, Chastain remained out front on old tyres while Todd Gilliand ran second (he took only two new tyres) and Harvick – who took four tyres on his stop – ran third.

Race winner Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro (Photo by: John Harrelson / NKP / Motorsport Images)

On lap 167, Harvick ran down both Gilliland and Chastain to take the lead for the first time in the race.

Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, the lead-lap cars all pit with Briscoe edging Harvick off pit road before the latter was passed by Hamlin on lap 247.

After several laps of a side-by-side battle, Hamlin finally got to the inside of Briscoe and was able to clear him for the lead 10 laps later.

Blaney and Alex Bowman were the first to hit pit road on lap 298 to kick off a final round of green flag pit stops to take on new tyres and fuel to make it to the end of the race.

On lap 303, a tyre came off Anthony Alfredo’s No. 78 Chevrolet and came to a stop on Turn 4 which brought out the fourth caution of the race.

Most of the lead-lap cars pit with Harvick first off pit road. Briscoe remained on the track and inherited the lead. He led the way on the restart on lap 313 followed by Larson, Tyler Reddick and Harvick.

J.J. Yeley hit the wall in Turn 3 on lap 343 to bring out the fifth caution of the race.

Most lead-lap cars pit but several stayed on the track including Logano, who inherited the lead.

On the restart on lap 355, Logano was followed by Almirola, Hamlin, Stenhouse and Larson, who took on only two tyres.

With 29 laps to go, Larson finally got to the inside of Logano and was able to clear him off Turn 2 to take the lead for the first time in the race.

Full NASCAR Cup Martinsville race results:

Cla Driver Manufacturer Gap Interval
1 United States Kyle Larson Chevrolet    
2 United States Joey Logano Ford 4.142 4.142
3 United States Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 4.273 0.131
4 United States Denny Hamlin Toyota 5.585 1.312
5 United States Chase Briscoe Ford 6.281 0.696
6 United States Aric Almirola Ford 6.902 0.621
7 United States Ryan Blaney Ford 8.433 1.531
8 United States Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Chevrolet 8.436 0.003
9 United States Bubba Wallace Toyota 9.034 0.598
10 United States Chase Elliott Chevrolet 9.462 0.428
11 United States Alex Bowman Chevrolet 10.088 0.626
12 United States Austin Dillon Chevrolet 10.379 0.291
13 United States Ross Chastain Chevrolet 10.680 0.301
14 United States Chris Buescher Ford 10.961 0.281
15 United States Ryan Preece Ford 11.427 0.466
16 United States Christopher Bell Toyota 11.874 0.447
17 Mexico Daniel Suarez Chevrolet 13.862 1.988
18 Ty Gibbs Toyota 14.600 0.738
19 United States Michael McDowell Ford 14.665 0.065
20 United States Kevin Harvick Ford 14.810 0.145
21 United States Kyle Busch Chevrolet 15.660 0.850
22 United States Tyler Reddick Toyota 18.288 2.628
23 United States William Byron Chevrolet 18.715 0.427
24 United States Brad Keselowski Ford 20.886 2.171
25 United States Todd Gilliland Ford 1 Lap 1 Lap
26 United States Corey Lajoie Chevrolet 1 Lap 9.037
27 United States A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 1 Lap 6.853
28 United States Justin Haley Chevrolet 2 Laps 1 Lap
29 United States Harrison Burton Ford 2 Laps 1.212
30 United States Noah Gragson Chevrolet 2 Laps 0.698
31 United States Erik Jones Chevrolet 2 Laps 17.188
32 United States Ty Dillon Chevrolet 3 Laps 1 Lap
33 United States Austin Cindric Ford 3 Laps 1.590
34 Zane Smith Ford 5 Laps 2 Laps
35 Anthony Alfredo Chevrolet 10 Laps 5 Laps
36 United States J.J. Yeley Ford 63 Laps 53 Laps
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