(AP Photo/Randy Holt)

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) Kyle Larson was willing to play it smart in the closing laps at Texas. He also had a fast car that stayed in front through all of the restarts to secure the first of the four championship-contending spots in NASCAR's season finale.

Larson led 256 of 334 laps at the 1 1/2-mile track and got his eighth win this season. He led the final 218 laps, staying in front through seven restarts in the final stage that included three late after incidents involving playoff contenders Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr.

"Even if I didn't come out with the lead or the win or whatever, I wanted to play it smart and take what I could get," Larson said. "But I got good shoves from behind every restart, and it allowed me to get clear into the lead into (Turn) 1 and do some blocking for a few laps. ... We had a great race car to allow me to be aggressive with the blocks, and fast too."

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