Kyle Larson won Sunday’s (Sept. 27) Hollywood Casino 400 in dominant fashion, sweeping the stages and leading 235 of 267 laps at Kansas Speedway.
But that didn’t mean his NASCAR Cup Series path to victory was easy. Because it wasn’t.
Chase Briscoe tracked down Larson before the final pit stop of the day, briefly taking control of the race it looked like the No. 5 team had run away with. But Larson fought back, pulling away from Briscoe on pit exit with 50 laps to go after Cole Custer slightly impeded the progress of the No. 19.
It seemed like that would be the last, best effort to catch Larson on the day.
It wasn’t. Briscoe drove all the way back to Larson and took the top spot, even pulling away for a bit during the long green-flag run to the finish.
But Larson kept his head in the game. As the laps ticked down, Briscoe’s car faded, allowing Larson to retake the lead back with seven laps remaining. He pulled away over the final few minutes, looking in his rear-view mirror to find Briscoe hitting the wall multiple times in a futile effort to fight back.
“I think it’s easier to be the hunter rather than the hunted,” Larson told USA Network after exiting his car. “[Briscoe] got in front of me, he started getting really loose. Such a good day, max points. I was going to be happy with second the way the race went.”
Larson now leads Denny Hamlin by 26 points with six races left in the season, that 76-point day a punctuation mark on his championship effort. He’s won two of the four Chase races and is the first driver to win multiple Chase events this season.
Austin Cindric had a great day and finished runner-up; behind him, Hamlin stole third from Briscoe on the last lap. Briscoe and Ryan Blaney rounded out the top five, while Christopher Bell, William Byron, Chase Elliott, Bubba Wallace and Ryan Preece completed the top 10.
Wallace and his 23XI teammate, Tyler Reddick, who finished 11th, both had to claw their way back to the top half of the field. Reddick was horribly off the pace early, falling outside the top 30 and nearly getting lapped. It took two-plus stages, but Reddick got back to the top five before a slow pit stop left him outside the top 10.
That allowed Wallace to surge ahead of his 23XI teammate, the best-performing driver involved in a lap 122 restart stack-up that started when Brad Keselowski got into Carson Hocevar.
That incident ruined Josh Berry’s afternoon, leaving him to limp home 35th while Hocevar’s No. 77 also emerged heavily damaged. He got lapped during the final stage of the race and wound up a disappointing 33rd.
Daniel Suarez (14th), Ty Gibbs (17th), Joey Logano (20th) and Chris Buescher (23rd) rounded out the other Chase contenders. Only six of them, though, remain within 100 points of the championship as Larson has built a bit of a cushion for himself. His point lead has expanded to 26 over Hamlin with six races left to go.
Hollywood Casino 400 Results
Unofficial Cup Series Standings
The Cup Series’ next race and round five of The Chase will be out west in Sin City at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. USA Network will broadcast the South Point 400 live on Sunday, Oct. 4 with coverage beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET.
NASCAR Cup Series Post-Race Video
Tyler Reddick & Bubba Wallace
Denny Hamlin
Austin Cindric
Chase Briscoe
Noah Gragson (Blown Engine, Finished 36th)
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.
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