Get all your news in one place.

100’s of premium titles.
One app.

Get all your news in one place.

100’s of premium titles. One news app.

Motorsport

Unstoppable in Kansas, Kyle Larson cruises to a dominant NASCAR Cup win

Kyle Larson Kansas NASCAR NASCAR Cup (Event) Chase Elliott Christopher Bell Joey Logano Ryan Blaney Hendrick Motorsports

Nothing was going to deny Kyle Larson the NASCAR Cup win at Kansas on Sunday. After starting from pole position, he won both stages, collected the fastest lap, and claimed an impressive win, leading 221 of 267 laps in the process. And to top it all off, Larson now leaves the weekend in control of the regular season championship.

"I was trying really hard to pace myself because I believe that was our longest run of the day," said Larson, who had to carefully manage his tires in the closing laps. "I've been struggling a little bit at the end of the runs. Chase [Elliott] was really good so I felt like I just needed to try and be better on my end. I don't know if it was paying off at the end. I was still struggling. I don't know if the right front was starting to wear a lot or what but I was starting to lose a lot of grip and then I was vibrating really bad. I was afraid a right rear or something would let go. But yeah, great car and great execution today from our team."

Larson crossed a notable milestone on Sunday as well, leading his 10,000th lap in NASCAR Cup Series competition. He'll have a very busy two weeks in front of him now between the All-Star Race, followed by NASCAR's longest race and the Indianapolis 500 as Larson aims to both qualify for the prestigious race and — finally — complete ‘The Double’ of running the Indy 500 and Coke 600 on the same day.

Christopher Bell finished second on Sunday, Ryan Blaney third, Chase Briscoe fourth, and Alex Bowman fifth. Josh Berry, Ryan Preece, Chris Buescher, Joey Logano, and John Hunter Nemechek rounded out the top ten.

Of note, Corey Heim finished a career-best 13th, leading the effort for 23XI Racing after the organization put together a four-car effort for Kansas.

A rash of yellows shake up the final stage

Things got a bit dicey for Larson in the final stage after losing the lead on pit road to Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott. As things got back underway, Brad Keselowski moved into second place as he tried to dig himself out of a horrendous points hole. He was closing in on Elliott for the race lead when disaster struck, blowing a tire and crashing out of the race.

The pit stop sequence that followed saw Elliott lose the lead after a slow stop with Bell inheriting the top spot. Denny Hamlin, who was struggling with clutch issues, stalled trying to leave his box and fell out of the race.

Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (Photo by: Chris Graythen - Getty Images)

Fresh off his Texas victory, Logano made a big move for the race lead on the ensuing restart, but his charge was halted by an incident in the back. Cody Ware spun after contact, collecting Ty Dillon and Daniel Suarez.

Kyle Busch was the next driver to find trouble, spinning out after being on the wrong end of a four-wide situation down the backstretch. The final caution of the race followed soon after with Justin Haley and Erik Jones coming together at the exit of Turn 2, collecting Bubba Wallace and Austin Dillon as well.

Even with the cautions, the final run proved to be the longest of the day. Larson remained firmly in command, but tire concerns were ever-present as Carson Hocevar (who won Saturday's Truck race) was forced to pit with a flat. Larson slowed quite a bit in the final two laps, allowing Bell and Blaney to close rapidly as he managed the tire wear all the way to the checkered flag.

Before the late-race flurry of yellows, it was surprisingly green through the first two stages.

Photos from Kansas - Race

Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Cla	Driver	#	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Points
1	K. LarsonHendrick Motorsports	5	Chevrolet	267	3:05'12.572		7	60
2	C. BellJoe Gibbs Racing	20	Toyota	267	+0.712 3:05'13.284	0.712	8	50
3	R. BlaneyTeam Penske	12	Ford	267	+0.832 3:05'13.404	0.120	8	49
4	C. BriscoeJoe Gibbs Racing	19	Toyota	267	+5.916 3:05'18.488	5.084	9	33
5	A. BowmanHendrick Motorsports	48	Chevrolet	267	+6.727 3:05'19.299	0.811	9	41
6	J. BerryWood Brothers Racing	21	Ford	267	+7.806 3:05'20.378	1.079	8	38
7	R. PreeceRFK Racing	60	Ford	267	+13.198 3:05'25.770	5.392	9	34
8	C. BuescherRFK Racing	17	Ford	267	+14.258 3:05'26.830	1.060	8	29
9	J. LoganoTeam Penske	22	Ford	267	+15.371 3:05'27.943	1.113	8	30
10	J. NemechekLegacy Motor Club	42	Toyota	267	+15.874 3:05'28.446	0.503	10	27
11	A. CindricTeam Penske	2	Ford	267	+16.073 3:05'28.645	0.199	9	32
12	T. GillilandFront Row Motorsports	34	Ford	267	+19.630 3:05'32.202	3.557	9	25
13	C. Heim23XI Racing	67	Toyota	267	+20.870 3:05'33.442	1.240	9
14	N. GragsonFront Row Motorsports	4	Ford	267	+20.990 3:05'33.562	0.120	10	23
15	C. ElliottHendrick Motorsports	9	Chevrolet	267	+22.387 3:05'34.959	1.397	8	40
16	Z. SmithFront Row Motorsports	38	Ford	267	+24.016 3:05'36.588	1.629	9	24
17	T. Reddick23XI Racing	45	Toyota	267	+29.706 3:05'42.278	5.690	8	20
18	R. ChastainTrackHouse Racing	1	Chevrolet	267	+30.475 3:05'43.047	0.769	8	19
19	R. Stenhouse JrHyak Motorsports	47	Chevrolet	267	+30.710 3:05'43.282	0.235	13	18
20	S. van GisbergenTrackHouse Racing	88	Chevrolet	267	+32.439 3:05'45.011	1.729	9	17
21	K. BuschRichard Childress Racing	8	Chevrolet	266	+1 Lap 3:05'30.626	1 Lap	10	16
22	A. DillonRichard Childress Racing	3	Chevrolet	266	+1 Lap 3:05'33.439	2.813	11	15
23	M. McDowellSpire Motorsports	71	Chevrolet	266	+1 Lap 3:05'42.251	8.812	9	14
24	W. ByronHendrick Motorsports	24	Chevrolet	266	+1 Lap 3:05'44.760	2.509	10	13
25	C. CusterHaas Factory Team	41	Ford	265	+2 Laps 3:05'14.248	1 Lap	9	12
26	C. HocevarSpire Motorsports	77	Chevrolet	265	+2 Laps 3:05'29.601	15.353	10	11
27	R. Herbst23XI Racing	35	Toyota	265	+2 Laps 3:05'45.809	16.208	10	10
28	T. GibbsJoe Gibbs Racing	54	Toyota	264	+3 Laps 3:05'13.960	1 Lap	10	9
29	J. LoveRichard Childress Racing	33	Chevrolet	264	+3 Laps 3:05'14.485	0.525	9
30	C. WareRick Ware Racing	51	Ford	261	+6 Laps 3:05'14.531	3 Laps	12	7
31	J. HaleySpire Motorsports	7	Chevrolet	255	+12 Laps 3:05'17.675	6 Laps	12	6
32	E. JonesLegacy Motor Club	43	Toyota	218	+49 Laps 2:56'49.888	37 Laps	11	5
33	B. Wallace23XI Racing	23	Toyota	212	+55 Laps 2:30'07.613	6 Laps	11	4
34	D. SuarezTrackHouse Racing	99	Chevrolet	201	+66 Laps 2:13'31.194	11 Laps	7	3
35	T. DillonKaulig Racing	10	Chevrolet	197	+70 Laps 2:12'33.967	4 Laps	7	2
36	D. HamlinJoe Gibbs Racing	11	Toyota	196	+71 Laps 2:05'37.861	1 Lap	8	8
37	B. KeselowskiRFK Racing	6	Ford	194	+73 Laps 2:03'32.799	2 Laps	7	6
38	A. AllmendingerKaulig Racing	16	Chevrolet	6	+261 Laps 3'15.523	188 Laps	3	1