NOCO 400 highlights: Kyle Larson wins big at Martinsville

Updated Apr 16, 2023 6:37 pm ET

The NASCAR Cup Series' April schedule continued Sunday with Kyle Larson's NOCO 400 win at Martinsville Speedway, and we had you covered with all the action from start to finish, exclusively on FS1 and the FOX Sports App!

Ryan Preece's No. 41 Ford was on the pole Sunday, and Chase Elliott was back in action after a six-race absence due to a broken leg kept him out of the driver's seat since late February.

Sunday's race was made up of 400 laps around a 0.526-mile short track. Drivers faced a unique challenge at this track, which featured a racing surface with asphalt on the straightaways and concrete in the turns.

Here are the top moments!

Green!

Preece cleared Daniel Suárez from the inside line to lead the opening lap as things got underway in Ridgeway, Virginia.

Bumper cars

There was a bit of early contact between Austin Cindric and Erik Jones, but it wasn't detrimental to either driver.

Meanwhile, Preece opened up his lead to over a second on Suárez, while Elliott made little progress since starting 24th.

Heating up

Elsewhere, Chase Briscoe took the fifth spot away from Martin Truex Jr., while Tyler Reddick began to catch up to Suárez and Aric Almirola, who had fallen back to roughly 1.1 seconds behind Preece. 

In the end, Preece led every lap en route to the Stage 1 win — the first stage win of his career.

Almirola, Reddick, Suárez and Briscoe rounded out the top five in the opening stage, which went entirely caution-free.

Close call!

Preece was this close to making a very costly mistake under caution, as he almost came to pit road a lap before the pits were open. He redirected and avoided a major blunder, and the green flag was back out at Lap 92.

Meanwhile, Almirola started to close the gap on Preece for the lead, which was just over half a second.

Around he goes!

The caution came out after Harrison Burton took a spin in Turn 2.

Follow the leader

The first lead change of the day came at Lap 136, when Ross Chastain overtook Preece, who had led all 135 laps prior.

Then, Preece was penalized for speeding on pit road, along with Truex and Bubba Wallace.

All-out effort

The green flag returned with 38 laps to go in Stage 2, as Ryan Blaney and Michael McDowell traded blows on the track. Meanwhile, there was a good bit of back-and-forth going on between Almirola and Suárez.

Eyes on the prize

Late in the second stage, Kevin Harvick ran down Chastain for the lead, while Preece was buried back way in traffic.

Harvick's paint scheme Sunday was a throwback to when he originally signed with Richard Childress Racing in 1999.

No quit

With less than five to go in Stage 2, Harvick led Briscoe by six-tenths of a second and held on to secure the stage win — his first since 2020. Behind them were Denny Hamlin, Reddick and Brad Keselowski to round out the top five.

Gaining momentum

Hamlin took the lead on Lap 257 after Briscoe had led the 70 consecutive previous laps. Then, Harvick passed Briscoe for second, but Hamlin held strong, building his lead up to roughly 2.7 seconds.

The entire field continued to race hard as the final stretch approached.

Not how he drew it up

Later, there was trouble in Turn 4 when the right rear tire of Anthony Alfredo's car came off, which brought out the fifth caution of the day. Then, Todd Gilliland dropped a cylinder before the green flag came back out with 88 laps remaining.

Tough break

Elsewhere, Briscoe opened up a 1.7 second lead on Larson, but trouble ensued when the caution came out in Turn 3 after a big crash from J.J. Yeley due to an apparent blown motor and/or brake failure.

Cut short

Larson took the lead with a two-tire stop coming up on 50 laps to go, while Harvick came to pit road with a cut front tire.

Battling late

Larson finally overtook Joey Logano for the lead with 28 laps to go after several laps racing neck and neck.

Winner!

Larson built his lead up to almost four seconds with 10 laps remaining en route to a huge comeback win at Martinsville.

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