Chase Report: Where we stand after ‘Dega

Kyle Larson did the unthinkable, getting dropped to 11th place on the final lap just to surge ahead in the tri-oval and win Sunday’s NACSAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway, taking full hold of the championship lead in The Chase presented by Mobil 1.

Here’s where we stand in The Chase after the YellaWood 500 at Talladega and before the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway (2 p.m. ET, NBC, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

RELATED: Talladega results | Cup Series standings

Chase Changer

The single-lap comeback by Kyle Larson completely altered how The Chase looks heading into Martinsville. But the two multicar wrecks of Sunday’s race played a significant role in the gap Larson’s win created in the points standings.

Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney was jammed up behind teammate Joey Logano ahead of the outside lane at Lap 132 when the line became disjointed, leading Bubba Wallace into Blaney’s back bumper and triggering a 12-car pileup that eliminated both Blaney and Tyler Reddick from the race — and likely from championship contention. Blaney entered Talladega just 40 points behind Larson but left 107 points out; Reddick was 56 points out of first place following his Phoenix win but is now the last car mathematically still in contention for the title, 126 points behind Larson, seventh in the standings.

Then there was the “Big One” at Lap 183, when a similar situation for the outside line bottlenecked entering the tri-oval, resulting in a 15-car melee that sent Logano up and over with heavy nose damage to Chase Briscoe’s Toyota. Briscoe and Logano started Sunday’s race third and sixth, respectively, in the points standings and lost critical ground in their title fights. Briscoe slipped to fourth place but lost 55 points to Larson, trailing by 79 points entering Martinsville; Logano passed Blaney for fifth in the standings but still stands a towering 100 points behind Larson.

The Chase Board

Seven drivers were separated by just 56 points after Phoenix, setting up what looked like a wide-open championship fight. Instead, Larson’s stunning 71-point performance at Talladega turned his five-point advantage into a commanding 73-point lead over Denny Hamlin with two races remaining.

Hamlin did gain two positions in The Chase standings with a solid eighth-place finish, but the mountain in front of him to claim his first NASCAR Cup Series championship became much taller, losing 42 points to Larson in the process. Larson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron gained the most ground in the standings, jumping three spots with a season-best second-place finish, but that still leaves him 11th in points, one of nine drivers officially eliminated from championship contention following Sunday’s race — joining Austin Cindric, Ty Gibbs, Carson Hocevar, Chase Elliott, Bubba Wallace, Daniel Suárez, Ryan Preece and Chris Buescher.

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Source: Racing Insights

Next Up

What stands between Larson and clinching the NASCAR Cup Series championship one week early is Martinsville Speedway. Thankfully for the No. 5 team, the statistics seem to favor them.

Larson has finished sixth or better in seven of the last eight Martinsville starts, the one blemish coming this spring when he finished ninth instead. Still, Larson — currently a two-time champion — has just one Martinsville victory to his credit, which came in the spring of 2023. Larson would clinch the championship with 59 points earned on Sunday, which means he needs to win in order to control his own destiny.

Behind him is a swarm of talented Martinsville racers though, including Hamlin (six Martinsville wins), Byron (three wins), Blaney (two wins) and Elliott (two wins). The path to a third NASCAR Cup Series title for Larson has clearly been laid; the question is whether he’ll reach his destination early.