Chastain surges late to take a surprise victory at Talladega

Ross Chastain surged into the lead as he closed in on the checkered flag Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway to steal his second career NASCAR Cup Series victory.

Chastain simply stayed in line over the final few laps as leader Erik Jones and reigning Cup champion Kyle Larson fought for the win. Larson made his attempt on the final lap and Jones moved for the defensive block.

Chastain just pointed his Chevrolet straight, slipped past the leaders and won for the second time in five races.

“Holy cow! We didn’t do anything! We just stayed down there!” Chastain screamed over his radio.

The eighth-generation watermelon farmer from Florida then climbed out of his winning TrackHouse Racing through the open roof flaps — like a sunroof — and smashed a watermelon from the roof of the Chevy in celebration.

Austin Dillon finished second for Richard Childress Racing in a 1-2 sweep for Chevrolet, while Kyle Busch was third in a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Larson wound up fourth for Hendrick Motorsports, followed by JGR driver Martin Truex Jr. and then finally Jones, who fell all the way to sixth trying to save the win.

“It’s typical here. Been close here so many times,” Jones said. “It just felt good to be up front coming there in that last lap. We were single file. I felt pretty good about it. Looking back, I wish I would have stayed on the bottom and let (Chastain) push me. I didn’t realize they were coming with that much speed.

“Trying to defend on (Larson), you’re too far ahead already. And obviously the defense on (Larson) kind of (opens) the door to (Chastain). You’re just trying to win the race. You can only see so much that’s going on from the seat and make the best decision you can in the last 1,500 feet.”