The Associated Press

DARLINGTON, S.C.

Brad Keselowski took nearly the entire season to break through to victory lane. Kyle Larson will have to wait a little bit longer.

Keselowski overtook Larson’s dominant car by a few feet coming out of the pits on the final caution, then took off on the restart to win the Southern 500 — a satisfying moment in a season of struggles for the former NASCAR champion.

Larson knows all about perseverance. He had strongest car at Darlington on Sunday night, led a whopping 284 of 367 laps, yet left in third place behind Keselowski and his Team Penske teammate Joey Logano.

It was the eighth time this year — and 38th time in his five full-time Cup seasons — Larson finished in the top five without winning. Larson led 200 laps in Bristol’s spring race and wound up second after Kyle Busch’s textbook bump-and-run move five laps from the end last April.

Larson led 101 laps at Kansas a month later until eventual winner Kevin Harvick got him on a restart and Larson’s Chip Ganassi Racing machine tangled with Ryan Blaney, costing him a shot at the win.

Keselowski understands how difficult it is to run up front and not have the win to show for it. He believes his Penske Ford was good enough to win several times this year until critical errors on his part ruined the chance.

When drivers don’t capitalize on those opportunities, it can lead to doubts about when they’ll come around again, Keselowski said.

Larson sounds like his batteries are still fully charged. He’s confident that if his team brings more cars to tracks like the one he had at Darlington, good things will happen. Keselowski sees that, too.

“Kyle Larson’s going to win this race one day,” Keselowski said. “And when that day comes, he’ll think about this one and how this one probably slipped away.”