Kyle Larson: Darlington heartbreak ‘stings, for sure’

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- Kyle Larson enjoyed wide-margin leads for much of his dominant day at Darlington Raceway. But with the Bojangles' Southern 500 on the line, the margin that mattered was inches. Brad Keselowski edged out Larson's No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet at the end of pit road after the final stop of the night Sunday, pulling away to his first victory at the historic 1.366-mile track. Larson was left with a stat-sheet dream -- sweeping the stage wins and leading a whopping 284 of 367 laps -- but also a late-race fade to a sour-tasting, third-place finish. "We didn't get beat off pit road by much, but it was enough," Larson said. "Being the control car at any race track is huge, and we just didn't have that. I was just really loose that last run, trying to run hard to stay with him." RELATED: Race results | Playoff standings The other end of the stat ledger was too tough to take. For the seventh time this season, Larson finished second or third, and though he's already locked into the NASCAR Playoffs, he heads into next weekend's regular-season finale at Indianapolis without a victory. The encouraging part: Having his most convincing performance yet. "Obviously everybody who doesn't win isn't happy, but at the same time, we haven't had a car like this all year," Larson said. "I was extremely happy about that, and looking forward to the next couple months." Larson led laps in three big chunks, losing the top spot only on pit-stop exchanges. The final setback was the most dramatic. When the yellow flag flew for the last time for Jeffrey Earnhardt's spin with 24 laps left, Keselowski was the first of the front-runners to reach the pit-exit line, barely outdistancing Larson and Keselowski's teammate Joey Logano as they returned to the track three-wide. WATCH: Kes beats Larson off pit road From there, Keselowski scooted away on the restart and Logano eventually picked off second place from Larson, whose car lacked both short-run speed and the ability to make gains in traffic. "It definitely feels good to come to Darlington and lead laps, but it sucks to not finish it out," Chad Johnston, Larson's crew chief, told NASCAR.com. "We've got to button-up our pit road, and it's been a weak spot all year long. Guys are working hard at it and hopefully we can get it buttoned-up before the (playoffs) start. That's when it's going to count. It's going to be really hard to win races if we can't keep our position on pit road." The calendar turning to September means playoff time, but Larson spilled details that the month will mean something else to him on a personal note. "Getting married later this month, so pretty cool," Larson said. "Pretty exciting. Busy next few weeks. It's going to come up quick."