Kyle Larson completed a maximum-points afternoon at Kansas Speedway on Sunday, Sept. 27, winning the Hollywood Casino 400 after leading 235 of 267 laps and sweeping both stages.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver collected all 76 points available in the fourth race of the NASCAR Cup Series Chase. Larson also recorded the fastest lap, a 30.076-second run on Lap 2, before overcoming a late challenge from Chase Briscoe to secure his second victory in the opening four Chase races.
Post-race inspection ended without issue, confirming Larson as the winner ahead of Austin Cindric and Denny Hamlin. Briscoe finished fourth, while Christopher Bell took sixth.
Larson sets a Kansas laps-led record
Larson controlled 235 laps of the 400.5-mile race, setting a Cup Series record at Kansas. He broke his own track mark of 221 laps led.
The race’s first two stages ended on Laps 80 and 165, and Larson won both. His pace also produced the first full 76-point score by a driver in a 2026 Cup race.
It was the ninth Cup event in which Larson has swept both stages and won the race.
Few laps escaped his control.
Larson’s advantage did not make the closing run automatic, however. Briscoe reclaimed first place with roughly 30 laps remaining, putting Larson in the position of having to chase down the leader after commanding most of the afternoon.
Larson closed the gap and made the decisive pass with seven laps left. He then held off Cindric by approximately half a second at the finish, turning a potential runner-up result into the largest possible points return.
“That was fun. That was such a good day. Max points. I was going to be happy with a second with how the race went, but to get the lead, that’s a big deal for the points.”
Late pass settles the Hollywood Casino 400
Briscoe’s move into the lead created the race’s central late battle. With about 30 laps left, Larson no longer held the track position that had supported his dominant performance through both stages.
Seven laps from the checkered flag, Larson completed the pass that decided the race. Cindric advanced to second by the finish, with Hamlin third and Briscoe dropping to fourth.
Cindric’s runner-up result delivered 52 points. Hamlin earned 51, leaving Larson with a 25-point advantage over the next-highest scorer at Kansas.
Larson gained 36 points on Briscoe during the event.
The win was Larson’s second of the 2026 season and the 34th of his Cup career. It also gave him four victories at Kansas Speedway. His career total moved him level with Kurt Busch and Martin Truex Jr. for 26th on the all-time Cup wins list.
Maximum score expands Chase lead
Larson left Kansas at the top of the Chase standings with 2,282 points. Hamlin, who entered the postseason as the top seed, trails by 26 after finishing third on Sunday.
Bell holds third, 50 points behind Larson after his sixth-place finish. Joey Logano is fourth at 67 points back.
Briscoe moved up one place to eighth in the standings despite losing ground to Larson. He sits 123 points behind the leader following his fourth-place finish.
Cindric’s second place lifted his Kansas points total to 52, but he remains 140 behind Larson. He is tied with Bubba Wallace in the Chase standings. Carson Hocevar follows at 150 points back, while Daniel Suarez is 16th and trails by 187.
Six races remain in the Chase.
Second Chase victory in four races
Larson’s Kansas win followed his victory at World Wide Technology Raceway, where he ended a 51-race winless stretch. Those results have given him two wins across the first four Chase events.
His Kansas performance covered every points-paying component of the afternoon. Larson won Stage 1 at Lap 80, won Stage 2 at Lap 165 and took the race after 267 laps. His Lap 2 time supplied the fastest-lap point.
The 235 laps led accounted for most of the 267-lap distance. Even after Briscoe’s late return to the front, Larson recovered the lead before the final seven-lap run to the checkered flag.
Hamlin kept second place in the standings with his third-place result, though his deficit grew to 26. Bell’s sixth kept him third in points, 24 behind Hamlin and 50 behind Larson.
Chase moves to Las Vegas
The NASCAR Cup Series Chase continues with its fifth race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, scheduled as part of the Oct. 1 through Oct. 4 event weekend.
Larson will arrive there with the championship lead, two Chase victories and the first 76-point race of the 2026 season. The Kansas winner has six races left to defend his 26-point margin over Hamlin, beginning at Las Vegas.
