Larson Scores Maximum Points In Dominant Cup Series Win at Kansas

From looking at the boxscore from Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway, you'd be inclined to think Kyle Larson turned in an old school ass-kicking. And while the majority of the race fit that narrative, as Larson led 235 of the race's 267 laps, won Stages 1 and 2, turned the fastest lap, and ultimately won the race, it took a closing laps rally to get back to the lead.

A rally that Larson admitted he wasn't sure he could pull off once Chase Briscoe got past him for the lead with 30 laps remaining in the race.

"I don't know. I really thought when Chase [Briscoe] got by, he was just going to stretch out," Larson said in his victory interview on USA Network.

However, Larson kept his head down, and as the laps continued to click off, he found something.

"But I got some lines going where I could just kind of settle in and try to take care of my tires. And, I don't know, I think it's just easier to be the hunter rather than the hunted," Larson explained.

After it looked like foregone conclusion that Larson was going to see a dominant day turn into a runner-up finish, the driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was able to work his way past Briscoe for the race lead with seven laps to go.

As Briscoe attempted to mount a challenge back, the driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota got into the outside wall, which caused him to fade to a fourth-place finish.

Larson would cross the finish line first, as he held a 0.565-second advantage over Austin Cindric, who was credited with the runner-up finish. For Larson, the series point leader, he pocketed 76 championship points, which is the maximum points a driver can take home on a given race weekend.

"Yeah, that was fun. That was such a good day. Max points. I was going to be happy with second with how the race went. But to get the lead, that's a big deal for the points," Larson said.

It was indeed a big deal for Larson, who is seeking his second consecutive NASCAR Cup Series championship. Larson's point lead grew from one point over Denny Hamlin to 26 points. He now has six races remaining in the season to hold off Hamlin and the other drivers competing within NASCAR's Chase for the Championship.

With the runner-up finish, Cindric was able to crack himself inside the top-10 of the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings. The Team Penske driver now sits 10th, 140 points behind Larson.

Hamlin saw his odds of collecting a first Cup Series title worsen once again, despite a solid third-place finish. And Briscoe, who had a win slip through his grasp, was able to hang on to finish fourth, despite the late race encounter with the outside wall.

Briscoe moved up from ninth to eighth in the championship standings, and sits 123 points behind Larson. But the driver was frustrated by what could've been. And now, he feels like his shot to win the championship is likely over.

"Yeah, I thought today, I think I was 87 [points] out going into it, and I felt like I had to at least knock off 10 from the cut line. I didn't get points the first stage, which I knew that was going to be hard [to overcome]. Ultimately, I had to win to be able to even stay somewhat around 80 or 90 back," Briscoe explained.

Briscoe continued, "Yeah, just, I don't know, it's still possible, but you're going to have to win five or so of the next six races. Yeah, a little Tony Stewart 2011 run or something. Yeah, we'll see what we can do and yeah, go on to the next one."

Ryan Blaney, who took two punches to the face from Carson Hocevar last week, was able to score a quiet-yet-effective fifth-place finish.

Christopher Bell, William Byron, Chase Elliott, Bubba Wallace, and Ryan Preece rounded out the top-10 finishers in the race, which made it a clean sweep of the top-10 spots for Chase contenders.

For Wallace, the ninth-place effort was a miraculous rally following a crash on a Lap 123 restart with Carson Hocevar, which was triggered by Hocevar losing control of his No. 77 Chevrolet after contact from Brad Keselowski, his rival from the opening race of the Chase at Darlington Raceway.

Wallace said earlier in the week that he is hopeful to go on a "generational run" over the three 1.5-mile intermediate races, which began with Sunday's race at Kansas. After the rally, he has a chance to do just that.

Hocevar wasn't as fortunate as Wallace, as he struggled with damage the remainder of the race. Hocevar would finish a disappointing 33rd, worst of the Chase contenders, and was three laps off the pace.

Other Chase contenders outside of the top-10 on Sunday included Tyler Reddick (11th), Daniel Suarez (14th), Ty Gibbs (17th), Joey Logano (20th), and Chris Buescher (23rd).

NASCAR Cup Series Chase Grid After Kansas (6 races remaining)

1. Kyle Larson, 2,282 points
2. Denny Hamlin, -26
3. Christopher Bell, -50
4. Joey Logano, -67
5. Ryan Blaney, -91
6. Ty Gibbs, -94
7. Tyler Reddick, -111
8. Chase Briscoe, -123
9. Bubba Wallace, -140
10. Austin Cindric, -140
11. Carson Hocevar, -150
12. William Byron, -158
13. Chase Elliott, -161
14. Ryan Preece, -173
15. Chris Buescher, -186
16. Daniel Suarez, -187

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