By Roy J. Akers- www.skyviewsports.net
Last spring, the closest race in NASCAR History happened at Kansas, and Chris Buescher lost by less than the width of a penny to Kyle Larson. and 0001 of a second.
Before we drop the green flag, check out our Sky View Motorsports Zoomcast… Miami Announcement, Chase Elliott, Hi Limit Racing NASCAR Crossover, and more!
Let’s Drop the Green Flag- Stage One S1 Results
Kyle Larson led the field to green and ran the high line over Bell, and Buescher. Bubba Wallace, and Alex Bowman move up 7 and 11 spots, respectively. AJ Allmendinger brushes the wall and has smoke leaving his machine but stays in the race momentarily before shutting it down for the day. When the green flag drops, Larson rebuilds his lead to 1.36 seconds over Christopher Bell by lap 32. Kyle Busch improves his position by +21 in just a few laps.
The leaders are predicted to pit early to take four new tires. Larson-Bell and Blaney stay out of the pits running Top 3. Blaney pits with 42 to go in S1. Larson pits on lap 40 and Busch cycles to the lead. Pit road penalties catch several drivers speeding or crew members jumping the wall too early. Busch pits on lap 43, and Hamlin is your leader. After the Larson stop, he cycles back to the lead with Byron, and Bell right behind. Byron’s right rear tire goes flat entering the pits, but the race stays green. Hamlin is running the quickest laps in the field with ten laps to go, but he is 10th after the late pit stop. Larson laps 20 drivers in the Stage and wins his 7th Stage in 2025.
Stage Two Final S2
Larson leads the field to green and loses the lead to Elliott before quickly regaining it. Larson quickly expands his lead to nearly five seconds over Bell, and Elliott. Bell’s speed is going away and Elliott passes him for second with 53 laps to go in S2. NOTE: Three drivers who started at the rear due to unapproved adjustments have made significant progress. Josh Berry has advanced to fifth place, Zane Smith is now in ninth, and Brad Keselowski holds the tenth position. There have been five pit penalties at Kansas midway through the race. The most this season in any one race.
Larson pits on Lap 126 and Carson Hocevar assumes the lead with Preece second. Larson quickly cycles back to third but Hocevar and Preece have not pitted. That changes on Lap 131 with the leaders pitting and KL is again on top. Hamlin’s pit crew struggles on his pit stop on lap 137 and he loses five racing positions. Larson continues to chalk up laps as the leader with Elliott second, and Blaney third. Eighteen drivers remain on the lead lap with Ross Chastain the final driver staying on the lead lap. For the 14th time in his career, Larson sweeps the race’s first two stages.
Final Stage
Surprise: All lead lap cars enter pit road for service. Chase Elliott demonstrates a quick pit stop, emerging as the first car off pit road. Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney follow closely behind, securing the second and third positions, respectively as they exit. Zane Smith is running 9th entering the Final Stage. No driver has ever won their first race at Kansas dating back to the first event run back in 2001.
Elliott leads the field to green with 94 to go. Larson has led 154 laps entering the Final Stage, Elliott six. Brad Keselowski has caught the leaders and is racing side by side with Larson and they dual for several laps. With 83 to go, Elliott, Keselowski, and Larson are 1-2-3. Two RFK Machines are Top-10 with BK 2nd and Preece 8th with 82 laps left. Keselowski continues to have his best race of 2025 and he blows a rear tire with 73 to go bringing the fourth caution of the day, sending him to the wall. The new running order is Elliott, Larson, and Hamlin. A tow truck takes BK off the track which means he must go to the garage before potentially returning to the track.
The race off of pit road finds Bell in front of Larson, and with Larson outdualing Bell and Logano as an accident collects three drivers. Hamlin finally gives up the ghost as his mangled gear box finally quits, and Hamlin is done for the day. The green flag is dropped with 62 to go, and Larson takes the inside lane as Logano is to his right. Kyle Busch is dumped on the frontstretch going four wide, and again, a caution comes out. With 53 to go, the green flag is dropped and Larson and Logano dual, and Bell is looking to pinch them both out, and another crash with Wallace, Haley, and Erik Jones involved.
Moving ahead, Larson’s lead continues to grow over Bell and Bowman. Larson led 221 laps today. The driver leading the most laps at Kansas has not won 4 of the last five races at Kansas. Larson is not conserving tires or fuel and is letting it fly. A total of 21 drivers are on the lead lap. Will a caution fly? Almost. Hocevar’s tire came apart and sent him into the wall but no debris was found. Larson’s tires were spent on the final lap but he hangs on for his third win of the season.
Checkered Flag
Larson’s win came after he led x of 267 laps. He has won the last two races at the track and ran the fastest lap in the race. He ties Christopher Bell with three wins this season and ironically, Bell finishes as the runner-up in this race. Larson and Bell have won 6 of the 12 races this season. Larson has a crazy schedule for the rest of May. >>>
WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE WAY THIS RACE UNFOLDED, YOU HAD A VERY DOMINATE RUN, BUT THERE WERE MOMENTS YOU HAD SOME CONCERNS. HOW DID YOU WORK THROUGH THAT?
Larson: “Yeah, it was tough. I could get out to a good lead, and I could kind of manage my tires. But Chase (Elliott) was really good at the end of the long runs. We decided to take control of the race, and we kind of lost it a little bit there. We had some restarts work out in our favor, and that last run just played out well enough to get the win. I wasn’t very good again at the end of the run, but I am just proud of my team and proud of this Hendrickcars.com Chevy team. It’s just been an awesome day.”
He Said It…
Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet– Finished: 5th
What more did you need out there?
“Not to crash the car on the Stage Two restart. We were really good before that, and then we destroyed the race car – the toe’s knocked out of it and the body was killed. While it might not look destroyed and we still ran fifth, these things are just super sensitive. It’s a bummer that happened. You just don’t get many race cars that are that good. We had one last weekend (at Texas Motor Speedway) and we didn’t capitalize on it. We had one at Bristol (Motor Speedway) and didn’t capitalize on it. Today, we ended up with a top-five, but I don’t feel like we capitalized on it.“
Factoids that may interest only me…
-During S2, Kyle Larson moves into third place all-time in leading laps at Kansas behind Kevin Harvick, and Martin Truex Jr.
-This is the 100th year of the Goodyear Blimp. I actually prefer the Led Zeppelin.
-Larson has led his 10,000 Laps in the Cup Series. Only Denny Hamlin, and Kyle Busch have more laps led as current active drivers. The all-time leader is Richard Petty- His total: Total laps led: 51,514
My Fantasy Team is better than yours, or is it?
The last two weeks were bittersweet for me. A 280-point week at Talladega went to 160 after Joey Logano and Ryan Preece were disqualified. A 1-2-3-5-13th went up in smoke, and the Big one that happens at ‘Dega only happened to my fantasy team. Last week’s race hurt big time. 125 points. My NASCAR team is for fun only. Here is this week’s team. Ordinarily, I would have William Byron at a track he is dominant, but I have only five picks with him left. Chase Elliott almost made the cut.
Fantasy, where I went right, Kyle Larson was pulled out of the garage early and took 61 Fantasy points. Bubba took his place. Where I went wrong. Denny Hamlin drove his #11 for most of the race with a fractured gearbox and ran up front, but the gear box finally quit during the third stage, earning my only 7 points from him. I finish the day with 179 points. 169 from the racing and ten more with Reddick edging Ross Chastain.
What’s Next?
The All-Star Race is next Sunday at North Wilkesboro on Sunday night.
Roy J. Akers is a NASCAR reporter for www.skyviewsports.net
