Polesitter Kyle Larson manages worn tires to capture AdventHealth 400
The Hendrick Motorsports racer withstood a flurry of caution periods over the final 72 laps to claim victory in the NASCAR Cup Series' AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan.
The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion passed leader Christopher Bell's No. 20 following the fourth caution, overcame three more yellow flags and led the field for 49 green-flag laps to top the Toyota driver by 0.712 seconds for his 32nd career win, tying him with Dale Jarrett.
The Elk Grove, Calif., racer matched Bell for the 2025 lead in wins with three with his third career Kansas triumph. It was Hendrick Motorsports' 10th at the track.
On a weekend when cars were blowing tires after lengthy wear, Larson said his Chevrolet definitely lost speed over the final few circuits as he tried to manage his rubber.
"I was trying really hard to pace myself because I believe that was our longest run of the day," said Larson, who led 221 of the 267 laps on the 1.5-mile speedway. "I had been struggling at the end of runs ... I don't know if the right-front was starting to wear a lot or what, but I was starting to lose a lot of grip and then I was vibrating really bad. I was afraid a right-rear or something would let go."
Bell was pleased to record a career-best runner-up finish at Kansas and his sixth top-five run of 2025.
"I was surprised that he gave up on the top (line) on the last couple of laps and pulled down," said Bell, "but I was struggling just as bad as he was."
Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe and Alex Bowman rounded out the top five.
Chevrolet won for the third straight time at the speedway while Ford had its winless skid hit nine races in Kansas.
After A.J. Allmendinger's Chevrolet expired on the race's seventh lap, polesitter Larson and 19 others stayed out on the track -- and Larson's No. 5 Chevrolet rocketed away from the pack with a slight challenge on a restart.
With Larson pulling away in the 80-lap first segment, the front 20 drivers who stayed out had to pit around Lap 40 while the previous group continued to turn green-flag circuits. That put Denny Hamlin's No. 11 at the point as the field basically inverted.
Points leader William Byron had his right rear tire go flat on Lap 67 after a gamble on low air pressure, which ended with the No. 24 car completely losing grip and spinning on pit road.
Larson topped teammate Chase Elliott by just under two seconds to win the top bonus points in Stage 1. Bell, Blaney and Austin Cindric rounded out the top five.
In also winning Stage 2 by nipping Elliott, Larson reached 10,000 career laps led. Larson, Hamlin and Kyle Busch are the only active drivers to reach that milestone. Blaney, Josh Berry and Bell followed the Hendrick duo in Stage 2.
Chasing down Elliott after the No. 9 beat Larson on pit road, Brad Keselowski, without a top-10 finish during a miserable season, blew a tire on his No. 6 Ford while running second with 73 laps to go and crashed into the wall for his fifth Did Not Finish this season.
--Field Level Media
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