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.
Credit: Meg Oliphant/Getty Images
“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 |
Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for Cup points