Kyle Larson continues domination, scores 9th win of 2021

Kyle Larson winning a NASCAR Cup Series race is not a new development. In leading 130 of 267 laps in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway, he converted his domination of the series into history as he surpassed Jeff Gordon‘s 1998 campaign for the most laps led in a thirty-six-race Cup season with 2,397. In contrast to Gordon’s historic year in which he led 2,032 of 10,229 laps for 19.87 percent in 1998, Larson’s 2,397 of 8.837 totalled up to a whopping 28.58 percent. He also won his third straight race and led the most laps in each for the second time in 2021, the latter of which had not been achieved since Dale Earnhardt in 1987.

Larson started on the pole and hit the ground running immediately, leading every lap until rain and a lightning delay arrived on lap 11. Kyle Busch wrecked on lap 24 for the lone race-related caution of the opening stage, while Brad Keselowski, Matt DiBenedetto, and Larson’s Hendrick Motorsports team-mates Chase Elliott and William Byron briefly led laps either under caution or during green-flag stops. Larson re-assumed the lead on lap 37 and held it to the finish ahead of Byron, Elliott, Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Alex Bowman, Ross Chastain, Kyle Busch, and Tyler Reddick. All four Hendrick drivers finished in the top ten.

Stage #2 ran fully green. Much like the previous segment, Hendrick drivers dominated as Elliott led before Byron wrapped things up with the stage win, with Kurt Busch and Joey Logano breaking up the Hendrick party during stops. Once again, Hendrick cars finished 1–2–3 with Byron leading Elliott and Larson. Busch, Harvick, Reddick, Bowman, Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, and Chastain followed.

Anthony Alfredo crashed on lap 174 for the first of three wrecks in the final stage. Keselowski and Ryan Newman made contact on lap 219 for another yellow, as did Austin Dillon and Ryan Blaney on lap 225 for a wreck that proved especially damaging to the latter’s playoff chances as he sank from second in points to below the cut line in fifth.

At the front, Larson dominated the segment and had to stave off charges from the likes of Reddick, Busch, and Elliott. He cleared the field on the final restart following the Dillon/Blaney wreck and led the rest of the way to win his ninth race of the season and third in a row. The win is Larson’s first at Kansas and the first for Hendrick since Elliott at the 2018 fall event.

“It’s pretty crazy,” said Larson in his post-race press conference. “I didn’t know what to expect coming into this season. I knew I would have lots of opportunities to get wins, but never did I think I would win as often as we have. Proud of everybody’s hard work all season long.

“I think Cliff (Daniels, crew chief) and his leadership really propels us to be as confident. Our execution has always been good. We continue to make that better throughout the year. And I think that stems from his leadership and as he mentioned the leadership that he learned from Jimmie (Johnson) and Chad (Knaus).”

The victory also comes with some emotional weight as it falls on the seventeenth anniversary of the 2004 Hendrick Motorsports plane crash that killed all ten people onboard, including team owner Rick Hendrick‘s son Ricky, who scored his lone Truck Series victory at Kansas in 2001 in the #17 truck. The younger Hendrick’s livery is also emulated by Larson’s #5 car.

“Knowing Ricky and knowing where he was headed in our company, plans for what Mr. Hendrick and Mrs. Hendrick had planned for him in our company, always hate we never get that opportunity to see that,” said Hendrick general manager Jeff Andrews. “But on days like today, you just have to stop for a few minutes and kind of take it all in and realize what’s important. As Cliff said, we certainly have the Hendrick family in our thoughts.

“Special win. Special obviously today getting that paint scheme to Victory Lane here in Kansas. Got to be a special day for them and really the families of all those that we lost seventeen years ago today.”

The event is the last on a 1.5-mile track for the Gen-6 car before the début of the Next Gen car in 2022. Larson’s win additionally secures the Manufacturer’s Championship for Chevrolet, who now has seventeen victories after thirty-four races: Larson’s nine, three by Bowman, two by Elliott, and one apiece by Byron, Kurt Busch, and A.J. Allmendinger.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	1	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	267	Running
2	5	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	267	Running
3	11	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	267	Running
4	13	1	Kurt Busch	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	267	Running
5	6	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	267	Running
6	9	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	267	Running
7	7	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	267	Running
8	10	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	267	Running
9	8	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	267	Running
10	14	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	267	Running
11	25	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	267	Running
12	21	17	Chris Buescher	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	267	Running
13	24	42	Ross Chastain	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	267	Running
14	27	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	267	Running
15	16	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	267	Running
16	18	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	266	Running
17	3	2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	Ford	266	Running
18	22	41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	266	Running
19	19	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	266	Running
20	40	96	Parker Kligerman*	Gaunt Brothers Racing	Toyota	266	Running
21	32	37	Ryan Preece	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	265	Running
22	12	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	265	Running
23	15	21	Matt DiBenedetto	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	265	Running
24	28	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	265	Running
25	23	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	263	Running
26	20	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	263	Running
27	31	6	Ryan Newman	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	263	Running
28	4	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	261	Running
29	17	43	Erik Jones	Richard Petty Motorsports	Chevrolet	260	Running
30	26	78	B.J. McLeod*	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford	259	Running
31	36	51	Cody Ware*	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet	258	Running
32	39	53	Joey Gase*	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet	256	Running
33	30	52	Josh Bilicki*	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	256	Running
34	38	13	David Starr*	MBM Motorsports	Ford	255	Running
35	35	00	Quin Houff	StarCom Racing	Chevrolet	255	Running
36	34	15	Ryan Ellis*	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet	254	Running
37	2	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	224	Accident
38	29	38	Anthony Alfredo	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	171	Accident
39	33	77	Justin Haley*	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	165	Engine
40	37	66	Chad Finchum*	MBM Motorsports	Toyota	47	Handling

Bold – Currently in playoffs
Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for Cup points