NASCAR Cup Series championship is now Kyle Larson's to lose

It looked like there was no way Kyle Larson was going to have a chance to clinch the NASCAR Cup Series championship next week at multiple points in the closing laps of Sunday's YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

With nine laps to go, Larson, who ran up front throughout the second half of the race, was 21st. With half a lap to go, he was eleventh and simply doing damage control after getting shuffled from the lead by Austin Hill. 

But a break-up at the front of the pack and a hearty push from a Chevrolet teammate in Ross Chastain allowed Larson to scoot by everyone and somehow score his third win of the season and his first at Talladega. It also puts him 73 points up on second-place Denny Hamlin in the standings with two races left in the campaign, and a 76-point lead after the Nov. 1 race at Martinsville Speedway would clinch the title for Larson, who was clearly surprised in his post-race interview by the size of his advantage.

Kyle Larson in cat bird's seat of NASCAR title hunt

It wasn't as if Hamlin had a terrible day, either, as he finished eighth. But a lack of stage points — Larson scored 16 to Hamlin's zero — made the difference.

Larson's other championship challengers had their share of misfortune, too. Christopher Bell entered Sunday only five points behind Larson but is now 74 points behind after he spun entering pit road in Stage 1 and hit the wall, leading to a 35th-place finish.

Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Joey Logano and Phoenix winner Tyler Reddick, all of whom entered Sunday within 56 points of Larson, were involved in wrecks. While none of them are mathematically eliminated with two races to go, their title chances are extremely slim.

A solid run at Martinsville next week could sew up Larson's second consecutive title and his third in six seasons.