What Happened?
After entering Kansas Speedway as the championship leader by a single point, Kyle Larson put on a vintage, dominant performance.
Larson earned the maximum amount of points and led 235 of 267 laps on the day to win the Hollywood Casino 400 on Sunday afternoon (Sept. 27) to open up his points lead further over The Chase field.
Austin Cindric finished second, Denny Hamlin placed third, Chase Briscoe fell back to fourth after challenging Larson for the lead late in the race and Ryan Blaney completed the top five.
Christopher Bell, William Byron, Chase Elliott, Bubba Wallace and Ryan Preece finished in the sixth to 10th spots.
What Really Happened?
It’s funny how fast a narrative can change in the span of only three races.
Larson came into World Wide Technology Raceway two weeks ago riding a 51-race winless drought, with many questioning he and his organization’s chances of repeating as the Cup champion this year.
Since then, he won at WWTR, finished second at Bristol Motor Speedway, got back to victory lane at Kansas, and as mentioned earlier, earned 76 points in the event, which is the most a driver can possibly get in a single race.
So now, the narrative has shifted completely. The new talking point around the No. 5 team is how they are pulling off the same kind of season we saw from another Hendrick Motorsports legend.
Jimmie Johnson pulled this feat off year in and year out in The Chase during his career, and in NASCAR’s first year of returning to a similar format, Larson is on the right track to doing the same.
I grew up a Johnson fan myself, and I’d watch him get out to a hot start and then have a tough summer that would cause some people to worry. But then The Chase would begin, and he and crew chief Chad Knaus would be dialed in for 10 straight weeks on their way to glory.
Larson and Cliff Daniels are off to a great start to their Chase careers, and people are already comparing this duo to the Johnson/Knaus pairing that stifled the Cup Series field for nearly a decade straight.
There are still six races left, and Hamlin is still within striking distance at 26 points back. I don’t want to get ahead of myself and declare the champion already. This new format has already produced massive points swings over the course of a month or two.
Tyler Reddick seemed unstoppable until he wasn’t, and the likes of Hamlin and Blaney were able to surpass him during the regular season. Plus, there was a time where Joey Logano looked like he would miss The Chase. Now, he is in the thick of the title hunt.
This performance on an intermediate track was a massive statement for Larson though. He just showed that he could compete with the Toyotas, who have dominated on intermediate tracks all season long.
Briscoe got around Larson with just under 30 laps remaining, but Larson fought back and passed him for the lead with seven laps to go and went on to win from there.
Hamlin and Bell were strong but weren’t good enough to match Larson’s speed. The gap was closed today leading to two more intermediate tracks that follow Kansas.
We’ll have to wait and see if the No. 5 team’s pace will continue on or if the Toyotas will fight back and come out on top next week.
Who Stood Out?
Outside of Larson, most of the Chase drivers ran solid, with 12 of them finishing in the top 14 spots.
Reddick had an awful start to the day, running outside the top 30 and nearly going a lap down, but his No. 45 team was able to make the car better as the race went on. Reddick ultimately ended up finishing in 11th.
Blaney bounced back after the drama that took place at Bristol last weekend to snag a top five to go along with five stage points.
Blaney’s teammate Cindric ran his best race of the season, coming just short of a win, but the runner-up finish moved him into a tie for ninth in the standings with Wallace.
Who Fell Flat?
Ty Gibbs fell back to 17th when the checkered flag flew; it’s a disappointing result when the rest of his teammates all finished inside the top six.
Logano had a tire go down in the final laps, dropping him from 12th down to a 20th-place finish after his win at Bristol last weekend.
It was another tough day for Chris Buescher as he ran mid-pack all race long and finished 23rd.
Lastly, Carson Hocevar had a good start to his race, finishing fourth in stage one, but on a restart during stage two, he was caught up in an accident after being bumped slightly by Brad Keselowski.
Hocevar finished 33rd, three laps down in his damaged No. 77 Chevrolet. Josh Berry was another driver who sustained some damage in the crash, finishing 35th, 10 laps down.
Paint Scheme of the Race
Daniel Suarez‘s flashy WIMNA Nation Spire Motorsports Chevrolet gets the nod this week, as it had a cool design on the side with teal coloring.
Women in Motorsports North America featured the names of every current member on the hood of Suarez’s car, and one lucky member will end up having the hood for themselves, autographed by Suarez.
What’s Next?
The Cup Series will head out West for Las Vegas Motor Speedway’s second race of the season.
The fifth race of The Chase is scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 4 at 5:30 p.m. ET, with TV coverage provided by USA Sports. Hamlin has won the last two races at the track.
Michael Bellifemini joined Frontstretch in February 2026 as a contributor. Bellifemini was born and raised in New Jersey and graduated from Seton Hall University. He called Seton Hall men's and women's basketball games for their college radio station, 89.5 FM WSOU, and continues to broadcast in the area. Outside of covering NASCAR, Bellifemini is also an avid baseball, football, basketball, and hockey fan and enjoys watching different sports leagues on a daily basis.
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