Kyle Larson Dominates Kansas, Scores Maximum Points and Takes Control of The Chase

Kyle Larson led 235 of 267 laps, swept both stages and reclaimed the lead from Chase Briscoe with seven laps remaining to complete a maximum-points afternoon at Kansas Speedway.

There are dominant NASCAR victories, and then there are afternoons like Kyle Larson just had at Kansas Speedway.

Larson led 235 of 267 laps in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400, won both stages, recorded the fastest lap and scored all 76 points available to a driver. The only real question for most of the afternoon wasn’t whether the No. 5 Chevrolet was the best car. It was whether anyone could find a way to steal the race from it.

For a few laps, Chase Briscoe almost did.

Practice and qualifying were mostly wiped out by rain Saturday, putting Joey Logano on the pole by NASCAR’s rule-book metric and Larson alongside him on the front row. Larson needed almost no time to take control. He led 78 of the first 80 laps and won Stage 1 ahead of Denny Hamlin and Austin Cindric.

That early speed matched exactly what stood out to us during the race. With basically no meaningful practice time, Hendrick Motorsports unloaded the No. 5 ready to go. The car was so close to perfect that the team reportedly went through the opening pit stops without making meaningful adjustments. Our reaction wasn't frustration that Larson was dominating. It was mostly disbelief at how completely prepared that car looked from the moment it rolled onto the track.

Stage 2 looked much the same.

Larson again controlled the race, although Cindric began emerging as a legitimate long-run threat. The first incident caution came after Noah Gragson suffered an engine failure around Lap 114. On the ensuing restart, Carson Hocevar made contact with Ty Gibbs, triggering a multicar crash that also involved Bubba Wallace, Erik Jones and Josh Berry. Hocevar continued but suffered significant splitter damage that eventually contributed to a 33rd-place finish.

Once the race settled again, Larson went right back to work.

He won Stage 2 and appeared headed toward one of the least complicated victories imaginable until the final green-flag pit sequence finally produced some drama.

Larson followed Briscoe to pit road on Lap 216. When the stops cycled through, Larson remained in front but brushed the wall during the final run. Briscoe closed a gap of roughly 1.5 seconds and drove past Larson for the lead on Lap 238.

For the first time all afternoon, Larson looked vulnerable.

Briscoe led 23 laps and briefly appeared capable of pulling off the upset. The problem was that his No. 19 Toyota became increasingly loose as the run developed. Larson began cutting back into the advantage, found lines that allowed him to protect his tires and reached Briscoe again with fewer than 10 laps remaining.

On Lap 261, Larson went underneath Briscoe and retook the lead.

This time there was no answer.

Larson drove away to win by 0.565 seconds over Austin Cindric, who quietly had one of the strongest cars in the field and climbed from 11th to second. Hamlin finished third, followed by Briscoe and Ryan Blaney. Christopher Bell, William Byron, Chase Elliott, Bubba Wallace and Ryan Preece completed the top 10.

Briscoe's late slide was especially painful. After losing the lead, contact with the wall allowed both Cindric and Hamlin to get by before the finish. What briefly looked like a championship-saving victory turned into a fourth-place finish.

Larson had no such problem.

The defending champion entered Kansas leading Hamlin by one point. He left with a 26-point advantage. Bell is now 50 back in third, while Bristol winner Logano fell to fourth and trails Larson by 67.

The numbers further down the standings are becoming uncomfortable. Blaney sits 91 points behind. Ten of the 16 Chase drivers are now at least 111 points back, and Hocevar's Kansas crash dropped him to 150 behind Larson.

That makes Larson's Kansas performance much more important than another trophy.

Only a few weeks ago, he entered The Chase seventh in the standings. Now he has won two of the last three races, finished second at Bristol in between and built the largest championship advantage we've seen since the postseason began.

The HFTS crew wasn't particularly impressed with the race itself. Our ratings ranged from green to black flag, with the main complaints centered on the lack of action at the front and how little of the racing deeper in the field made the television broadcast. What nobody criticized was Larson.

He was simply better.

No qualifying.

Almost no practice.

No problem.

Kansas gave everyone else 267 laps to find Kyle Larson.

For most of them, he was already gone.