Who… should you be talking about after the checkered flag?
In the most unsurprising turn of events, the driver with the most wins and highest average finish in the past seven races at Kansas Speedway dominated on Sunday (Sept. 27).
Kyle Larson was unstoppable en route to his 34th career NASCAR Cup Series win, winning both stages, leading 235 out of 267 laps and setting the fastest lap, finishing 0.565 seconds ahead of second-place Austin Cindric.
It seemed like nobody could get near Larson all day except for Chase Briscoe, who passed Larson and led 23 laps before Larson passed him back for the lead with seven laps to go.
Sweeping the stages also helped Larson’s championship chances, putting him 26 points ahead of Denny Hamlin, who finished third.
It wouldn’t be a Cup race without Carson Hocevar being involved in a wreck one way or another. This time, Hocevar came up the track and got into Ty Gibbs, which spun Bubba Wallace. Josh Berry, Zane Smith and Erik Jones were also collected in chaos.
On the other hand…
Tyler Reddick continued his woes at the track he won at earlier this year. In the past 16 races, including Kansas, Reddick has accumulated just six top 10s and three top fives.
From the start, Kansas seemed like another race where Reddick wouldn’t finish well, with his highest position being 13th in the first two stages. At one point, he had dropped outside of the top 30.
After starting the final stage in 10th, Reddick moved up to sixth and eventually made his way to fifth after passing William Byron on lap 177. Reddick kept fifth until lap 207 when he brushed the wall and got passed by Byron and Christopher Bell.
During the final pit stop of the race, Reddick hit adversity once again, having an 18-second stop after a multitude of mistakes. That dropped him to 12th after the pit cycle, but he was able to drive back to 11th by the end of the race. Once again, fans are stunned by Reddick’s lack of pace for large chunks of races, especially after what we saw at the beginning of the year.
What… is the big question everyone should be asking after the race?
With Hamlin slipping further from first, are his championship hopes already over?
Hamlin entered The Chase in peak form with 10 top 10s, nine top fives, and three wins in the final 14 races leading up to The Chase.
Since then, Hamlin has cooled off with just one top five in the first four races in The Chase, and his 25-point lead to begin the final 10 races has disappeared, with Hamlin now sitting 26 points behind Larson in second.
Despite his falloff, Hamlin still finished third at Kansas and finished inside the top three in both stages, but Larson’s sweep of the day was a major blow for the driver who is still seeking his first Cup championship.
Hamlin has been looking for that elusive title since 2006, and he has gotten close multiple times in both postseason formats.
But the biggest heartbreak of his career came last season at Phoenix Raceway. After starting on pole, Hamlin dominated, leading 208 out of the 319 laps. Hamlin led by 3.1 seconds with four laps to go, but Byron’s right rear tire blew and brought out the caution. During the final pit stops, Hamlin pitted for four tires, while Larson took two, and that cost Hamlin the championship. Larson came out in fifth while Denny came out in 10th, and Larson held on to win his second championship.
With Hamlin starting the 2026 Chase in first, it looked like he would have another great shot at a championship, but it just hasn’t happened that way. Now, the championship isn’t over until the final lap at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November, and anything can happen until then. But if Hamlin doesn’t get himself together these final six races, it’ll be another what-if season for the 64-time race winner.
Where… did he come from?
Austin Cindric has come alive these past couple of races. After making The Chase with an average finish of 17.1, Cindric was on very few people’s list to do well during the 10-race postseason, but he has seemingly flipped the script on many of his doubters.
Despite getting only one top 10 in the first three races of The Chase, Cindric came into Kansas with a lot of hope to finish well, and he delivered.
Cindric finished third in stage one behind Larson and Hamlin and showed some real speed. That speed continued through stage two, where he finished second to Larson.
In the final stage, Cindric ran as low as third and looked to be on track to finish there at the checkered flag. But with three laps to go, Briscoe hit the wall from second, giving Cindric the spot and completing his fantastic day.
This is major for Team Penske, which didn’t show much speed earlier in the season on intermediate tracks. Cindric’s runner-up showing also marked the fourth consecutive race a Penske driver has finished inside the top five.
When… are we going to talk about the points?
With six races to go in The Chase and after his perfect day at Kansas, Larson padded his lead in Hamlin to 26 points.
Bell jumped ahead of Joey Logano for third, 50 points behind Larson. Logano, who won the title in the past two even-year seasons, isn’t out of the hunt either despite his 20th-place finish. He currently sits fourth in points, 67 points off Larson. Ryan Blaney in fifth and Gibbs in sixth are the final two drivers within 100 points to Larson. Blaney finished fifth to rebound from the drama at Bristol Motor Speedway last week, and he is still only 91 points off Larson. Meanwhile, Gibbs, who is having the best season of his young Cup career is 94 points behind.
Reddick currently sits in seventh, 111 points behind Larson, while Briscoe and Cindric leaped one and two spots for the eighth and ninth spots, respectively. Briscoe sits 123 points behind Larson after his third-place finish, while Cindric is 140 points behind.
Bubba Wallace rounds out the top 10, currently tied in points with Cindric at 140 markers back of Larson. If he wants a shot at the title, just like Cindric, he is going to need a lot of luck and a couple of race wins.
Why… should you be paying attention this week?
The next Cup race is at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and there are some massive questions to be answered there, especially about Hamlin.
Hamlin is the most recent winner at that track, winning the race on March 15 earlier this year. During that race, Hamlin led 134 of the 267 laps en route to the win.
So why does this matter? Well, this next race could be what Hamlin needs as he tries to mount a championship comeback on Larson, who has looked strong to start The Chase.
Hamlin has always been fast at Las Vegas, as he has won three times there, including the two most recent races. So with Hamlin’s back against the wall entering a track he is great at, how will he respond? Will he bounce back and take control of the title that narrowly escaped him last season?
Another question stands for Logano, who has also had some great history at Las Vegas. Logano put himself in championship contention once again at Bristol last weekend but struggled at Kansas, eventually finishing 20th. But Las Vegas has been the site of four of Logano’s 40 career wins. Like Hamlin, can Logano bounce back at a track that has been historically great for him?
Another reason to watch Las Vegas is the “Hurricane” himself, Hocevar. The driver of the No. 77 has gotten into a lot of wrecks in the past few weeks. Will he continue to wreck his way through The Chase, or can he find a way to calm the storm and make a championship surge?
How… did this race stack up?
In terms of a racing product, the race was boring. Larson led 88% of the laps, which doesn’t make for much parity, while six drivers led the other 32 laps. Out of those six drivers, five of them led four laps or fewer, with the exception being Briscoe, who led the other 23.
There also wasn’t much chaos outside of Hocevar wrecking part of the field inside the second stage. There was a battle between Briscoe and Larson within the final 10 laps that could have been fun if it lasted longer, but Larson breezed by Briscoe and took the checkered flag with no challenges from anyone else.
The broadcast tried to make things exciting, but with how poor the racing was in terms of a lack of lead changes at the front, wrecks and overall product, there wasn’t much more they could have done to make this race more exciting.
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