Kyle Larson finally broke through in superspeedway racing, securing his first win at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The 2025 campaign marks the second superspeedway race for Larson in as many weeks.
Since entering the Cup Series over a decade ago, Larson has struggled to tame superspeedway racing. Despite having two top-five finishes at Talladega Superspeedway, his average finish at both Daytona International Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway is 21.9.
Last weekend’s Daytona 500 saw Larson feeling uncertain about his moves in the draft. Teammate Jeff Gordon noticed, saying “I think now I’m starting to see it’s getting in his head.” Gordon advised Larson to focus on executing and not overthink things, as this would lead to success eventually.
Larson took Gordon’s advice to heart at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He dominated Stage 1 and scored his first stage victory at a superspeedway during Stage 2. Throughout the final stage, he consistently hovered around the top five positions.
However, Larson was involved in an incident with Austin Cindric on lap 194 of the 195-lap race, sending Cindric into the wall and collecting Daytona 500 champion William Byron. The incident occurred when Larson thought Cindric would pass him on the exit of Turn 2.
Despite the incident, Larson began overtime as the leader. He maintained the top spot until Christopher Bell cleared him entering Turn 1. However, he took a third-place finish behind Carson Hocevar, who earned his career-best runner-up results.
Larson expressed pride in the effort and acknowledged that they can improve their balance of the race car to be more aggressive in traffic. The win marks Larson’s personal best in 49 superspeedway attempts, and it sets him up for success in future races.
Source: https://www.jayski.com/2025/02/23/kyle-larson-scores-best-career-superspeedway-finish-at-atlanta