A look at the winners and losers after Sunday night’s Cup race at Kansas Speedway.
WINNERS:
Kyle Larson — Larson led 64 laps, the second-most among Cup drivers. He held off Chris Buescher in a photo finish to score his second win of the season and the 25th of his career. Larson has led the Cup standings for five consecutive weeks.
Chase Elliott — Elliott finished third at Kansas, his best finish at the track since 2021. Elliott has finished fifth or better in five of the last six races this season. He is now third in the Cup standings.
Noah Gragson — Gragson has finished inside the top 10 in five of his first 12 races with Stewart-Haas Racing. His current three-race streak of top 10s is the longest of his career. Gragson is now up to 19th in points after a post-Atlanta penalty that dropped him to negative six points.
Michael McDowell and Chris Buescher — McDowell entered Sunday’s race with no top-10 finishes at Kansas in his Cup career. Buescher had three top 10s at Kansas but no top fives on any of NASCAR’s 1.5-mile tracks. Buescher finished second while McDowell finished 10th.
LOSERS:
Jimmie Johnson — He checked up on Lap 176, resulting in Corey LaJoie hitting him from behind. Johnson spun into the outside wall before sliding down into the infield. He finished 38th. Johnson has failed to finish four of his seven starts in the Next Gen car. His best finish is 28th at Daytona and Dover.
Bubba Wallace — He crashed in the final stage when Austin Cindric hit the outside wall, rebounded and spun the No. 23 Toyota into the outside wall. Wallace continued in the race but ended the day 17th, his third consecutive finish outside the top 15.
Austin Cindric — Cindric crashed during the final stage after being on the wrong end of four-wide racing. He ended the day 37th. His fourth-place finish at Atlanta in February is his only top 10 this season.
William Byron — Byron started 36th after hitting the wall during Saturday’s qualifying session. He missed out on stage points and then finished 23rd after getting stuck in traffic.
