Kyle Larson rued a dominant day at Darlington that ended in a loss. JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier snatched a win from Larson during Saturday’s Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200.
Larson began the O’Reilly race on pole and led the first 94 laps to sweep both stages. He ultimately led 107 laps before getting shuffled to fifth during a slow pit stop.
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Allgaier seized the moment and captured the lead with 15 laps left, while Larson struggled to make headway. The reigning Cup champion could only manage fourth by race’s end.
Reflecting upon the missed feat, Larson said(via X/CW Sports),
“I think I looked really good on the short run or sorry, I mean, I was good the whole race, but the run before I was able to pressure the Seven. I think just because we thought that the run was going to be super long, so we’re all kind of saving our tires. But yeah, at the end the pace picks up and you’re stuck. So yeah, unfortunate, but that’s kind of how…my Darlingtons typically go. I feel like throughout my career, you know, win the first few stages and you lose control at the end and can’t regain so, that sucks.” [0:25 second onwards]
The result makes Justin Allgaier the first repeat winner of the 2026 season. He previously won at Phoenix. It’s also his fourth win at the 1.366-mile track, and his 30th career win. The tally ties him Joey Logano for seventh on the series’ all-time win list.
Kyle Larson, on the other hand, won the last O’Reilly race at Las Vegas, beating fellow Cup driver Chase Briscoe with a 2.557 second margin.
Kyle Larson shares impact of horsepower change at Darlington
In the same interview, Kyle Larson spoke about his upcoming Cup Series race at the Lady in the Black. He shared that his balance was loose during practice and called for an ‘interesting’ race on Sunday. Larson qualified fourth on the grid with a 0.305 second deficit to polesitter Tyler Reddick.
According to NASCAR’s new horsepower regulations, the Next Gen cars will run on 750hp at tracks lesser than 1.5 miles in length. With Darlington being one of them, Larson shared if he felt any impact of the horsepower bump.
“I don’t feel like the horsepower change really, but the downforce I feel like on my car I can feel being a big difference,” he said. [1:49 onwards]
Kyle Larson has racked up three consecutive top-10s after a middling Daytona 500 and a disappointing 32nd at Echopark. The Californian ranks seventh on the standing with 157 points to his name. His HMS teammate Chase Elliott stands two spots above and starts ahead of him on Sunday as well.
Edited by Vignesh Kanna
