Loop Data Box Score : Kansas Speedway

• Friday, May 9th, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

Kansas Showdown: Larson, Toyota Rivals Gear Up for Another Photo Finish in Cup Series Clash

Even though Chevrolet driver Kyle Larson won last year’s spring race at Kansas Speedway by the closest margin in NASCAR Cup Series history over Ford driver Chris Buescher, Larson still thinks Toyota drivers have an edge at the 1.5-mile track.

Depending on your point of view, you could make an argument for all three manufacturers entering Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 at the intermediate speedway in Wyandotte County, Kansas (3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“Whether I won or I didn’t, it was really neat to be a part of a finish like that,” said Larson, who edged Buescher by 0.001 second last May. “So obviously, I was happy to come out a thousandth ahead, but still, to be a part of a finish like that was pretty neat.

“The Toyotas—they’re still the best there, I think, anyways. We’ve chipped away at it and gotten better, I think. I’ve led lots of laps there since we’ve gone there with the Next Gen. I just hadn’t gotten the win until last year. But you always work to get better every time you go to a track.”

Even though Chevrolet drivers swept last year’s Kansas events, with Ross Chastain winning in the fall, there’s ample reason for Larson to look to the Toyotas as fierce competition. Before 2024, four different Camry drivers—Kurt Busch, Bubba Wallace, Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick—won four straight races at the track.

Wallace, however, acknowledges that his No. 23 23XI Racing team has lost a bit of the magic that propelled him to the second and most recent of his two career wins in 2022.

“I don’t know where we got off pace there, but we did,” said Wallace, who finished 17th in both Kansas races last year. “But I think we know what we need to do there, so it’s just a matter of getting back on the horse and doing it…

“It’s not like we’re way out in left field from what we had a couple years ago. It’s maybe one thing that’s giving us the wrong feel. It’s crazy. We just have to show up and, like I said, get back on the horse and get out there and ride.”

Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver Christopher Bell has won the last three poles at Kansas Speedway, which is hosting the second of three straight Cup Series points races on 1.5-mile intermediate speedways.

The last driver to win four straight poles at a track was Larson at Sonoma Raceway from 2017 through 2022.

On the flip side of Larson’s win, Buescher prefers not to dwell on his runner-up finish last year.

“When it does come up, I try to make a joke about being the closest loser ever,” he said. “Ultimately, we’re trying to look further ahead… Ultimately, don’t look back, just because, one: it’s not going to change anything; two: to relive that moment in that race and study it, I would do things differently going back, but no time wasted in that.”

Joey Logano, last week’s winner at Texas Motor Speedway, is the only Ford driver to visit Victory Lane at Kansas in the last 12 races there.

However, with Josh Berry winning for the Wood Brothers at Las Vegas, Ford drivers have claimed victory in two of the three 1.5-milers so far this year. Larson’s victory at Homestead-Miami Speedway accounts for the other.

No matter whom you might favor, Kansas Speedway is a venue likely to produce high drama. Not only does the track have the closest Cup finish in Cup history to its credit, but it also featured 37 lead changes in the spring race of 2023—most on a 1.5-mile speedway in series history using a conventional downforce competition package.

Note: When Chastain triumphed from the 20th starting position last year, it broke a string of nine straight winners from the top 10 positions on the grid.

• Kansas Speedway
• AdventHealth 400
• Busch Pole Award Pole Winner: Kyle Larson
• Age: 32
• Team : No 5 - HendrickCarscom Chevrolet
• Owner: Rick Hendrick
• Crew Chief: Cliff Daniels
• Kyle Larson won the Pole Award for the AdventHealth 400 with a lap of 29391 seconds, 183730 mph
• This is his 22nd pole in 378 NASCAR Cup Series races
• This is his first pole and sixth top-10 start in 2025
• This is his first pole in 21 races at Kansas Speedway
• Chris Buescher (second) posted his fifth top-10 start of 2025 and his third in 19 races at Kansas Speedway
• Christopher Bell (third) posted his eighth top-10 start at Kansas Speedway It is his third in 12 races this season
• Riley Herbst (25th) was the fastest qualifying rookie

• Sunday, May 11th, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

Total Domination: Kyle Larson Leads 221 Laps in Kansas Cup Series Rout

Last year, Kyle Larson won the spring race at Kansas Speedway by the thinnest of margins—0.001 seconds in the closest finish in NASCAR Cup Series history.

On Sunday, after putting his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet on the pole on Saturday, Larson defended his victory in far more decisive fashion, leading 221 of 267 laps in winning the AdventHealth 400 at the 1.5-mile track.

The triumph was Larson’s third of the season, tying race runner-up Christopher Bell for most in the series so far this year. The win was Larson’s third at Kansas and the 32nd of his career, tying NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Jarrett for 29th on the career list.

“Great car, great execution today, too, for our team,” said Larson, who now will start to concentrate on the Indianapolis 500/Coca-Cola 600 double he’ll attempt for the second time later this month.

“Glad to not win by an inch right here this time and a little bit safer gap. But thanks again to the team. Congrats to all of Hendrick Motorsports, the engine shop, everybody there.”

Larson reached several significant milestones on Sunday. His career laps led reached 10,073, behind only Kyle Busch (19,440) and Denny Hamlin (15,613) among full-time active drivers.

Sweeping the first and second stages, Larson now has eight stage wins this season, a record for the first 12 Cup races of a season. His stage sweep was the 14th of his career.

Larson now leads the series standings by 35 points over Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron, who finished 24th after falling off the lead lap with an early flat tire.

The colossal numbers, however, don’t tell the full story. At the end of the final 49-lap green-flag run, Larson had to manage his right-side tires, and his advantage over Bell shrank from a comfortable two seconds to just 0.712 seconds at the finish line.

Closing fast in third, Ryan Blaney finished just 0.832 seconds behind the race winner.

“I was trying really hard to pace myself, because I believe that was our longest run of the day,” Larson said. “I’d been struggling a little bit at the end of the runs.

“I don’t know if it was paying off or not 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, so I was afraid a right rear or something would let go.”

As close as Bell got at the finish, it wasn’t a particularly satisfying runner-up finish for the driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

“I didn’t feel like we were very good today,” Bell said. “We qualified well, had good pit stops, never really had any issues to set us back. But on the track, we were constantly going the wrong direction instead of going forward.

“But everyone fought hard on this Reser’s Camry and got us a good finish. I don’t know. I’m sure I will be a lot happier about it tomorrow and later in the week, but just didn’t feel like we were very good, and we were still right there, so I think that’s a testament to how good this team is.”

Helping Larson’s cause was the sequence of events at the start of the race’s final stage, which also was emblematic of hapless Brad Keselowski’s entire season.

A quick pit stop got Keselowski’s No. 6 Ford out in fourth place behind Chase Elliott, Larson and Blaney for a restart. As Elliott widened his lead, Keselowski took third and battled Larson side-by-side for second, with Keselowski prevailing on Lap 179.

Chasing Elliott with the prospect of a season-altering victory in sight, Keselowski narrowed Elliott’s lead from nearly two seconds to 0.913 seconds, but on Lap 195, Keselowski blew a right-front tire entering Turn 1 and slapped the outside wall.

“I hit pretty hard, so I doubt it’s fixable, but we’ll see,” Keselowski radioed to his team.

He was right. The No. 6 Ford left the track on a wrecker, out of the race in 37th place. The 2012 Cup champion has yet to score a top 10 or lead a lap this season.

Nevertheless, Keselowski’s accident was a boon for Larson, who regained control of the race thereafter. Elliott had usurped the top spot out of the pits on Lap 169 and gapped the rest of the field after a Lap 174 restart.

During pit stops under the fourth caution for Keselowski’s wreck, however, Elliott’s crew had trouble with the right rear tire, and Elliott lost 11 positions for the subsequent restart on Lap 201. He never recovered and faded to 15th at the finish.

Chase Briscoe ran fourth for the fourth time this season. Alex Bowman scraped the wall in the closing laps and held fifth ahead of Ford drivers Josh Berry, Ryan Preece, Chris Buescher and Joey Logano.

John Hunter Nemechek came home 10th, scoring his second straight top 10 on an intermediate track.

The race featured seven cautions—four in the final stage—for a total of 37 laps. Elliott led 29 laps, the only driver other than Larson to lead more than four.

• Drivers Entered: 38
• Laps Scheduled: 267
• Margin of Victory: 0.712 Seconds
• Time of Race: 3 Hours 5 Minutes 13 Seconds
• Average Speed: 129.740
• Cautions: 7 for 37 laps
• Lead Changes: 15
• Green Flag Passes: 3,534 (15.4 passes per green flag lap)

• Kansas Speedway
• AdventHealth 400
• Race Winner: Kyle Larson
• Age: 32
• Team : No 5 - HendrickCarscom Chevrolet
• Owner: Rick Hendrick
• Crew Chief: Cliff Daniels
• Kyle Larson won the AdventHealth 400, his 32nd victory in 378 Cup Series races
• This is his third victory and ninth top-10 finish in 2025
• This is his third victory and 12th top-10 finish in 21 races at Kansas Speedway
• Christopher Bell (second) posted his eighth top-10 finish in 11 races at Kansas Speedway It is his eighth top-10 finish in 2025
• Ryan Blaney (third) posted his ninth top-10 finish in 21 races at Kansas Speedway
• Shane Van Gisbergen (20th) was the highest finishing rookie
• Kyle Larson leads the point standings by 35 points over William Byron