Dreams were achieved and dreams were broken at the Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday. Kyle Larson falls in the latter. He started up front in overtime with teammate William Byron on the outside line; the No. 5 and No. 24 cars were locked in a potential 1-2 finish that could’ve clinched their final 4 spots. But suddenly, Larson shocked everyone, including himself.

As he was leading with Bubba Wallace in the first row, out of nowhere, Larson’s No. 5 smoothly moonwalked behind, and just kept going. The timing of his dry fuel tank left him finishing 26th, and the loudest disappointment echoed from his crew chief, Cliff Daniels.

A fuel fumble leaves Kyle Larson’s crew chief heartbroken

In the immediate aftermath, during a Frontstretch interview, Cliff Daniels didn’t mince words about the Talladega heartbreak. “Yeah, disappointing of course, and obviously we thought we had a little bit more than what we ended up having, so that’s the unfortunate part,” Daniels said, his voice carrying the weight of a crew chief who’s crunched every number twice over.

Larson had led the inside line into the final lap, which almost made him smell victory, but a fuel miscalculation, off by a mere quarter-gallon in those razor-thin overtime margins, sent the No. 5 Chevrolet fading down the backstretch. This not only robbed 20-plus points but also put him on the egde of the cutline heading into Martinsville.

Daniels later broke it down, “Yeah, certainly, it’s always the tradeoff here in the speedway racing of the amount of fuel you put in under caution, you know, the stages, and then of course there was the caution when we did fuel only at the end, we knew how much we put in, trying to be good for one green white checkered…obviously we thought we were confident to make it and it wasn’t the case, so yeah, disappointed in that…”

Listen to the crew chief of the No. 5 car, Cliff Daniels, talk about the miscalculation that caused @KyleLarsonRacin to run out of fuel.

Presenting Partner: Billy’s Tequila (https://t.co/xryuLXmmPg) PROMO CODE: RACE pic.twitter.com/7BMIn1oXLN

— Frontstretch (@Frontstretch) October 19, 2025

The No. 5 team opted for a fuel-only stop under caution, banking on savings from earlier stages to stretch through one green-white-checkered. History shows Talladega‘s 2.66-mile tri-oval chews up strategies like that, where a similar fuel blunder in 2023 was made by almost every runner but not Kyle Busch, and he went on to win the race, eventually. But for Larson, chasing his first drafting triumph in 400 starts, it amplified the devastation.

Larson himself echoed the hollow ache post-race, “It’s probably one of the more bummer superspeedway finishes I’ve had just because we were once again in contention, and it was right where I wanted to be, but it didn’t work out.” He’d gotten warnings on the fuel pumps mid-lap, switching desperately under yellow, but confidence from the pit wall kept him hammering down.

The background paints the picture for him: Larson’s 2025 campaign boasts good pole positions at Bristol and Kansas, yet superspeedways have taunted him since his 2014 debut, with close calls like this Talladega piling up the frustration.

But in this race, though the math seemed solid, and the earlier conversation plus the solid final lap led by Larson should’ve cleared the checkers, but Talladega’s extended five-lap overtime exposed the gamble.

For a driver who’s won on ovals from half-miles to intermediates, this fuel falter underscored playoff brutality, where Byron‘s own 25th from a late spin compounded Hendrick’s Sunday woes.

With Talladega in the rearview, the focus sharpens on Martinsville, where execution could salvage the season or end it.

Hendrick’s Martinsville must-win crunch

Hendrick Motorsports heads into the short-track showdown knowing the math is unforgiving: win or watch the playoffs slip away for at least one of their stars. William Byron, 36 points below the line after his Talladega tumble, captured the pressure perfectly: “Looks like all guys below the cut have to win. So we just got to go there and do that. We’ve had two strong weeks, but no results. And, just gotta try the best you can.”

His No. 24 has flashed speed at the paperclip, including a 2023 pole, but recent spins highlight how Martinsville‘s tight 0.526-mile layout punishes the slightest error, as seen in Logano’s 2022 championship-clinching masterclass there.

Larson’s crew chief isn’t backing down either, framing it as a mindset shift. Daniels stressed treating Martinsville like “a must-win car, because if you’re able to do that, then you keep it in your hands and not leave it up to the math.” The team’s short-track setup has gelled since summer, with optimistic tests yielding top-10 runs, but facing Bell and the cutline chasers demands peak form.

Hendrick’s legacy at Martinsville with 29 wins fuels the fire, yet the Round of 8 eliminator will test whether they can channel their Talladega lessons into a survival surge at Martinsville.