Kyle Larson scores perfect win in the Chase at Kansas

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Kyle Larson scores a maximum 76-point win in the NASCAR Cup Series’ Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.

This is the second win of his season and the 34th victory of his career.

When Kyle Larson last visited Kansas Speedway in May, he narrowly lost to Tyler Reddick. Now, he returned to the heartland with a track-record tying fourth Cup Series win here.

Like the rest of the field, Larson did not touch the track until the race after rain canceled practice and qualifying on Saturday.

The NASCAR qualifying metric set Joey Logano on pole with Larson alongside him on the front row. It only took Kyle the first set of corners to take the lead.

From there he led wire-to-wire to win the opening stage. In the second stage, he nearly mirrored that mark to complete the stage sweep.

By the final stage it looked as though Larson would go untouched to the Hollywood Casino 400 victory; But Chase Briscoe said otherwise.

Briscoe stayed within touching distance of the championship leader for the entire first half of the final run to the finish. He closed within a single car-length of Larson before the final pit cycle and become the only driver to pass him afterwards.

Larson found himself in second for the only time in the race with around 30 laps remaining. The pace in the middle of the stint was slower than it was earlier in the race.

Then with 15 laps remaining he reeled in the Bass Pro Shops No. 19. Briscoe chewed through his tires while Larson’s car recovered. He retook the lead with under ten laps to go and took the victory.

In the end, Larson won both stages, had the fastest lap, and led 235 of the 267-lap event for his perfect point day.

The Top Ten

Austin Cindric was the most surprising storyline of the day. His prior best result at an intermediate oval was a 12th-placed finish here in the spring.

He ran inside the top three all race long and finished runners-up to surge inside the top ten in the Chase standings.

Denny Hamlin ran in the top five throughout the duration of the race. He failed to match the same speed as Larson and the championship gap expanded from one to 26 points.

Larson’s only true competition today slid to fourth after chewing through his tires. Chase Briscoe led the second-most laps on the day as the most recent winner at an intermediate delivered a top five performance.

Ryan Blaney concluded the top five and finally finished a Cup Series race.

Christopher Bell and William Byron seemed glued together during the Hollywood Casino 400. The Chase drivers finished close by each other from sixth and seventh.

There was a nine-second falloff from seventh to eighth place where defending winner of this race Chase Elliott finished.

Then, Bubba Wallace cracked the top ten for the first time in the race after the final pit cycle. Wallace was involved in the only multi-car incident of the day with Carson Hocevar and rebounded nicely to ninth.

Finally, Ryan Preece delivered another solid top ten Chase run from tenth.

Below are the full results and updated Chase standings after the fourth race of the Chase.

Full Results & Chase Standings