William Byron (24) celebrates victory at Darlington Raceway. Reuters

Byron, who got pushed out of the way by winner Joey Logano two laps from the end here a year ago, drove away from Kevin Harvick during a green-white-checkered finish for his third victory of the season and the seventh of his career.

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"It's pretty amazing,” Byron said. "Things have a way of working out.”

Harvick was second and Chase Elliott third, his best finish since returning to NASCAR from a broken leg while snowboarding.

NASCAR Cup Series driver William Byron (24) (centre) celebrates in Victory Lane at Darlington Raceway. Reuters

Brad Keselowski was fourth, followed by Bubba Wallace, Harrison Burton, Kyle Busch, Justin Haley, Ryan Blaney and Chris Buescher.

It was the 100th win for Hendrick Motorsports' No. 24 car and the organization's first victory at Darlington since Jimmie Johnson won the 2012 race.

It looked like 2021 champ Larson or points leader Chastain had the strongest cars and figured to be there at the end. Instead, Chastain was alongside Larson during a restart and admitted trying to squeeze his competitor against the wall in turn two. Both wound up wrecking.

Larson finished 20th and Chastain, who punched Noah Gragson in a pit-road confrontation a week ago at Kansas, was 29th.

"I wanted to squeeze him, I wanted to push him up, we've been trading back and forth all day. I wanted to push him up for sure,” Chastain said.

Larson moved into the lead when Denny Hamlin went to the pits with 30 laps remaining and was in prime position for victory until tangling with Chastain.

Martin Truex Jr. started from the pole and led 146 of the first 151 laps before he was clipped by Chastain at the end of stage.

Associated Press