KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Kyle Larson took most of the drama out of his second straight victory in the NASCAR Cup Series regular-season race hosted by Kansas Speedway.
After a first-place finish in Saturday’s qualifying to put his Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet in pole position for Sunday’s race, Larson led 221 of 267 laps, winning both stages on the 1.5-mile track and cruising to his third Cup Series win of the season. He was never challenged down the stretch by Christopher Bell, who finished second in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota — and Larson most certainly didn’t need another last-lap pass to win at the wire at Kansas like he did a year ago.
The margin over Chris Buescher then was 0.001 second, a literal millisecond, for the closest 1-2 finish in Cup Series history last year. It was 0.712 second on Sunday.
“Glad to not win by an inch this time,” Larson said with a smile. “A little safer gap.”
Larson, whose other wins this season were at Florida’s Homestead-Miami Speedway and Tennessee’s Bristol Motor Speedway, has finished in the top four in the past four Cup Series races, and now he will take that momentum to Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Larson will be on the track there Tuesday as he begins working toward another shot at “The Double” — running every lap of the Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 on the same Sunday of Memorial Day weekend.
Last year, he contended in the rain-delayed Indy 500 before a speeding penalty on pit road resulted in an 18th-place finish in the open-wheel race. He then hopped a flight to North Carolina for the NASCAR race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, but rain there kept him from ever completing a lap.
“It’s a cool win here at Kansas,” Larson said in victory lane, “and now we’ll try to execute two good weeks at Indy.”
Even though Larson spent most of a hot, sunny day at Kansas in the lead, he found himself trailing teammate Chase Elliott early in the final stage. However, when Elliott’s pit crew dropped the jack too soon before his right rear tire was on during a late stop, Larson was able to get back to the front on the restart, and he spent the last 50 laps cruising to the checkered flag.
Larson won for the 32nd time, and he joined Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch as the only active Cup Series drivers to have led more than 10,000 career laps. Larson also made it three straight Cup Series wins for Chevrolet at Kansas Speedway; Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain won the fall race there in last year’s playoffs.
Bell, a three-time winner already this year, finished in the top three for the sixth time this season. Ryan Blaney was third in a Ford, giving Team Penske another good run after Austin Cindric won two weeks ago at Alabama’s Talladega Superspeedway and Joey Logano won last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.
“I was just trying to get to the end. I know Ryan was coming on really strong there,” Bell said. “I feel like our day was kind of a product of qualifying well and having good pit stops and restarts.”
Blaney knew he was coming on strong, too, but he was left to lament what might have been.
“We were kind of running those guys down quick,” Blaney said. “A few more laps, I would have scared the (No.) 5 a bit at least.”
Chase Briscoe finished fourth for JGR, and Larson’s teammate Alex Bowman rounded out the top five.
Brad Keselowski looked as if he might finally have his first top-10 finish this season. The RFK Racing driver and co-owner started from the rear but steadily made his way forward, and the 2012 Cup Series champion had moved into second behind Elliott when his right rear tire went down with 72 laps to go. Keselowski wound up in the wall, ending his hopes of contending.
“I mean, it was going to be a great day,” Keselowski said. “I heard a big boom, and around it went. It’s unfortunate.”
Hamlin also had a fast car all afternoon, but he wound up fighting a clutch problem that made pitting a nightmare. The JGR veteran was still running with the leaders before Keselowski’s caution, when yet more clutch trouble finally ruined his day.
“Really fast again,” said Hamlin, who has two wins this season. “Just can’t keep it together right now.”
There had been only one unplanned caution before Keselowski hit the wall. Ty Dillon, Daniel Suarez and Cody Ware brought out another in a wreck on the restart, Busch was bumped and spun to bring out another yellow on the next restart, and Justin Haley, Erik Jones and Bubba Wallace were involved in another wreck on a third consecutive restart.
Next up is the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Carolina’s North Wilkesboro Speedway, where reigning Cup Series champion Logano was the $1 million winner of last year’s event, which does not award points for the season standings. There are changes to the format this year, including an optional promoter’s caution flag, which could dramatically reshape the 250-lap race.
IndyCar: Palou rules on IMS road course, too
The Indy 500 will be the sixth race of the IndyCar Series season.
So far, the 2025 schedule has mostly been a parade lap for Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou as the 28-year-old Spanish driver seeks his four IndyCar championship in five years.
Palou won Saturday’s Sonsio Grand Prix on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward was second and Team Penske’s Will Power was third.
It was the fourth win in five races for Palou, whose other victories were the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on a street course in Florida on March 2, the March 23 race on the permanent road course at California’s Thermal Club and the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix last weekend in Birmingham, also on a permanent road course. Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood won the Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 13 in California, where Palou was second on the street course.
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