“Kyle Larson really deserved this one” - William Byron shares his thoughts about the final restart in the Texas playoff race

With 17 laps remaining, Kyle Larson, who had been leading Bubba Wallace for 34 laps, lost control of his No. 5 Chevrolet and slid into the outside wall. On the restart, Williams Byron passed Wallace and Chase Briscoe to seize the lead for the first time.

Byron's win was his series-leading sixth of the season, and 10th of his career overall. He now advances to the playoff semifinal round regardless of how he finishes the next two races.

"Man, that’s badass. I finally got a good restart at the end, just ooh, it was hot today. I think it’s finally hitting me. But No. 300 for Hendrick Motorsports," Byron said (via NASCAR).

He also said that his teammate, who was leading the race, should've had the win. Larson was able to return to pit road after sliding and hitting the wall, but the damage was irreversible and he retired.

"Kyle [Larson] really deserved this one, got to say," Byron said. "Those guys were really fast all day and hate it for them at the end."

Wallace finished third, Christopher Bell fourth, and Denny Hamlin fifth. Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Daniel Suarez, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Briscoe rounded out the top ten. Meanwhile, Kyle Larson finished 31st due to his crash.

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Kyle Larson talks about his spin at Texas Motor Speedway

Kyle Larson was dominating the race at Texas until everything went wrong, with a late spin causing him to crash.

As Wallace and Larson entered turn 1 after the re-start, Larson spun out and slammed into the wall. Larson's pit crew managed to send him out but he eventually had to retire.

"I think if I could just replay it again, I would just give more space into 1 (turn) and race it out off of [turn] 2, and eventually the bottom would have won out,” Larson said later (via Frontstretch).

Larson finished in 31st place and registered a DNF. The Hendrick MotorSport driver is still, though narrowly, above the cutline despite his late spin.

Kyle Larson is widely regarded as the most adaptable driver on the NASCAR grid right now. But as NASCAR gets ready for the famed Talladega Superspeedway next race weekend, Larson would have to give it his all to advance further in the playoffs.