Stop me if you’ve heard this one before in 2026: Tyler Reddick has won in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Reddick passed Kyle Larson on the final lap of an overtime restart to take the checkered flag in the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway on Sunday (April 19). To get a better idea of the major storylines coming out of America’s Heartland, let’s take a look at Sunday’s race by the numbers.
1 – Caution For Incident
It was an almost clean race, as the field went nearly the full distance without a yellow flag for an on-track incident.
Even though there was only one natural caution, it significantly changed the complexion of the race. Just before the white flag, Cody Ware spun around in turn 4, setting the stage for the overtime restart that saw Reddick prevail.
Sunday continued a trend of cleaner, more green flag racing in 2026 compared to recent seasons.
Stage racing was first introduced to the Cup Series in 2017. In that decade-long span, 2026 is the season with the fewest total cautions and the fewest average cautions per race. The 2018 season is the only other under 60 total cautions, and the current season is far cleaner than 2020, which featured 86 total cautions and nearly 10 cautions per race.
The most likely reason for this trend is NASCAR changing from the playoff format back to The Chase, an adjustment that puts a greater emphasis on consistency and points racing compared to the prior nine seasons with stages.
4 – Toyotas in the Top 5
So far, Toyota has been the leader in the clubhouse in 2026, and Kansas was no different.
In addition to Reddick’s victory, Toyota occupied the third, fourth and fifth positions in the final running order with Chase Briscoe, Denny Hamlin, and Bubba Wallace, respectively.
Overall, Toyota has won seven of the opening nine races, compared to just one each for Chevrolet and Ford. Toyota also leads all three OEMs in top fives (22) and has a considerable 125-point lead in the manufacturer’s standings.
We will discuss Chevrolet’s largely underwhelming day at Kansas a little bit later.
78 – Laps Led by Kyle Larson
But first, let’s discuss a highlight for the bowtie brigade, and that is Larson’s performance on Sunday.
His 78 laps led are the second-highest total in a race this season behind the 284 laps led at last week’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Though Larson’s Cup winless streak reached 33 races, the runner-up showing was his best finish of the season as well as his second straight top five.
Larson also made a piece of history at Kansas. Larson became the all-time leader in laps led at the 1.5-mile track that first opened in 2001, surpassing Kevin Harvick. Furthermore, Larson is the first driver to lead over 1,000 laps at Kansas, barely surpassing the milestone by three laps.
29.93 – Fastest Lap of the Race
Christopher Bell was the only driver to turn a lap in under 30 seconds during Sunday’s race, clocking in at 29.93 seconds (180.451 mph). Larson was the second-fastest on the charts at 30.18 seconds.
Believe it or not, this is Bell’s first time earning the bonus point for the Xfinity Fastest Lap since NASCAR introduced it at the beginning of the 2025 season. His Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Hamlin has the most Xfinity Fastest Laps of anyone in that span, earning the honor 11 times.
0 – Non-Hendrick Chevrolets in the Top 10
It is no secret that outside of Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet has had a rough go of it in 2026.
That carried over to Kansas on Sunday with only three Chevys in the top 10, all of them from Hendrick. Along with Larson’s runner-up, William Byron placed seventh and Chase Elliott was right behind him in eighth.
For the first non-Hendrick Chevrolet, you need to go down to Carson Hocevar in 13th. Even then, Spire Motorsports has a technical alliance with Hendrick. The first Chevrolet not from HMS or a technical alliance with HMS is Austin Dillion’s No. 3 Richard Childress Racing entry in 16th.
30.3 – Average Finish for Trackhouse Racing
At the bottom of the running order, Chevrolets made up seven of the last 10 finishers. That included two of the three entries from Trackhouse Racing with Connor Zilisch placing 29th and Shane van Gisbergen winding up next-to-last in 36th.
With those two drivers, at least you can say that Zilisch is a rookie and SVG, despite showing some improvement, still has work to do at ovals. The most alarming result for Trackhouse on Sunday has to be Ross Chastain, a 2022 Championship 4 driver and the fall 2024 winner at Kansas, finishing 26th.
It is the continuation of a nightmare start to 2026 for Trackhouse with just two top fives and three top 10s. As of now, all three of its drivers are on the outside looking in for The Chase, with van Gisbergen being the closest at 18th in points.
Last week, co-owner Justin Marks declared that Trackhouse is in a “rebuilding mode”. If Sunday is any indication, the organization has a long way to go.
23.4 – Average Finish for Kyle Busch Through Nine Races
Speaking of struggling Chevrolet drivers, let’s talk about Kyle Busch.
Busch ended the day well off the pace, four laps down in 35th. That result still leaves Busch without a top-10 finish through the first nine races of 2026, and it is his fifth consecutive finish outside the top 20, going back to Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
For Busch, 2026 is his worst statistical start to a Cup season. The 23.4 average finish is the second-worst of Busch’s Cup career through nine races, surpassing only by the 23.56 average to begin his rookie season in 2005. Furthermore, this year is the only time that Busch has gone without a top five or top-10 finish in his first nine races of a Cup season.
Can Busch and the No. 8 team turn things around? It seems bleak right now, but there is still plenty of racing left.
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.