Kyle Larson was already excited about what the weekend at Darlington Raceway would mean. He added an even larger moment for him to remember with his first career win at the track “Too Tough To Tame.”

Larson rallied from 30th starting the final stage, bumping John Hunter Nemechek coming out of the final turn as the two raced to the finish line to win the Xfinity Series race on Saturday.

Larson, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion, was named one of stock-car racing’s 75 greatest drivers who’ve been honored during the celebration at Darlington’s annual throwback weekend.

Now, he’s got a checkered flag after so many close calls at Darlington, where he’s had three seconds and two thirds in 10 career Cup races and never finished worse than seventh in his five previous Xfinity events here.

“Every time you get to come to Darlington, it’s special,” Larson said. But this weekend’s festivities are very different as Larson can’t wait for the Sunday brunch before the Goodyear 400 where 33 of the 75 all-time NASCAR greats will gather.

“You’ll get to see legends and Hall of Famers and everybody who’s still alive on the 75 list,” he said. “I really look forward to that. I think it’s going to be a special kind of thing and morning for me that I’ll probably never forget.”

Larson, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion, was making his first start of the season in the Triple A Series. It looked like his chance at a win ended when he was assessed a pit-road speeding penalty that dropped him to 30th before the final stretch.

But there was Larson alongside Nemechek at the end to pull out his 14th career Xfinity victory.

“We had a really, really good car the whole race,” Larson said. “We were kind of bouncing off each other a little bit. I’m not sure what happened into three, but it seemed like he tried to get in behind me to shove me in the corner.

“He kind of hooked me right and hit the wall,” Larson continued. “What an exciting race there.”

Larson took the lead entering turns three and four. Nemechek, who led a race-high 58 laps, attempted a final pass, but got bumped by Larson and slid away to the inside wall. Nemechek finished fifth.

Nemechek was disappointed with the finish, not with how he and Larson raced at the end. “That’s good-hard racing,” Nemechek said. “I’m smiling ear-to-ear internally, let’s put it, for the hard racing we had today and how him and I raced each other.”

Justin Allgaier, who won the previous two spring Xfinity races at Darlington, was second. Cole Custer was third and points leader Austin Hill was fourth.

Cup race at Darlington could be hot-tempered

Ross Chastain thinks things went too far last week in punching Noah Gragson in the pits at Kansas.

However, the NASCAR points leader says he feels more comfortable in his growing role as the Cup series’ reigning bad boy.

Gragson confronted Chastain after a late-race incident and took a punch from Chastain before personnel broke it up.

“I feel security stepped in about 10 seconds too quick,” Kyle Busch said Saturday.

Expect blood pressure to rise this week at Darlington Raceway where the Goodyear 400 takes place today. The track “Too Tough To Tame” has traditionally gotten drivers sideways both during and after the checkered flag waves.

Chastain would prefer to talk out issues with rival drivers, but stood by his actions at Kansas.

“I’m not saying that every time in a little bit different situation (I’m) going to react like that,” he said. “I want to talk to guys and have conversations, but last week was too far.”

Chastain cleared the air with Gragson on Monday and believes the scuffle is finished. Yet, Chastain remains the focal point for driver and fan anger over his aggressive style.

Denny Hamlin was fined money and points after acknowledging he intentionally hit Chastain late in the Phoenix race two months ago.

There have been disagreements with Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney and even calmer, less confrontational racers like Martin Truex Jr. and Aric Almirola.

Elliott, caught on camera, passed Gragson in the pits at Kansas and told him, “Somebody’s got to do it,” referring to some Chastain payback.

Busch has advised Chastain, 30, in the past, telling him, “Don’t be the headline ever week.”

Those words didn’t take hold, according to Busch. “He hasn’t learned, he hasn’t listened to anybody.”

“I don’t know the guy,” Busch continued. “I don’t need to know the guy.”

NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Jarrett sees Chastain as a convenient scapegoat in the garage these days.

“I’ve seen nothing from Ross that he is a dirty race driver whatsoever,” said Jarrett, who’ll be honored by Chastain’s car with a throwback, brown and white UPS paint scheme.

Chastain “getting blamed for everything that goes on the damn racetrack is getting old, in my opinion,” Jarrett said. “Guys on the opposite side of the track are saying it’s Ross’ fault.”

Palou wins Grand Prix, takes IndyCar series lead

Alex Palou sent an early message by aggressively passing pole-winner Christian Lundgaard on the first lap of the Indianapolis Grand Prix. He was driving to win — and wasn’t leaving anything to chance.

The Spaniard delivered on his promise, too. After inheriting the lead on Lap 65, he pulled away from the 27-car field and beat Pato O’Ward of Mexico across the yard of bricks by 16.8006 seconds on Saturday.

“We missed a little bit in qualifying, but we knew we had a fast car,” Palou said after producing IndyCar’s widest victory margin since his 30-second season-ending win in 2022. “I knew when we started on the alternates (red tires), we had to go hard. It was right, it was perfect.”

Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing team got everything right, including the crucial tire strategy — opting to start on reds before switching to new primaries, then scuffed primaries and finally sticker primaries on his final pit stop.

As a result, the 2021 series champ dominated the race, leading 52 of 85 laps to claim his first win of the season and his first in 11 career starts on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s two race courses. He’s also the series’ only driver to complete every lap of this season’s first five races, and Palou now owns five career wins with at least one coming in three straight seasons.

It put Ganassi back in victory lane for the first time since Marcus Ericsson’s season-opening victory in March.

Palou also leapfrogged his teammate, Ericsson, in the season standings. Palou has a six-point lead on O’Ward by six points while Ericsson fell from first to third, 19 points behind.

O’Ward has been the runner-up three times this season but believes Arrow McLaren is poised to make a big move after putting all three of the team’s cars in the top five Saturday. Alexander Rossi, the 2016 Indianapolis 500 champ, was third while Felix Rosenqvist was fifth.

“We’ve been knocking on the door every single week,” O’Ward said. “I’m just really enjoying it. We’re growing massively as a team.”

IndyCar’s first Danish pole-winner, Christian Lundgaard of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, was fourth. Defending race winner Colton Herta of Andretti Autosport wound up ninth after moving from 14th on the starting grid into the top five.

Palou was surprised by others who opted not to start on primary tires.

“For us it was clear. We were struggling a little bit more than some of the guys on used reds in the warmup,” he said. “We knew we didn’t want to use used reds, that’s why we started on new alternates, try to get the lead, try to get a big gap, like two, three, four, seconds, then work on our pace on the black (tires).”