Kyle Larson won Sunday’s (May 11) AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway, leading 221 of 267 laps en route to a dominant victory.
After a flurry of cautions that began with a tire failure for Brad Keselowski, Larson wrestled the lead away from Christopher Bell on lap 219 and drove away. Despite an apparent problem for Larson in the final corner, the 2021 champion had enough of a cushion to cross under the checkered flag first.
“I was trying really hard to pace myself, because I believe that was our longest run of the day,” Larson told FOX Sports. “I felt like I needed to be better on my end. I was still struggling and starting to lose a lot of grip. Great car, great execution today by our team.”
Bell, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Alex Bowman, Josh Berry, Ryan Preece, Chris Buescher, Joey Logano and John Hunter Nemechek rounded out the top-10.
“I was surprised he (Larson) have up on the top those last couple laps,” Bell said. “I was struggling just as bad as he was, I was just trying to get to the end.”
Blaney staged a hard charge through the field in the closing laps, though a hard-fought battle with Bowman kept him from being able to take a stab at Bell.
“Overall, a good day,” Blaney said. “We were kinda running those guys down quick at the end, those last handful of laps. I just restarted too far back. I think five more laps and I would’ve scared the No. 5 a bit.”
A fourth-place run for Briscoe tied a season-best effort for the fifth-year driver.
“We definitely had a good finish, our car was really good,” Briscoe said. “At the end when it mattered, we were really good.
Chase Elliott nearly chased Larson down to win Stage 2 and eventually took the lead away early in Stage 3, but a bad pit stop by the No. 9 team after a Lap 195 caution took the 2020 champion out of contention.
Keselowski — who was running second behind Elliott early in Stage 3 — blew a right-rear tire on Lap 195, ending a promising day for a No. 6 team searching for any semblance of momentum. On the ensuing trip to pit road, the clutch issues that plagued Denny Hamlin all day finally came to a head, as mechanical issues forced Hamlin to drop out of the race for the second week in a row.
Kyle Busch spun on Lap 207 after contact from Noah Gragson, while Justin Haley, Erik Jones and Bubba Wallace were involved in a Lap 213 crash.
AdventHealth 400 Results
The NASCAR All-Star Race will be held on May 18 at North Wilkesboro Speedway, with race coverage beginning at 8 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
A member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Samuel also covers NASCAR for Yardbarker, Field Level Media, and Heavy Sports. He will attend the University of Arkansas in the fall of 2025.