Kyle Larson, who will begin his quest this week to run in the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day later this month, scored a dominating win Sunday at Kansas Speedway.
Last year, Larson nipped Chris Buescher by a NASCAR-record .001 seconds to win this race. Sunday, he cruised.
Kyle Larson scored his third Cup victory of the season Sunday at Kansas.
Larson, started on the pole and led 221 of 267 laps in scoring his third NASCAR Cup victory of the season. He also won both stages, collected the bonus point for the fastest lap of the race and took the points lead from Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron, who damaged his car after a tire went down and he hit the wall in the first stage. Byron finished 24th.
“Glad to not win by an inch,” Larson told FS1 after the race.
Larson’s 32nd career Cup win ties him with NASCAR Hall of Famer and NBC analyst Dale Jarrett for 29th on the all-time victory list.
Larson’s focus turns to Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Practice for the Indianapolis 500 begins Tuesday.
Christopher Bell finished second on Sunday. Ryan Blaney placed third, Chase Briscoe finished fourth and Alex Bowman completed the top five.
Brad Keselowski appeared on pace to avoid the issues that have plagued him this season when he climbed to second at Lap 179 but things changed when he brought out the caution on Lap 196 for a crash in Turn 1. Keselowski finished 37th.
“Blew a tire,” Keselowski told his team on the radio.
On the ensuring pit stop, leader Chase Elliott fell to 12th when the jack dropped early before the right rear was secured, slowing that stop. Elliott finished 15th. Denny Hamlin, who entered pit road third despite clutch problems throughout the race, couldn’t get going after his stop and eventually went behind the wall. Hamlin placed 36th.
The caution for Keselowski was the first of four cautions off restarts for accidents that eliminated Daniel Suarez, Ty Dillon and Bubba Wallace.
Also of note, Corey Heim, in his first Cup start of the season, placed 13th. He was top finishing car for 23XI Racing.
Stage 1 winner: Kyle Larson
Stage 2 winner: Kyle Larson
Next: The All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro will be held at 8 p.m. ET on May 18 on FS1.
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