'Sense of relief': Kyle Larson is no longer 0-fer in NASCAR superspeedway races

"Mistake opened up the opportunity" for Kyle Larson

"I never once in that last lap, after I got stuck in the middle off of turn two, did I think I was going to win," Larson said. "Not even until I entered the tri-oval and I had a clear track in front of me did I think I could win. I was so far behind that I was like, 'We made it through all the craziness, I’m going to finish. I was happy I’m going to finish. Oh, my gosh, I’m flying right now, I’m going to win.'

"It was just full of surprise. There wasn’t anything special that I did. I didn’t really think on the last lap. It was honestly, like, more mistakes than anything that got me in that scenario. I don’t know. Maybe it was just meant to be and the mistake opened up the opportunity for me."

Larson's history with the superspeedways of Daytona and Talladega was mostly negative. His luck at the two most luck-based tracks on the circuit wasn't very good. From flying into the catchfence in an O'Reilly Series race at Daytona in 2013 to being caught up in crash after crash over the years at the Cup level, one of the best drivers in the sport just couldn't figure out how to win in the draft.

But Larson did, in recent years at least, know how to run up front in the draft, especially at Talladega. He led 23 laps on Sunday and scored a race-high 16 stage points, staying near the front of the field all day.

"It definitely is a bit of a relief," Larson said. "I hope that you guys don’t ask me all the time now why I suck on speedways. I hope the win kind of erases that. Now we can move on and find a new topic of discussion.

"It just feels good. I wouldn’t have lost any sleep I don’t think if I ended my Cup career without a speedway win. Certainly it does ease the feeling. Definitely there’s a sense of relief."

"We’ve had a lot of strong speedway runs in the past," said Cliff Daniels, Larson's crew chief. "We were talking this week that if we stick to the plan and do what we need to do to execute for stage points, try to get ourselves up front at the end, eventually sometime it was going to work out.

"Never would have expected it to work out that way off of turn two. I was convincing myself to be okay with a 13th-place finish. Off of four, sixth won’t be bad. Tri-oval, third would be okay. Then we brought it home."

Not only did Larson bring the race win home on Sunday afternoon, but he very well could've brought the championship home as well. If you would've told him before the Chase that he would've done so at a superspeedway, he likely would've thought you were crazy.

But championship-winning athletes and teams often find a way to win when the odds are stacked against him, and even with an 0-58 record in the draft, Larson wasn't to be stopped on Sunday.

Quotes provided by NASCAR Media.