Passing was at a premium in Sunday’s race and Larson struggled to run mid-pack most of the day, but he moved into the top-five by staying out when most others pit for a caution on Lap 305 of 400.
While under another caution on Lap 343, Larson pit but took on only two new tires and lined up fifth on a restart behind four other drivers who had remained on the track.
With 29 laps remaining, after a duel with leader Joey Logano, Larson emerged with the lead and never looked back, driving away to pick up the win by 4.142 seconds.
Larson then celebrated the unexpected victory by doing a burnout around the entire .526-mile short track, much to the delight of the crowd.
The victory is the second this season for Larson, 21st of his career and first at Martinsville, which was an enormous shock to the 2021 series champion.
“Yeah, I had never ever would have thought that I would win here at Martinsville. This place has been so tough on me. Just does not suit my driving style at all,” Larson said. “I like to charge the center. I like to roll momentum, and that’s just not what this place is like.
“But thanks to (crew chief) Cliff Daniels and everybody for making me feel like I know what I’m doing sometimes around here. So, I just can’t believe it.
“I honestly have never thought I would win here so I don’t have a spot picked out either for the (grandfather) clock, so I’ll have to make some space for sure.”
Larson said the win meant a lot to him but he also appreciated how much winning means at Martinsville to Hendrick Motorsports.
It’s the site of the organization’s first-ever Cup win (1984) and where a HMS plane crashed in 2004 coming to the race. All 10 people on board were killed, including team owner Rick Hendrick’s son and brother.
“You know, everybody knows what happened here so long ago, and I think everybody – you know, that’s on everybody’s minds every time they come to Martinsville, so wish Rick was here, Linda, but we’ve got Jeff Gordon here,” Larson said.
“Thanks to everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. You guys are the best and make me – I can’t believe it. I can’t believe that I won at Martinsville.”
Logano held off Martin Truex Jr. at the line to hold on to second place, Denny Hamlin was fourth and Chase Briscoe rounded out the top-five.
Completing the top-10 were Aric Almirola, Ryan Blaney, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Bubba Wallace and Chase Elliott, who was making his first start after missing six races with a broken tibia in his left leg.
Elliott suffered the injury in a snowboarding accident in early March in Colorado.
Stage 3
Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, the lead-lap cars all pit with Briscoe edging Kevin Harvick off pit road.
On the restart on Lap 193, Briscoe was followed by Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Hamlin.
Hamlin finally worked his way around Harvick to take over the second position on Lap 247.
With 150 laps remaining in the race, Briscoe held only a small advantage over Hamlin as Harvick ran third and Almirola fourth.
After several laps of a side-by-side battle, Hamlin finally got to the inside of Briscoe and was able to clear him for the lead on Lap 257.
Blaney and Alex Bowman were the first to hit pit road on Lap 298 to kick off a final round of green flag pit stops to take on new tires and fuel to make it to the end of the race.
A.J. Allmendinger was penalized for speeding on pit road during his stop and had to serve a pass-through.
On Lap 303, a tire came off Anthony Alfredo’s No. 78 Chevrolet and came to a stop on Turn 4 which brought out the fourth caution of the race.
Most of the lead-lap cars pit with Harvick first off pit road. Briscoe remained on the track and inherited the lead. He led the way on the restart on Lap 313 followed by Larson, Tyler Reddick and Harvick.
J.J. Yeley hit the wall in Turn 3 on Lap 343 to bring out the fifth caution of the race.
Most lead-lap cars pit but several stayed on the track including Logano, who inherited the lead.
On the restart on Lap 355, Logano was followed by Almirola, Hamlin, Stenhouse and Larson, who took on only two tires.
With 29 laps to go, Larson finally got to the inside of Logano and was able to clear him off Turn 2 to take the lead for the first time in the race.
Stage 2
Harvick’s four-tire pit call finally kicked in and he ran down Ross Chastain for the lead and held off Briscoe to win Stage 2, his first stage victory since the 2020 season.
Hamlin was third, Reddick fourth and Keselowski rounded out the top-five.
Following the break between Stages 1 and 2, all the lead-lap cars pit with Ryan Preece the first off pit road. Zane Smith (too fast on pit road), Chris Buescher and Kyle Busch (equipment interference) all had to restart form the rear of the field.
On the restart on Lap 92, Preece led Daniel Suarez, Almirola and Reddick.
On Lap 133, Harrison Burton spun around off Turn 2 after contact from Erik Jones and came to a stop on the track which brought out a caution.
All the lead-lap cars pit with Preece again first off pit road but he, Truex and Wallace were all penalized for speeding on pit road and had to restart from the rear of the field.
The race returned to green on Lap 143 with Chastain – who stayed out – in the lead followed by Suarez and Almirola. Preece lined up 30th.
With 20 laps remaining, Chastain remained out front on old tires while Todd Gilliand ran second (he took only two new tires) and Harvick – who took four tires on his stop – ran third.
On Lap 167, Harvick ran down both Gilliland and Chastain to take the lead for the first time in the race.
Stage 1
Preece completely dominated by leading all 80 laps on his way to the Stage 1 win.
Almirola was second, Reddick third, Suarez fourth and Briscoe rounded out the top-five.
Preece started on the pole and took command of the race early, moving out to a 1.5-second lead over Suarez after 25 laps.
Halfway through the first stage, Preece maintained almost a 1-second lead over Suarez as Almirola remained in third.
With 21 laps remaining in the stage, Preece put reigning series champion Logano a lap down.
Logano had to start the race from the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to his No. 22 Ford prior to the race.