Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson put on a clinic to win Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway. He led 221 of the 267 laps in the 400-mile race and held off Joe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell by 0.712 seconds for his third win of the season.
The win was Larson's 32nd of his Cup Series career and his eighth top five in 12 races this season. Behind Larson and Bell in the finishing order were Team Penske's Ryan Blaney (third), JGR's Chase Briscoe (fourth) and Larson's HMS teammate Alex Bowman (fifth).
Updated Cup Series standings after AdventHealth 400 at Kansas
Driver Standings | Points | Behind |
|---|---|---|
1. Kyle Larson | 469 | 0 |
2. William Byron | 434 | -35 |
3. Christopher Bell | 384 | -85 |
4. Chase Elliott | 378 | -91 |
5. Ryan Blaney | 362 | -107 |
6. Tyler Reddick | 357 | -112 |
7. Denny Hamlin | 346 | -123 |
8. Alex Bowman | 325 | -144 |
9. Joey Logano | 318 | -151 |
10. Bubba Wallace | 310 | -159 |
After scoring a maximum of 60 points with his pair of stage wins and the race win at Kansas, Larson leaps ahead of Byron to become the new points leader (+35). Bell goes from sixth all the way up to third while Elliott holds steady in fourth. Blaney moves up two spots to fifith ahead of 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick, who falls to sixth.
The biggest faller in the top 10 is JGR's Denny Hamlin, who loses four spots to seventh after his second straight DNF. Bowman rises to eighth, Team Penske's Joey Logano remains in ninth and 23XI Racing's Bubba Wallace, coming off his second DNF in a row, falls two spots to 10th.
Notable drivers outside the top 10 include Trackhouse Racing's Ross Chastain (11th), Talladega winner Austin Cindric (14th), Las Vegas winner Josh Berry (17th), Richard Childress Racing's Kyle Busch (18th) and Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing's Brad Keselowski (33rd). Keep in mind, a win will most likely guarantee a driver a playoff berth with 16 spots up for grabs. After Kansas, Larson, Bell, Hamlin, Byron, Logano, Cindric and Berry remain the season's seven winners.
Currently, that 16th and final spot for postseason eligibility goes to Hyak Motorsports' Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (+7) over RFK Racing's Ryan Preece. Stenhouse is 15th in the overall standings, but Berry (17th) vaults ahead of him in the playoff standings due to his Las Vegas win earlier this season. Obviously, things are going to change, but that is the position drivers currently find themselves in after Kansas.
One thing to keep in mind is the importance of both regular-season points standings and playoff standings. While drivers with wins vault to the top of the points standings and guarantee themselves a playoff spot, assuming there are no more than 16 winners, the overall points are equally important. The regular-season champion by season's end will earn an additional 15 playoff points, second place will get 10 and drivers third-to-10th in points will receive points in descending order down to one point for 10th.