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 tyres 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.
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, who said the circuit does not suit his driving style.
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.
Polesitter Ryan Preece dominated Stage 1, leading all 80 laps on his way to win the first section of the race, ahead of Almirola.
Joey Logano, Team Penske, Verizon 5G Ford Mustang
Photo by: Rusty Jarrett / NKP / Motorsport Images
Taking an early command of the race, he held a 1.5s lead over Daniel Suarez after 25 laps.
With 21 laps remaining, Preece put reigning series champion Joey Logano a lap down, with the No. 22 Ford driver having started from the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to his car prior to the race.
Stage 2 saw Kevin Harvick’s four-tyre pit call finally kick in, and he ran down Ross Chastain for the lead to take his first stage victory since the 2020 season.
Preece led Suarez into the stage on the lap 92 restart, before a caution 40 laps later as Harrison Burton spun around off Turn 2 after contact from Erik Jones and came to a stop on the track.
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 as Preece lined up 30th.
With 20 laps remaining, Chastain remained out front on old tyres while Todd Gilliand ran second (he took only two new tyres) and Harvick – who took four tyres on his stop – ran third.
Race winner Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro
Photo by: John Harrelson / NKP / Motorsport Images
On lap 167, Harvick ran down both Gilliland and Chastain to take the lead for the first time in the race.
Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, the lead-lap cars all pit with Briscoe edging Harvick off pit road before the latter was passed by Hamlin on lap 247.
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 10 laps later.
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 tyres and fuel to make it to the end of the race.
On lap 303, a tyre 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 tyres.
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.