Larson takes the win in Home race at Kansas
After the initial report Kyle Larson finished second in Sunday’s 400-mile race at Kansas Speedway, No. 5 spotter Tyler Monn radioed that Larson was the winner of the closest finish in NASCAR Cup Series history in a photo finish at the 1.5-mile speedway on Sunday. The winning margin by the HendrickCars.com Chevrolet driver was 0.001 seconds.
Larson, who started fourth in the race scheduled for 267 laps, was running second by lap 10. He remained in that position before stopping for four tires and fuel at lap 33. Once he returned to the track, Larson battled Ross Chastain for the top spot before finishing third at the end of stage one on lap 80.
During the break, crew chief Cliff Daniels called Larson to pit road for a four-tire stop on lap 84. The 2021 Cup Series champion restarted third but was quickly in the top spot one lap later. But during a green-flag pit stop on lap 119, the No. 5 team had difficulties exchanging the left-front wheel. Larson returned to the track in eighth but maneuvered up to second before stage two ended at lap 165.
After a lightning-fast stop by the No. 5 crew at lap 169, Larson restarted as the leader and held the top spot through a string of caution flags before falling to second at lap 184. He remained in that position before a four-tire stop during a caution period on lap 202.
Larson restarted 13th behind other teams that elected to stay out or stopped for right-side tires only. The Elk Grove, California, native battled his way up to third by lap 231 of the race scheduled for 267 laps before reporting his right-front tire was down to the chords. But the 31-year-old driver was given a break when a caution waved on lap 260. Daniels called for a right-side tire stop and fast work by the No. 5 team allowed Larson to exit pit road third.
After restarting third for the two-lap dash to the checkered flag, Larson gained one position on the restart before working his way to the outside of the leader into turn 3 on the final lap – and battled him to the checkered flag to take his second win of 2024.
QUOTING KYLE LARSON:
“It started off (turn) two, and I got a really good run and was able to get into his draft. He was trying to break it and you could tell he was probably going to try and take my line away. I just drove in as hard as I felt like I could. My car cut really well and I was able to get to his right side, and I don’t know if the camera caught it, but I was sideways and then got it kind of back under control. Then I had the run back to his right side off of (turn) four and was just too afraid to get too far out in front because a lot of times when you get someone inside close you get tight and into the wall. So I got off of (turn) four good and I thought, ‘man, I have got to kill his run quick’, so I just hung a left; doored him and just tried to stall his momentum. He had it slowly coming back to me at the line, so just thankful that it was enough and those guys behind us didn’t get a huge run and get to our outside.”
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