,NASCAR
Kyle Larson Back in Victory Lane after Record-Setting Gateway Scramble
MADISON Ill. – Reigning Cup Series champion Kyle Larson finally found victory lane again, after going 51 starts between wins. The road to Larson’s maiden triumph of 2026 was anything but typical, however. Gateway saw a record number of cautions affecting nearly all 16 Chase contenders. Having to outlast double overtime dashes, the No. 5 Chevrolet was one of very few Chase teams leaving St. Louis with a positive points day. Now ranked second in the championship, perhaps a late season surge has been kickstarted for the Hendrick team.
Gateway’s chaos reared its head early on, with four cautions halting the 45-lap Stage 1. Up front, meanwhile, Joey Logano led every lap of this first run from the pole. Logano’s No. 22 would back that up with a runner-up to Kyle Larson in Stage 2. This middle section of the race saw another trio of crashes, with one involving Chase contender Ty Gibbs.
Little did anyone know at the time, but this stop-and-go trend would not cease for the rest of the afternoon. Stage 3’s 100-lap distance would see 10 more cautions, involving all but two Chase drivers in some way.
Trouble for @Blaney on the frontstretch brings the yellow back out on Lap 155. pic.twitter.com/1xMqJw3fhZ
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 13, 2026
The most spectacular incident was a restart stack-up that saw one title favorite catch air. Christopher Bell, Josh Berry, and Bubba Wallace were all three-wide off of turn two and came together. This sent Toyotas Nos. 20 and 23 around, and Tyler Reddick went airborne trying to take evasive action. Bell was the provisional points leader prior to this incident, but left Gateway in a dismal 19th-place result.
A chain reaction exiting Turn 2 sends multiple Chase drivers spinning. pic.twitter.com/QuIr23K9YL
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 13, 2026
Just after this huge crash, Kyle Larson snuck by Joey Logano on the restart for a lead he never relinquished. Despite two red flags and a double-overtime finish, nobody could keep the 5 at bay. When the checkers flew, Gateway saw a mammoth and bizarre 18 separate cautions. This is not only a track record for a single race, but also a high mark this season in Cup. Now a winner in 2026, Larson made major championship gains from Gateway.
“I had a good feeling,” Larson said. “I mean, you never know I felt like this place is so weird. Obviously with the brake rotor failure, strategy, all that. Just proud of my team for working so hard, being so patient through all the tough times, the winless streak, all that.”
“Thanks to the fans, my fans, for also being patient with us, letting us get it figured out. How about Hendrick Motorsports? Alex Bowman, can’t ask for a better teammate than him. Gave me the pushes I needed to get clear. Want to dedicate this win to him, and his dog just passed away a couple days ago. William Byron, top five, too. Ross Chastain fifth. A lot of Chevys up there. Good day for Chevrolet.”
“It would be easy to . No, I haven’t. I haven’t doubted myself. I haven’t doubted our team. Maybe myself at times. Never my team. Thank you to everybody on the 5 team, everybody at Hendrickcars.com, Chevrolet, Valvoline. The engine shop, the pit crews for busting their butts, too. Cliff Daniels for leading our team to great finishes. No better time to have a great day than today. Proud of it and feel like we got our swagger back a little bit.”
Larson and Hendrick Motorsports both recorded their first ever wins at Gateway. Larson crossed another one off his personal winless list, while Gateway was the one active track where Rick Hendrick had not won.
Speaking of Team Hendrick, they were very well represented in the top-five. Behind Larson were: Alex Bowman, Joey Logano, William Byron, and Ross Chastain. Thanks to Denny Hamlin finishing a quiet ninth-place, Larson leaped up to second in the championship, only six points back of the 11.
Updated #NASCAR Chase points after Gateway:
1. Hamlin – 2,165 points
2. Larson -6
3. Bell -15
4. Blaney -37
5. Reddick -42
6. Gibbs -48
7. Logano -49
8. Briscoe -58
9. Hocevar -82
10. Wallace -88
11. Elliott -90
12. Byron -104
13. Cindric -104
14. Buescher -108
15.…
— Peter Stratta (@peterstratta) September 14, 2026
Race three of The Chase now heads to arguably Kyle Larson’s best racetrack–Bristol Motor Speedway. The Tennessee green flag will fly Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET on USA Network, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. The Bass Prop Shops Night Race will be another 500-lap slugfest, sending one driver a step closer to the Bill France Cup.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Chris Graythen/Getty Images
