Larson dominates as SVG makes progress
Kyle Larson completed an absolute rout at the Kansas Speedway, completing his second straight win at the intermediate 2.4km tri-oval.
It was his third season victory in the NASCAR Cup Series, and when Larson has been winning, he’s been winning big. As a result, he now heads up the leaderboard for the regular season championship.
As well as securing pole in the lead-up, Larson completed his ninth career stage sweep in topping 221 of 267 laps.
He also joined the record books toward the end of Stage 2, when he became the 22nd driver in NASCAR history to have led 10,000 racing laps.
In the end it was 0.712 second margin to Christopher Bell in the #20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, whilst Penske’s Ryan Blaney continued his 2025 winless streak with his second third place on the trot, a season high for the 2023 champion.
For Larson – who will also compete in the Arrow McLaren Chevrolet at this year’s Indy 500 – it was his 22nd career pole, and 32nd career trip to Victory Lane.
It was a controlling performance for the Chevrolet star, who after the final restart had to preserve his tyre life to nurse the #5 home over 49 green laps.
“I was trying really hard to pace myself because I believe that was our longest run of the day,” said Larson.
“I’ve been struggling a little bit at the end of the runs. Chase Elliott was really good, so I felt like I just needed to try and be better on my end.
“I don’t know if it was paying off at the end. I was still struggling. I don’t know if the right front was starting to wear a lot or what but I was starting to lose a lot of grip and then I was vibrating really bad. I was afraid a right rear or something would let go. But yeah, great car and great execution today from our team.”
For Blaney, his pace after the final restart saw him chop through the field to earn third place, with Kansas proving an easier passing track for the new Gen machines. But he considered that if he had another five laps, things would have been different.
“I think we were third in both stages and finished third, and honestly we were kind of running those guys down quickly there at the end the last handful of laps,” said Blaney.
“I just kind of restarted too far back and had to make up a lot of ground. It took a lot for my car to come in. I think five more laps, and I probably would have scared the #5 (Larson)…a little bit at least.”
Whilst proceedings were green throughout the first two stages, there was no shortage of tyre carnage throughout the race, with A.J Allmendinger and series leader William Byron blowing rubber in Stage 1, whilst Brad Keselowski also blew a tyre from second place on Lap 194, with Carson Hocevar also shredding his right near the death.
In other incidents, Denny Hamlin ground out his transmission in pit lane with a clutch blow out, Kyle Busch went for wild slide in the infield, and there was multi-car wreck on lap 213 which put Bubba Wallace and Daniel Suarez on the sidelines among others.
For Hamlin, that was his first back-to-back DNF’s for 12 years.
And as for Keselowski, his blow out continued a nightmare season for the 2024 playoff contender, making it 12 straight races without a finish in the top-ten.
It was a pleasing race for Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen, as he fought his way back into the top 20.
“That was a decent finish for how it felt,” he said.
“My SafetyCulture Chevrolet definitely got better there at the end. The team made adjustments that helped me get more comfortable with the car.
“Just going to keep learning and making progress on the ovals.”
The next two weeks of NASCAR racing see’s the field camp itself in North Carolina at the North Wilkesboro Speedway, before the big one on May 25 for the Coca-Cola 600 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Image: Getty
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