Kansas Speedway (Kansas City, Kan.) — Kyle Larson appeared to have lost the Cup race Sunday with 30 laps remaining when Chase Briscoe blew past him. But 23 laps later, Larson came back to not only win the race but also take control of The Chase with six races remaining. Larson, who went winless in 51 races before claiming two of the last three, increased his points lead from one point to 26 over Denny Hamlin, who placed third behind Larson and Austin Cindric.
"I don't look at it like [it’s mine to lose]," Larson said in his post-race news conference. "I'm just really trying to do the best job I can, again. And, yeah, just show up to the racetrack and kind of block out all that stuff." Here are my takeaways: 1.
Kyle Larson In Control When Briscoe had the lead, Hamlin was within 5-10 points of Larson in the standings. But once Larson got back in the lead, that made a significant difference, as a victory is worth 55 points and second is worth 35 points. Larson earned the maximum 76 points — 55 for the win, 20 stage points (10 points for winning each stage) and one point for posting the fastest lap in the race.
He now has a 26-point lead on Hamlin, a 50-point lead on Christopher Bell and a 67-point lead on Joey Logano. Those are the only three drivers within 76 points of Larson. But not only does Larson have the points lead, he showed he might be the fastest on a 1.5-mile oval and the next two races at Las Vegas and Charlotte are at 1.5-mile ovals (albeit, they have different banking).
Larson said he felt that, because qualifying got rained out and he started on the front row, that made a big difference. He said he doesn't want to get a false sense of security. "If I qualify the third row, the race could look completely different," Larson said in his post-race news conference.
"I don't know what my balance was like in traffic for a short run. I could have been plowing tight and faded even more. I don't know.
"So I still have some skepticism of where I really rank to the guys who are really good on intermediates." 2. Denny Hamlin Needs Speed Denny Hamlin needs speed and admits that Larson is in control. He indicated the last three finishes of ninth, eighth and third were about what he had.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver said it isn’t as much a matter of overall speed but a balance problem. "He’s got the point lead. He’s definitely in control," Hamlin told me and other reporters after the race.
"We’re right there. We have finished right where we’ve run [recently]. … This is where we’re at right now on speed.
"Until we get a little bit faster in the short run, we’re going to finish right where we’re at." 3. Carson Hocevar-Brad Keselowski Incident Unlikely Payback At the start of Stage 2, Hocevar got loose, starting a chain-reaction wreck. It appeared that he possibly got loose from a shove from Brad Keselowski, a driver he tangled with a few weeks ago and threatened payback.
But Hocevar didn’t think it was payback. "I don’t think so," Hocevar told me and other reporters. "If anything, I felt like us trying to merge with whoever was right of me." Keselowski likely wouldn’t admit payback, as that potentially would result in sanctions from NASCAR.
But he went as far as saying he didn’t know how much damage Hocevar got in it. "I gave him a push, and then they started wrecking to my right," Keselowski told me and other reporters. "I couldn’t tell what happened." 4.
Chase Briscoe & Austin Cindric Close But Empty Briscoe used up his car in getting by Larson late in the race and then couldn’t hold him off, eventually falling to fourth. "When I was behind Kyle, it kind of helped my car," Briscoe told me and other reporters. "I got the lead and got really, really loose and I had to run the wall to not, honestly, spin out and it left me vulnerable." As Briscoe faded, Austin Cindric surged and finished second for just his third top five of the year.
"It’s encouraging," Cindric told me and another reporter. "I’m proud of everyone. … I just wish we had a little more at the end." 4 ½.
What’s next: Las Vegas The Cup Series heads to Las Vegas, where Hamlin has won the last two Cup races and will enter as the favorite. Larson noted one thing that could help Hamlin. "I'm sure it's not going to rain in Vegas, so we're going to get to qualify.
We'll see how that kind of shakes the weekend up."
