Kyle Larson practically perfect at Kansas Speedway

Kyle Larson delivered the closest thing to a ‘perfect game’ you can get in NASCAR at Kansas Speedway this weekend.

He claimed the pole on Saturday, swept both stages and led a race high (and track record) 221 of 267 laps while also claiming a bonus point for the fastest lap of the race. That’s a 61-point race in sweeping virtually everything in The Heartland.

The win is his 32nd at the highest level, placing him in a tie with Dale Jarrett for 29th on the all-time victory list.

Larson won ahead of Christopher Bell, both contenders seemingly managing worn out and potentially failing right rear tires, the final margin of victory clocking in at 0.712 after being over two seconds laps before.

“Yeah, 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. Chase was really good, so I just felt like I needed to try to be better on my end.

“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.”

Again, Bell was also struggling, however.

“Well, I was surprised that he kind of gave up on the top those last couple laps and pulled down,” Bell said. “But I was struggling just as bad as he was, so I was just trying to get to the end. I know Ryan was coming on really strong there.

“Overall, to get home second with a lot of stage points was something that we needed after the last couple weeks, and this Reser’s Camry was just not quite what we needed.”

Larson also ties Bell with a series leading three wins on the season thus far.

The race had seven cautions for 37 laps and 15 lead changes.

Brad Keselowski, suffering through the continuation of a nightmare season, suffered a right rear tire failure while running third with 73 laps to go. Denny Hamlin fought a clutch issue all race and that knocked him out of the race that same caution period.

Kyle Busch suffered more misfortune with a spin from inside the top-10 late and even though Josh Berry scored a sixth place finish, it came with a car that looked most equal to Larson and Bell, negated by a pit road speeding penalty, his second such costly error in three races after the one at Talladega.

Bubba Wallace, Austin Dillon Justin Haley and Erik Jones all suffered damage in a crash with 55 laps to go. It denied Dillon a chance at a fourth straight top-10.