What Happened?
Tyler Reddick made a last lap pass on Kyle Larson to take the lead in an overtime restart at Kansas Speedway and win his fifth NASCAR Cup Series race of 2026. Behind them finished Chase Briscoe, Denny Hamlin and Bubba Wallace to round out the top five.
Reddick’s fifth victory this season came in only nine races, making it the first time a driver has accomplished the feat since Dale Earnhardt in 1987.
What Really Happened?
We’re only nine races into 2026, but it has become increasingly clear to me that we may be in the midst of the first Toyota champion since Kyle Busch in 2019.
Look, I hate kneejerk reactions of saying somebody is a championship favorite more than probably anybody. That’s especially the case when we’re only a quarter of the way through the season. However, you have to take into account of what we’ve been dealing with this season. There are no kneejerk takes here.
The only Ford driver that seems to have championship-level speed, at least on a weekly basis, is Ryan Blaney. However, until his Team Penske crew can get him track position on pit road, he’s going to struggle to make such a claim for the title. That said, Sunday was at least a step in the right direction. Blaney’s crew was at least ninth-fastest of the day despite his pit road woes.
For Chevrolet, things are a little more complicated.
Larson certainly proved to be a threat on Sunday after leading 78 laps and winning stage two. However, even after taking the lead with two laps to go, he still couldn’t secure the victory, and his now 33-race winless streak continues, and he sits 143 points below the lead.
Chase Elliott, the only Chevrolet driver with a win this season, showed speed at some points but finished eighth. William Byron, the only other Chevrolet in the top 10 in points, wasn’t anywhere near where he’s used to running on Sunday, scoring no stage points and rallying to finish seventh at the very end. That’s not terrible for most drivers, but for a team like Hendrick Motorsports, it’s not what they’re used to.
At least for now, it seems that Ford and Chevrolet’s title hopes end with those four.
But let’s look at Toyota’s fleet. In the top 10 of the standings, there are five Toyota teams, with three of them in the top five.
For one, there’s Reddick, who just earned his fifth win in only nine races – a staggering feat and not one thought realistic in the modern-day era of parity – and has amassed a staggering 105-point lead over second place, which is owned by his team owner and fellow Toyota driver Hamlin. In fourth, there’s Ty Gibbs, who is having the best season of his career and capped off Sunday with his seventh consecutive top-10 result.
Don’t get me wrong, Kansas is not the tell-all indicator of how the rest of the season will go, but it has typically rewarded the overall fastest teams in terms of consistency. With that, the fact that Toyota finished Sunday with four cars in the top five and 188 combined laps led should not come as a surprise. After all, Chevrolet’s new body continues to plague the Bowtie teams in terms of performance, hindering teams that once ran well at Kansas, such as Trackhouse Racing finishing all of its cars outside of the top 25.
The fact that it’s still early in the season is not lost on me, either. Performance in this sport ebbs and flows, and right now, Toyota is certainly on the upswing.
However, this new points format doesn’t allow one race to save a season anymore. It takes multiple races to do so, and the longer the hole is dug, the harder it’s going to be to get out of it.
Who Stood Out?
Death, taxes and Hamlin losing a race on an overtime restart.
It has only been six months since Hamlin lost the Cup Series title on an overtime restart finish in what was one of the most heartbreaking championship losses in NASCAR history. Yet, after only nine races in 2026, he’s suffered the same fate again.
It was undoubtedly the No. 11’s race to lose. Hamlin led a race-high 131 laps out 274 – almost half the race. When it came down to the end, it was Hamlin and his employee Reddick racing for the lead with Reddick taking the point in the final 10 laps.
Then, he hit the wall, and Hamlin took it right back with two laps to go. Then the caution flag waved and forced everyone down pit road one last time. Larson passed Hamlin while heading into turn 1 in the overtime restart and cost the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota the victory.
It all sounds too familiar, doesn’t it?
While it didn’t end with a second victory of the season for Hamlin, Sunday showed he arguably had the fastest car of the event. Reddick did win, but it seems his employer Hamlin isn’t too far behind in terms of speed.
Paint Scheme of the Race
It was only a matter of time until the Busch Beer car returned to this segment, and the debut of their annual Apple car leaves it plenty of reason to have it this week.
Ross Chastain‘s ruby-colored Chevrolet had a great clash of white featured on the Busch brand’s mountaintops. Not to mention, Trackhouse’s reflective numbers make that red shine pop out just a little more.
What’s Next?
A trip down the boulevard; the Talladega Boulevard.
It’s the third drafting race of the season for the Cup Series as the field goes to the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama for the running of the Jack Link’s 500.
Green flag for the 500-miler will be presented live on FOX at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, April 26.
Dalton Hopkins began writing for Frontstretch in April 2021. Currently, he is the lead writer for the weekly Thinkin' Out Loud column, co-host of the Frontstretch Happy Hour podcast, and one of our lead reporters. Beforehand, he wrote for IMSA shortly after graduating from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2019. Simultaneously, he also serves as a Captain in the US Army.
Follow Dalton on Twitter @PitLaneCPT
What, no conspiracy theories on this page? At least we’re smarter here than on Facebook.
No conspiracy theory but given the Toys’ dominance, I hope they have taken a few to the R&D center just to make sure everything is as it should be be.
Maybe they have but I don’t remember them doing that recently.
What makes you think we would find out if they were legal or not?
I thought that the 5 and 45 were taken to the R&D center last week and both were cleared.
Did they pass or did NA$CAR just say they passed?