It was the Kyle Larson show at Kansas Speedway on Sunday (May 11). Larson qualified on pole and kept the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet up front, leading 221 of 267 laps to capture the checkered flag in the AdventHealth 400.
When several teams experienced tire issues during Saturday’s (May 10) practice and qualifying sessions, the pit strategy for Kansas became cut and dry. Every team took four tires each time down pit road on Sunday, leaving little room for creative pit calls. This put a further premium on executing a clean race on pit road, but a few contenders did not get that memo.
No. 9 Crew Stumbles on Pit Stop
Other than Larson, his HMS teammate Chase Elliott was the only other driver to lead double-digit laps on Sunday, pacing the field for 29 circuits. Elliott assumed the lead by beating Larson off of pit road under caution on lap 169, but pit road is also where Elliott’s day ultimately came undone.
With 71 laps remaining, the lead lap cars came back down pit road under caution following Brad Keselowski’s blown tire, with Elliott leading the line. However, disaster struck when the No. 9 jackman dropped the jack before the they finished changing the right rear tire.
Here's what happened on Chase Elliott's slow stop. He drops outside of the Top 10: pic.twitter.com/JspulrlQuK
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 11, 2025
As a result, Elliott exited the pit lane back in 12th, an 11-position drop from which Elliott would never fully recover. Elliott settled for 15th on a day that could’ve been so much better for the No. 9 team.
This is not the first time Elliott has been let down by his pit crew. At Martinsville Speedway, he entered pit road second on a late cycle of stops, but the No. 9 crew’s stop was about two seconds slower than the teams around them. Though Elliott bounced back for fourth that day, it was another missed opportunity for a possibly playoff-clinching win. The No. 9 crew will have to clean up their mistakes if Elliott is to be considered a serious championship contender.
Josh Berry Bitten by Speeding Penalty
There were points in Sunday’s race where it looked as though Josh Berry had the speed to contend with Larson. He just did not have the track position.
After scraping the wall in qualifying, Berry took the initial green flag dead last in the 38-car field. But Berry steadily carved his way through the field, and by the end of stage two, he had the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford fourth in the running order.
During the post-stage two pit stops on lap 169, Berry’s No. 21 had a clean pit stop to maintain fourth spot. However, in his haste to keep track position, Berry sped exiting pit road, sending him back to the tail of the field for the restart.
Thanks to a fast car and multiple cautions early in stage three, Berry rallied to a sixth-place finish. On the other hand, Kansas marks the latest what-if for Berry and the No. 21 team since their victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway back in March. Like the No. 9 team, Berry and his crew need to make cleaner execution a higher priority going forward.
Pit Road Police
Outside of Berry’s speeding penalty, here is a summary of notable pit road penalties from The Sunflower State:
- On lap 35, Bubba Wallace got brought back down pit road for an equipment interference penalty. The pass-through under green put Wallace two laps down. The lack of track position came back to haunt Wallace when he was caught up in a multi-car crash, bringing out the seventh and final caution of the race. Wallace wound up 33rd in the final running order.
- During the first round of green flag stops, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s No. 47 crew went over the wall too soon, while Jesse Love drove through too many pit boxes exiting his stall. Stenhouse Jr. and Love finished 19th and 29th, respectively.
- After stage one, Carson Hocevar got penalized for an equipment interference violation. After winning the Craftsman Truck Series race Saturday night, Hocevar settled for 26th on the Cup side of things.
- During a lap 123 green flag pit stop, Austin Cindric’s No. 2 crew had an uncontrolled tire, but Cindric bounced back for a respectable 11th-place finish.
- In that same round of stops during stage two, Ty Gibbs got tagged for a commitment line violation entering pit road. The driver of the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota finished three laps down in 28th.
Pit Crew of the Race: No. 60 RFK Racing Ford
At first, it was shaping up to be a weekend to forget for Ryan Preece and the No. 60 RFK Racing team, running 35th in practice and qualifying 30th.
After a very early caution on lap 6 for AJ Allmendinger’s blown engine, No. 60 crew chief Derrick Finley saw a window of opportunity to shake up for race for Preece. On lap 8, Finley brought Preece down pit road for tires and fuel while the majority of the field stayed out.
While Preece was 27th on the lap 11 restart, by lap 20, he had made his way up to 11th. By the stage one, Preece placed eighth, banking three stage points, followed by 10th place and an additional point in stage two.
Fourth Top-10 of the year for Preece 👊🏻 pic.twitter.com/lygC8pCvBD
— RFK Racing (@RFKracing) May 11, 2025
Preece maintained the track position he obtained in stage one on the way to seventh place on the day, and it was due in large part to Finley’s early pit call. In light of that, the No. 60 team is this week’s pit crew of the race.
Look Ahead to Next Week
The drivers of the Cup Series will take a break from points racing with the running of the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway next Sunday, May 18. Coverage begins at 5:30 p.m. with the All-Star Open, followed by the All-Star Race at 8 p.m. on Fox Sports 1.
The pit crews will have their chance in the spotlight next week. The qualifying for both the All-Star Open and the All-Star Race will be a three-lap effort that includes a mandatory four-tire pit stop. The winner of the Pit Crew Challenge will be determined by the fastest of those four-tire pit stops, measured by the elapsed time from timing lines one pit stall before and after a designated pit box.
It will be an intriguing competition within All-Star weekend to see which pit crew gets crowned the best in the Cup Series garage.
Andrew Stoddard joined Frontstretch in May of 2022 as an iRacing contributor. He is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College, the University of Richmond, and VCU. He works as an athletic communications specialist at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va.