Maggie Mackenzie Tue, October 27, 2026 at 12:07 PM UTC · 3 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kyle Larson's last-lap comeback at Talladega Superspeedway was remarkable enough on its own. But buried beneath the chaos of Sunday's YellaWood 500 was another accomplishment NASCAR hadn't seen in nearly 13 years.
Chevrolet didn't just win the race. It swept the top six finishing positions.
And remarkably, those six drivers represented five different Cup Series organizations.
The last time any manufacturer pulled off a top-six sweep in NASCAR's premier series was November 2013 at Phoenix Raceway, making Sunday's result a rare achievement in an era when Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota regularly trade victories.
Larson led the way with his first career Cup Series superspeedway victory, edging Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron by just 0.041 seconds.
But the Chevrolet celebration extended well beyond Hendrick Motorsports.
That diversity is what makes the result especially noteworthy.
This wasn't one powerhouse organization overwhelming the competition. Chevrolet put five different teams inside the top six, including smaller operations competing against some of NASCAR's best-funded organizations.
The manufacturer wasn't finished there, either. Alex Bowman placed ninth and Michael McDowell finished 10th, giving Chevrolet eight of the race's top 10 positions.
For a manufacturer competing against Ford and Toyota every weekend, it was an emphatic result.
To find the previous top-six sweep, you have to go back to Nov. 10, 2013, when Kevin Harvick won the AdvoCare 500 at Phoenix Raceway.
Harvick, then driving for Richard Childress Racing, led a Chevrolet sweep that also included Kasey Kahne, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kurt Busch and Juan Pablo Montoya.
Nearly 13 years later, Chevrolet finally matched that achievement at a track where predicting the finishing order is notoriously difficult.
The result was hardly guaranteed during Sunday's race.
Ford's RFK Racing trio of Chris Buescher, Ryan Preece and Brad Keselowski dominated the opening stage with an aggressive fuel strategy . Joey Logano later won Stage 2 for Team Penske, while several manufacturers remained in contention as the laps wound down.
Then came the late wrecks, an overtime restart and Larson's improbable recovery after being shuffled outside the top 10 on the final lap.
When the dust settled, the first Ford didn't appear until seventh, with Todd Gilliland, while Denny Hamlin was Toyota's highest finisher in eighth.
Larson's victory also gave Chevrolet its 890th all-time Cup Series win .
For Larson, Talladega delivered a potentially championship-defining afternoon. For Chevrolet, it produced something considerably rarer: a finishing order the entire manufacturer could celebrate.
Source: Sports
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