Kyle Larson exorcised superspeedway demons at Atlanta

Superspeedways have never been Kyle Larson's cup of tea, but he drove one of the best speedway races of his life in Sunday's Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. 

Larson won Stage 2 and led 12 laps in a race he spent much of inside the top 10, as his average running position of 9.14 would suggest. When the yellow flag flew on the final lap, Larson was just behind runner-up Carson Hocevar and race winner Christopher Bell. 

"The (final) restart, I haven't seen it back," Larson told Fox Sports regarding the finish of Sunday's race. "I don't know what I did wrong or right. I thought maybe the No. 20 would pick me up and push me and get clear of me anyways. I think it kinda worked out okay, just didn't get the caution to come out late enough." 

"Came up a little bit short, but proud of the effort today by everyone on our HendrickCars.com Chevy, and yeah, we finally finished at Atlanta."

Larson's strong run at Atlanta should be a good sign for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion at superspeedways moving forward. Talladega is the next drafting-style race on the schedule, but when the Cup Series returns to Atlanta on June 28, Larson will likely be among the favorites to win — something that has been seldom said when the Cup Series visits a superspeedway. 

Larson is still yet to win at Daytona, Talladega or the reconfigured Atlanta, but he took a major step forward in his superspeedway racing career on Sunday.