Larson’s OT theatrics come up short after setting Kansas record

For a brief moment, it looked like he’d done it again. But try as he might, Kyle Larson couldn’t overcome the fleet of dominant Toyotas and repeat for a third time as Kansas Speedway’s spring NASCAR Cup Series race winner.

After seemingly settling for third in an accident-free race, Larson took advantage of a Cody Ware spin with two to go and used restart heroics to rise from third to first on the first lap of overtime. The Californian dove under leader Denny Hamlin as the field motored to turn 1 and cleared both Hamlin and Tyler Reddick on the outside lane to take over the top spot.

The moment was everything Larson could’ve hoped for, but there was still a lap left and Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet didn’t have the pace he needed to retain the lead. Reddick rose up to second, chased Larson down and dove past him on the inside lane in the final turns to claim his fifth win in nine races.

“When it all worked out like that, I was like, ‘Oh great, clean air,” Larson said of the restart. “And then I went through (Turns) 3 and 4 and I was plowing. I was nervous. Then I could tell (Reddick) had a huge run on me (from) behind.

“(I) thought maybe if I could get to the banking it would load and cut, but it didn’t.”

In the end, Larson settled for second, breaking up a top five that otherwise consisted entirely of Toyotas. It was an underwhelming outcome for the Bowtie brand, which had previously swept the track’s two Cup races in each of the prior two seasons.

To come so close to victory and fail was disappointing for Larson, who entered Sunday eager to end a 32-race winless streak. But the defending Cup champion left with a stage win and a place in Kansas history as the track’s top all-time lap leader.

After rising up from fourth to second in the opening stage, Larson surged past Stage 1 dominator Denny Hamlin to secure the lead on the Stage 2 restart. He went on to dominate the rest of the stage. In doing so, Larson surpassed Kevin Harvick (949) to set a new track record for laps led at the Cup level.

The Californian ended up leading 78 laps, becoming the first Cup driver to surpass 1,000 laps led at Kansas Speedway with a total tally of 1,003 total laps led.

It was the lone highlight in a challenging day for Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet overall. Chase Elliott briefly joined Larson in second after the Stage 2 restart, but fell to fourth as the stage went on and lost eight spots during the stage break when he was blocked while exiting his pit stall by Austin Cindic. The 2025 fall race winner never recovered, slotting in eighth at race’s end.

Teammate William Byron finished one spot ahead in seventh, but needed a four-tire call in overtime to salvage what had previously been a subpar day. Alex Bowman briefly entered the top 10 in Stage 2, but faded to 18th at race’s end.

It was an underwhelming day overall for the Chevy powerhouse. But Larson saw reasons for optimism as his No. 5 team inches back toward the front of the Cup Series field.

“I was just hoping to be better,” Larson said of his run. “I was happy to get to the lead, the restart worked out great. We got lucky with the caution, too.

“(It was a) good day. I think second in the first stage, first in the second (and) second in the race. We’re getting closer, (got) really close there. We’ll keep trying.”