Kyle Larson dominates NASCAR Cup Series at Kansas Speedway
Photo by Todd Surprise
Kansas City, Kansas—Last year, Kyle Larson won the spring race at Kansas Speedway by the thinnest of margins—0.001 seconds in the closest finish in NASCAR Cup Series history.
On Sunday, after putting his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet on the pole on Saturday, Larson defended his victory in far more decisive fashion, leading 221 of 267 laps in winning the AdventHealth 400 at the 1.5-mile track.
The triumph was Larson’s third of the season, tying race runner-up Christopher Bell for most in the series so far this year. The win was Larson’s third at Kansas and the 32nd of his career, tying NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Jarrett for 29th on the career list.
“Great car, great execution today, too, for our team,” said Larson, who now will start to concentrate on the Indianapolis 500/Coca-Cola 600 double he’ll attempt for the second time later this month.
“Glad to not win by an inch right here this time and a little bit safer gap. But thanks again to the team. Congrats to all of Hendrick Motorsports, the engine shop, everybody there.”
Larson reached several significant milestones on Sunday. His career laps led reached 10,073, behind only Kyle Busch (19,440) and Denny Hamlin (15,613) among full-time active drivers.
Sweeping the first and second stages, Larson now has eight stage wins this season, a record for the first 12 Cup races of a season. His stage sweep was the 14th of his career.
Larson now leads the series standings by 35 points over Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron, who finished 24th after falling off the lead lap with an early flat tire.
The colossal numbers, however, don’t tell the full story. At the end of the final 49-lap green-flag run, Larson had to manage his right-side tires, and his advantage over Bell shrank from a comfortable two seconds to just 0.712 seconds at the finish line.
Closing fast in third, Ryan Blaney finished just 0.832 seconds behind the race winner.
“I was trying really hard to pace myself, because I believe that was our longest run of the day,” Larson said. “I’d been struggling a little bit at the end of the runs.
“I don’t know if it was paying off or not at the end. I was still struggling. I don’t know if the right front was starting to wear a lot or what, but I was starting to lose a lot of grip, and then I was vibrating really bad, so I was afraid a right rear or something would let go.”
As close as Bell got at the finish, it wasn’t a particularly satisfying runner-up finish for the driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
“I didn’t feel like we were very good today,” Bell said. “We qualified well, had good pit stops, never really had any issues to set us back. But on the track, we were constantly going the wrong direction instead of going forward.
“But everyone fought hard on this Reser’s Camry and got us a good finish. I don’t know. I’m sure I will be a lot happier about it tomorrow and later in the week, but just didn’t feel like we were very good, and we were still right there, so I think that’s a testament to how good this team is.”
Helping Larson’s cause was the sequence of events at the start of the race’s final stage, which also was emblematic of hapless Brad Keselowski’s entire season.
A quick pit stop got Keselowski’s No. 6 Ford out in fourth place behind Chase Elliott, Larson and Blaney for a restart. As Elliott widened his lead, Keselowski took
third and battled Larson side-by-side for second, with Keselowski prevailing on Lap 179.
Chasing Elliott with the prospect of a season-altering victory in sight, Keselowski narrowed Elliott’s lead from nearly two seconds to 0.913 seconds, but on Lap 195, Keselowski blew a right-front tire entering Turn 1 and slapped the outside wall.
“I hit pretty hard, so I doubt it’s fixable, but we’ll see,” Keselowski radioed to his team.
He was right. The No. 6 Ford left the track on a wrecker, out of the race in 37th place. The 2012 Cup champion has yet to score a top 10 or lead a lap this season.
Nevertheless, Keselowski’s accident was a boon for Larson, who regained control of the race thereafter. Elliott had usurped the top spot out of the pits on Lap 169 and gapped the rest of the field after a Lap 174 restart.
During pit stops under the fourth caution for Keselowski’s wreck, however, Elliott’s crew had trouble with the right rear tire, and Elliott lost 11 positions for the subsequent restart on Lap 201. He never recovered and faded to 15th at the finish.
Chase Briscoe ran fourth for the fourth time this season. Alex Bowman scraped the wall in the closing laps and held fifth ahead of Ford drivers Josh Berry, Ryan Preece, Chris Buescher and Joey Logano.
John Hunter Nemechek came home 10th, scoring his second straight top 10 on an intermediate track.
The race featured seven cautions—four in the final stage—for a total of 37 laps. Elliott led 29 laps, the only driver other than Larson to lead more than four.
NASCAR Cup Series Race Number 12
Race Results for the AdventHealth 400 - Sunday, May 11, 2025
Kansas Speedway - Kansas City, KS - 1.5 - Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 267 Laps - 400.5 Miles
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sunday, 5/11/2025 @ 06:46 PM Eastern
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 1 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 267 1 1 61 Running 7 221 7
2 3 20 Christopher Bell Reser's Fine Foods Toyota 267 3 5 49 Running 1 3
3 10 12 Ryan Blaney Wurth Ford 267 4 3 49 Running
4 19 19 Chase Briscoe Bass Pro Shops Toyota 267 33 Running
5 21 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 267 6 7 41 Running 1 2
6 38 21 Josh Berry Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford 267 4 38 Running
7 30 60 Ryan Preece Body Guard Ford 267 8 10 34 Running
8 2 17 Chris Buescher Kroger/Kleenex Ford 267 29 Running
9 5 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 267 9 30 Running 1 1
10 17 42 John Hunter Nemechek Dollar Tree Toyota 267 27 Running
11 13 2 Austin Cindric Menards/Atlas Ford 267 5 32 Running
12 23 34 Todd Gilliland Love's Travel Stops Ford 267 25 Running
13 28 67 * Corey Heim(i) Robinhood Toyota 267 0 Running
14 24 4 Noah Gragson Rush Truck Centers Ford 267 23 Running
15 9 9 Chase Elliott Amazon Prime Video Chevrolet 267 2 2 40 Running 2 29
16 18 38 Zane Smith Horizon Hobby Ford 267 10 9 24 Running
17 4 45 Tyler Reddick Xfinity Mobile Toyota 267 20 Running
18 26 1 Ross Chastain Busch Light Chevrolet 267 19 Running
19 27 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Fun Pops Chevrolet 267 18 Running
20 34 88 Shane Van Gisbergen # Safety Culture Chevrolet 267 17 Running
21 35 8 Kyle Busch Rebel Bourbon Chevrolet 266 16 Running 1 1
22 20 3 Austin Dillon BetMGM Chevrolet 266 15 Running
23 11 71 Michael McDowell Gainbridge Chevrolet 266 14 Running
24 7 24 William Byron Raptor Chevrolet 266 13 Running
25 31 41 Cole Custer HaasTooling.com Ford 265 12 Running
26 22 77 Carson Hocevar Delaware Life Chevrolet 265 11 Running 1 4
27 25 35 Riley Herbst # Tree Top Toyota 265 10 Running
28 6 54 Ty Gibbs Monster Energy Toyota 264 9 Running
29 32 33 * Jesse Love(i) C4 Energy Chevrolet 264 0 Running
30 37 51 Cody Ware Parts Plus Ford 261 7 Running
31 12 7 Justin Haley NationsGuard Chevrolet 255 6 Running
32 16 43 Erik Jones AdventHealth Toyota 218 5 DVP
33 15 23 Bubba Wallace Columbia Toyota 212 4 Accident
34 8 99 Daniel Suarez Choice Privileges Chevrolet 201 3 Accident
35 29 10 Ty Dillon Sea Best Chevrolet 197 2 Accident 1 4
36 14 11 Denny Hamlin Progressive Toyota 196 7 8 8 Drivetrain 1 2
37 36 6 Brad Keselowski Kroger/Allegra Ford 194 6 6 Accident
38 33 16 AJ Allmendinger Action Industries Chevrolet 6 1 Engine
Fastest Lap Bonus: # lap 2 / 30.288
5
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 5 Mins, 13 Secs. Average Speed: 129.74 MPH Margin of Victory: .712 Seconds
Stage 1 Top 10: 5, 9, 20, 12, 2, 48, 11, 60, 22, 38
Stage 2 Top 10: 5, 9, 12, 21, 20, 6, 48, 11, 38, 60
Race Comments: Kyle Larson won the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway, his 32nd NASCAR Cup Series victory. Prior to the start of the race, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reason(s) indicated: Nos. 6, 10, 19, 21, 54, 88, 38 (unapproved adjustments).
Failed to Qualify: None.
Caution Flags: 7 for 37 laps; Laps: 8-10 (No. 16 Fluid Turn 4 [None]); 82-88 (Stage 1 Conclusion [34]); 167-173 (Stage 2 Conclusion [4]); 196-200 (No. 6 Incident Turn 1 [42]); 202-206 (Nos. 51, 99, 10 Incident Turn 2 [23]); 208-212 (Nos. 8, 4, 21 Incident Backstretch [88]); 214-218 (Nos. 7, 43, 23, 67, 71 Incident Turn 2 [47]).
Lead Changes: 15 among 9 drivers; K. Larson 1-39; A. Bowman 40-41; K. Busch 42; D. Hamlin 43-44; T. Dillon 45-48; K. Larson 49-87; C. Elliott 88-89; K. Larson 90-126; C. Hocevar 127-130; K. Larson 131-169; C. Elliott 170-196; K. Larson 197; C. Bell 198-200; K. Larson 201-211; J. Logano 212; K. Larson 213-267.
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race: May 18, 2025 - North Wilkesboro Speedway
NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications @ P.O. Box 2875, Daytona Beach, FL 32120-2875
NASCAR Cup SeriesPoints Report
Kansas Speedway
AdventHealth 400
UNOFFICIAL Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sunday, 5/11/2025 @ 06:50 PM Eastern UNOFFICIAL
Rank Driver Car Starts GL Points Ldr Nxt Race Wins Stage Wins Playoff Pts
1. Kyle Larson 5 12 -1 469 0 0 3 8 23
2. William Byron 24 12 1 434 -35 35 1 3 8
3. Christopher Bell 20 12 -3 384 -85 50 3 1 16
4. Chase Elliott 9 12 0 378 -91 6 0 0 0
5. Ryan Blaney 12 12 -2 362 -107 16 0 2 2
6. Tyler Reddick 45 12 1 357 -112 5 0 0 0
7. Denny Hamlin 11 12 4 346 -123 11 2 2 12
8. Alex Bowman 48 12 -2 325 -144 21 0 0 0
9. Joey Logano 22 12 0 318 -151 7 1 2 7
10. Bubba Wallace 23 12 2 310 -159 8 0 2 2
11. Ross Chastain 1 12 0 300 -169 10 0 0 0
12. Chris Buescher 17 12 0 284 -185 16 0 0 0
13. Chase Briscoe 19 12 0 278 -191 6 0 0 0
14. Austin Cindric 2 12 0 273 -196 5 1 2 7
15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 47 12 0 258 -211 15 0 0 0
16. Ryan Preece 60 12 -2 251 -218 7 0 1 1
17. Josh Berry 21 12 -7 244 -225 7 1 1 6
18. Kyle Busch 8 12 2 244 -225 0 0 0 0
19. John Hunter Nemechek 42 12 -4 234 -235 10 0 0 0
20. Carson Hocevar 77 12 3 230 -239 4 0 0 0
21. Michael McDowell 71 12 1 228 -241 2 0 0 0
22. Austin Dillon 3 12 1 227 -242 1 0 0 0
23. Zane Smith 38 12 -3 227 -242 0 0 0 0
24. Todd Gilliland 34 12 -3 227 -242 0 0 0 0
25. AJ Allmendinger 16 12 6 218 -251 9 0 0 0
26. Ty Gibbs 54 12 4 217 -252 1 0 0 0
27. Daniel Suarez 99 12 2 209 -260 8 0 0 0
28. Justin Haley 7 12 0 206 -263 3 0 0 0
29. Erik Jones 43 12 0 196 -273 10 0 0 0
30. Ty Dillon 10 12 0 188 -281 8 0 0 0
31. Noah Gragson 4 12 0 181 -288 7 0 0 0
32. Riley Herbst # 35 12 -1 151 -318 30 0 0 0
33. Brad Keselowski 6 12 1 148 -321 3 0 0 0
34. Cole Custer 41 12 0 139 -330 9 0 0 0
35. Shane Van Gisbergen # 88 12 0 138 -331 1 0 0 0
36. Cody Ware 51 12 0 68 -401 70 0 0 0
37. Jimmie Johnson 1 0 34 -435 34 0 0 0
38. Corey Lajoie 3 0 24 -445 10 0 0 0
39. Jj Yeley 4 0 9 -460 15 0 0 0
40. Katherine Legge 1 0 7 -462 2 0 0 0
41. Casey Mears 1 0 2 -467 5 0 0 0
42. Burt Myers 1 0 1 -468 1 0 0 0
43. Chad Finchum 1 0 1 -468 0 0 0 0
44. Martin Truex, Jr. 1 0 1 -468 0 0 0 0
45. * Corey Heim(i) 67 1 45 0 -469 1 0 0 0
46. Bj Mcleod(i) 2 1 0 -469 0 0 0 0
47. Anthony Alfredo(i) 1 1 0 -469 0 0 0 0
48. * Jesse Love(i) 33 3 1 0 -469 0 0 0 0
49. Austin Hill(i) 1 1 0 -469 0 0 0 0
50. Connor Zilisch(i) 1 1 0 -469 0 0 0 0
51. Josh Bilicki(i) 1 1 0 -469 0 0 0 0
52. Justin Allgaier(i) 1 1 0 -469 0 0 0 0
53. Chandler Smith(i) 0 2 0 -469 0 0 0 0
54. Helio Castroneves 1 0 0 -469 0 0 0 0
-Ldr/-Nxt = Points behind Leader/Next higher, (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
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