Kyle Larson Extends Chase Lead with Max-Points Day in Kansas

NASCAR

Kyle Larson Wins Again at Kansas with Monster Dominating Drive

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – A championship-caliber Sunday drive is what was served up by Kyle Larson at Kansas Speedway. 235 laps led, 76 points, and growing his Chase lead is what team No. 5 gained from Kansas City. Now with top-twos in each of the last three weeks, Larson appears poised to take title number three in 2026.

From the front row, Kyle Larson saw a nearly flawless run in Stage 1. The 5 maintained and extended his gap over Denny Hamlin on-track and in the points. Through both stages, the No. 5 led all but two laps on the day. Hamlin was not far out of Larson’s rearview mirror in either stage, however.

The only major issue across either stage was a restart crash late in Stage 2. Carson Hocevar got turned sideways into Ty Gibbs, with contact collecting Bubba Wallace and other innocent bystanders. Hocevar would go from a top-10 contender to finishing 33rd with damage.

Trouble on the restart!

Multiple Chase drivers are involved. pic.twitter.com/4YipmDvRR4

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 27, 2026

Larson’s first true challenger came in the form of Chase Briscoe late in the run to the checkers. The No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota got by Larson with 30 laps left, and began to drive off to a seeming Chase upset win. Lapped traffic, however, allowed Larson to close back in and make the winning pass with seven laps to go. After getting into the wall a few times late, Briscoe backslid to fourth while Larson set sail for victory lane.

NEW LEADER: It’s @chasebriscoe! pic.twitter.com/CuBdpVvalQ

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 27, 2026

“I really thought when Chase [Briscoe] got by, he was just gonna stretch out,” Larson said. “But I got some lines going where I could just kind of settle in and try to take care of my tires. I don’t know, I think it’s just easier to be the hunter rather than hunted. I was just, yeah, I think a lot of the same. With me out front, I’m just defending and trying to guess on what lines are fast. And then, when he got in front of me, I could see he started getting really loose. So yeah, that was fun. It was such a good day, max points. I was gonna be happy with second, with how the race went, but to get the lead, that’s a big deal for the points. So proud of my team.”

“Yeah, thanks to HendrickCars.Com, Valvoline, Chevrolet, everybody. My whole team, they were on it all day. So proud of them, and thank all you fans for coming out. Glad we could put on a good show at the end.”

“I feel like if we can just click it, we’re the most comfortable on these [intermediates]. But obviously, the Toyotas are always really good here, so I was happy to see the 11 in my mirror all day, because he’s normally really good out here and good at controlling the lead. So those restarts, although it was early in the race, was important to get in front of him. But then yeah, Briscoe surprised me. He was really good, and Austin Cindric, too, he was flying. So a few more laps, I think he would have maybe got by us. But man, what a day.
I thought we’d have a good shot. I didn’t think that we would have a max points type of day, so I’m just thrilled.”