NASCAR Cup Series

Kyle Larson changes lanes en route to second-place finish

Published Mar. 6, 2017 6:33 a.m. ET

Chase Wilhelm

HAMPTON, Ga. – Kyle Larson saw victory slip away in the closing laps of Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Larson took over the lead following Kevin Harvick’s costly pit-road penalty during the final round of stops.

Soon after, he relinquished it to eventual race-winner Brad Keselowski with seven laps remaining.

“I raced around Brad a lot throughout the day. Any time I was in front of him on short runs, he’d drive around me up top," Larson said. “And so I knew I was going to have to take his line away on that start there for a couple of laps and try it.”

Primary a driver who will take the high line around the race track any chance he gets, Larson was forced to use the bottom lane to his advantage in Sunday’s race.

“I can make the high line work at most tracks,” Larson said. “Here at Atlanta, I don't do a good enough job up top. When I restarted the leader after our Christmas present we got there, and Brad lined up behind me, I knew he was going to be the one to beat.”

Running a different line was also a learning experience.

“It was a lot of fun to learn how to kind of use both feet to get around the bottom and to do a good job with that,” Larson said.

After scoring points in all three stages of Sunday's race, Larson is now sixth in the Monster Energy Cup Series standings.

Overall, Larson was happy to come home with a great result at a type of track that has given him issues in the past.

"It was disappointing not to get the win, but I’m happy about our second place run at a 1.5-mile where I struggle at," Larson said. "I had a blast."