Kyle Larson’s Winless Streak Continues After Losing Late Southern 500 Lead

With the laps ticking down, it looked like Sunday’s (Sept. 6) Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway would finally be the night where Kyle Larson returned to victory lane and ended his 50-race winless streak in the NASCAR Cup Series, as he led a race-high 99 laps and scooted out to a four-second lead at the start of the final stage.

But Larson’s grip on the race began to unravel when his Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron spun and lost an engine on lap 317, as Larson lost the lead on pit road to Christopher Bell and then proceeded to lose two more spots after a poor restart. The final caution of the night for rain with 31 laps to go led to a split decision on pit road, and with Larson down to fourth, the No. 5 team elected to stay out and retake the lead.

Larson nailed the final restart with 24 to go, but it didn’t take long for the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas of Christopher Bell and Ty Gibbs to utilize their fresh rubber and run down the leader. And while Larson put up a valiant effort to try and keep them at bay, it was Bell who powered to lead with 12 laps to go and never looked back.

Larson dropped to fifth at the finish, and while the strategy call didn’t pan out, he viewed it as the correct decision.

“I was fully on board with that call,” Larson said. “I was surprised that those guys pitted in front of me. I thought the No. 19 (Chase Briscoe) was a really strong car and could maintain the lead from not pitting. So when they all pitted in front of me and we got to stay out, I was super happy.”

What didn’t help matters for Larson was that few teams shared the same idea to forego pitting, which allowed Bell, the first car with fresh tires, to restart fifth.

“I thought for as many cars on the lead lap (25), I thought more would stay out though, and at least have those guys (with fresh tires) restarting from the fourth or fifth row,” Larson explained. “When they start on the third row and Bell got to second so fast, I knew it was going to be hard, and I just wasn’t able to manage that beginning of the run the way I wanted to.

“I was hopeful that more would stay out, I could get a gap and then run the lines I wanted to run to build my tires to the place I wanted to build them to, but I just went straight into defense and actually held them off longer than I thought I could.”

It’s no secret how much of a struggle 2026 has been for Larson, Hendrick and Chevrolet as a whole. HMS has only scored two wins this season, both with Chase Elliott, and none since May. To point, Larson entered the Chase on a cold streak with five finishes of 31st or worse in the final eight races of the regular season.

When considering all the woes he’s had this summer, Darlington was a massive step in the right direction.

“I’m happy to come away with a top five today,” Larson said. “It was a lot better than I thought we would be after that first run of the race. And then to lead laps and feel like we had a shot to win at a couple different points of the race was awesome.

“It’s been a while.”

But while Larson showed a return to race-winning form at one of his best tracks, the Southern 500 marked the latest race where the No. 5 team was unable to put all the pieces together in time for the checkered flag. Larson has now led 758 laps in 2026, the third most of all drivers this season and by far the most among drivers without a win.

Only nine races remain for Larson to avoid his first winless season at Hendrick, and since he sits seventh in the Chase standings and 49 points back of the lead, he will likely need a win to bring himself into true championship contention.