NASCAR cup series highlights | 2026 kansas speedway

What a perfect day for racing 400 miles, 400 agendas. Well, you're not going to win this race by not being aggressive on the air pressure, because the guy that can run in the lowest is going to make the most grip. The question is, can anybody beat the Toyotas? They've been just dominant. If it's somebody, it's going to be Kyle Larson. Got close last week. This race last year was his last win. 400 miles in the Midwest, about to get going here at Kansas Speedway. Now you see him four wide already right there. You see Chase Briscoe able to get underneath last week's winner of Ty Gibbs. Still four wide back there. That's what makes this track so fun. The progressive banking these restarts. It's immediate. Speaking of immediate, look at the drag race here for the front row. The lead. Wow. You got two Toyota drivers that both refused to live. And all that contact. Yeah, definitely a little bit of contact right there. So hard. We saw that big slip up. Yeah, we saw that yesterday in the Arca race. The way that that entry isn't a turn one. You think that car is going to swoop up there further than it does. But that entry wall is straight, kind of cuts the angle off into turn one and a good restart. Good start. Rather for Briscoe already up to third person. A host of our jumped from six to fourth. Now Larson has repassed him, putting host of our back to fifth, and he's under fire once again from Ty Gibbs. Yeah, and that's a tough pass right there off a turn to run in the bottom of the racetrack because that top lane carries so much minimum. You want to spend as much time as possible in that top lane. We know the tires are right on the edge at the end of these runs wearing them out. Let's go back and look at the contact earlier as they battled for the lead side by side. You see him going into turn one right here, and it looks like Tyler was was still hanging hanging up the racetrack and getting was ready to turn down into the corner and just made a little bit of contact. You could see the way that wall straightens out right there. You almost go straight for a second, but his hood flaps fly up a little smoke. Hood flap fly up. Never lifted. That's that negative pressure that the air around these cars at 200 mile an hour. As soon as they got close to one another, pull the air right off the front of the 45. That was cool. Probably the one, in my opinion, a little draw these leaders down. Little scuff on the outside of Gibbs. Gibbs has been in the wall right there. You see that right rear tire all scuffed up. Fenders right front as well. Yeah, I read it. I read it gets the countdown into the number one pit box. He feels really good about how the car is operating. Not a lot of feedback on what you'll need. A little air pressure adjustment in four tires for the 45. As you see, Denny Hamlin, I believe, on pit road. Hamlin comes in one lap later, along with Ross Chastain, Ty Dillon, Chase Briscoe and Bubba Wallace. This should bring just about everybody to pit road. Jamie? Denny Hamlin talked about his car just a little bit tight on throttle and a little bit loose and nothing to be too concerned about. Obviously, you see the adjustment right there. Thinking ahead left 35 laps from the lead down and away. Ryan Blaney with a new Jackman gets hit. Actually, he hits Allmendinger as A. J. Was coming into his pit. Blaney was full, accelerating, coming out of his. And there is Allmendinger's car. 42 laps complete. Here's Blaney pulling out as Allmendinger tries to get in and they collide on pit road. And Kyle Busch has been on the radio. Remember, they had a tire issue on that first pit stop. Each team has eight sets of new tires, plus the tires they qualified on. But, Larry, if you're replacing them every 35 laps, you're gonna be short. Yeah, you are. You've got to be cognizant of that. But, Mike, if they're wearing out, you have no choice. You've got to put some on there. Remember, he pitted fairly early, too. He pitted at lap 33, meaning he's gonna have to go 46, 47 laps on his front. And the reason that he pitted right there we saw earlier was all the fabric hanging off the side of the tires. And it's just, you know, his car seems to be wearing those tires out a lot quicker. That's Bubba Wallace getting up and against the wall in a three wide battle of Toyota's. Now, who else is worried about his right front tire? Our pole sitter. Listen. Yeah, copy. I think some of this is the right front again, so I'll just manage. I am. Be ready. I'm gonna have to try to make it back. How much time do I got? Final lap stage one. Yeah, that's exactly what we were talking about. Sometimes you just get in a spot where you're gonna slow down and manage that tire. But this guy, right? Yeah, pretty good indication, too. It's not just settle. It's you start hearing it. You feel it in here. Now Gilliland wants to try to pass Hamlin, so we won't have to start last and take the free pass. But the green and white checker is out, and Gilliland got it done. He got ahead of Denny Hamlin before Hamlin got the flag. He got a gift. Toyota Camry XSE pace car on Pit road. And here we come for stage two. Hamlin Larson. Great push teamwork for Toyota's Reddick pushed Denny Hamlin right to the lead. I was kind of thinking Larson give him a run for his money. Here he comes to the inside crossover. Can he slide up in front of him? He's looking for it, moving him up, moving him up. He's got it now. Kyle Denny Hamlin's gonna be under attack from Chase Elliott to Chevrolet's and put themselves in a position to take control of this race. Didn't see that coming right on the restarts. Clint now Reddick as well. Denny Hamlin definitely having a little trouble firing off. Yeah, he lost a little momentum when Kyle slid up in front of him, and he's still trying to get that momentum back. Finally going into turn turn three right here. He's able to get it back rolling. They have learned some things with the Hendrick camp. Chase Elliott really haven't talked about him all day. Now they're running one to where they come from. Tyler Reddick, as we see him on the top of the screen, trying to trying to work over Chase Elliott right there for second position. I think he's got to be really careful about how much he how much he leans on that right front tire. I saw him down a lane right there. You see him doing the exact same thing right there. You gotta believe I'm Larry. I just don't know that the way that that tire came apart. I just don't know that that's gonna get better. You know, you see, maybe they freed that car up enough to take care of really to take care of that right front tire a little bit more this time, but kind of concerns me a bit for the forty five car of Reddick having to work the traffic like he is right now. Michael Jordan looking on at his cars in second place. Day two of his trip. He was here all day yesterday practicing and qualifying. And, you know, these guys are well, he's having fun. Tells me. Well, you win that much. How can you not have fun, Clint? I'd be here, too. That was close. Larson, Reddick and Hamlin. One, two, three on pit road. Keep an eye on that nine car. He's the one that short pitted him to try to close the gap on them. You see him up here in the track map. Jamie, see Kyle Larson from the lead after leading thirty five laps. He did have courting on the right front after that last stop at the air pressure adjustment in four tires here. Denny Hamlin on the bottom. Tyler Reddick as well. Air pressure adjustment for Denny Hamlin. We'll take a look at the tire wear, too, guys. Slow stop for Reddick. Yeah. And, you know, some of that was coming on to pit road. Denny Hamlin made up a bunch of time on Tyler Reddick. You see the leaders taken off and you'll see in your track map the nine coming in. He's going to get the eleven right there on your right of your screen. That was a short pit call by Alan Gustafson. Great call. Got some track position for the nine. Let's see if it'll hold on on the backside of this run. Tyler Reddick maintaining right now, but it was a scary moment after that last pit stop. He queued the radio moments later and said, guys, it's right here. I had hardball contact right there going into turn one. It was significant. It doesn't look bad there, but he said it's significant enough to knock the steering off just so slightly. So that happened right after stops. He hasn't said anything about it since. So of the seven seconds that he's behind the leader, three of those were due to trouble on the right front during that stop. Is this a tiring race to drive? Well, any time that you get a green flag run like this with consecutive laps to basically three runs in a row, you had the stage break to break them up. Any time you have to run these consecutive laps. I mean, from from the driver's seat, it could be taxing just because you're in there so long, tensed up and and trying to do everything that you can to get the most lap time out of the race car. Kyle Larson takes the green and white checkered flag for his third stage win of twenty twenty six. Best restarter in the business. Christopher Bell. Let's see what he can do against Denny Hamlin as we begin stage three. See Bubba Wallace right there up on top of the racetrack. But those cars three wide down the back straightaway. We heard him talk about how he thought he had a winning car. Well, he just put himself in a way better spot to contend for the lead behind them. Briscoe took them three wide on the bottom. Herbst took them three wide on the top, heating up for the lead. Here comes Bell looking to the outside. He's there. Haven't seen him all day. That one's dangerous. You put him out front. We talked about him yesterday when he had to go out so early in qualifying, put him back there. Eleventh or twelfth fell back a little bit at the beginning of the race and has worked his way back up. Pit crew had a great pit stop that last time on Pit road. Here he is leading the race now. Ty Gibbs not loving his car right now. Listen in. You know, in a tight race car, that's all you can do is wait on it to turn to if you could give him an audio of a loose race car. It doesn't sound like that, does it, Kevin? Oh, boy! Fix this thing! It's loose! And Hamlin on Pit road to begin another green flag pit stop cycle, Jamie. Kevin noted that Denny Hamlin had fallen off of it those last handful of laps. Just a little too tight is what he said earlier on in that run. Four tires stop here. Go on the jack. Don't have to wait on fuel. Well, you hear the don't wait on fuel part. You see the hopefully the back of the car got full of as much fuel as possible to keep the balance right on that car. But they're definitely not going to wait on it. But you saw Tyler Reddick dive to Pit road right there. And if they have a clean pit stop, he's going to be in front of Christopher Bell when this is over. He pushed hard coming on a pit road to did did a good job. Yeah, but I mean, he doesn't as long as they have a clean pit stop. I mean, just the amount of lap time that he's going to gain on these new tires is going to put him in front of Bell. Jamie, they had just told Tyler the we're going to pit with the twenty. So he opted to come down before the twenty four tire stops that he wants to be just a touch freer. That's it. No chassis adjustments, air pressure only. Bubba Wallace finishes his stop. So does Chase Elliott. Regan. Well, you see the twenty of Christopher Bell that his guys have been ready for about the last ten laps. They were trying to time it out and sequence it just right as to when they hit Pit road as well as not have issues with Well, he hit it right on Larry's number. Forty seven laps splits the stage for this final run to the checker. Keep an eye on that short pit by the eleven. He's definitely gonna beat the twenty out. Yeah, keep it, though. He's a half a straight away ahead of Tyler Riddick. So big. Now, Daniel Suarez began this run as the last car on the lead lap. Suarez has cycled through to the lead. As you see, his number seven up on the graphic at the top of the screen. But when he makes his pit stop, he will possibly fall off the lead lap. That's kind of the gamble of running long like this. So that was five laps short pitted. I'm talking. Hold on to it. Got trouble. I think he's got a tire down to almost against the wall. Now brings it down, flipping it back off pace. So that gamble of staying out long is not gonna pay off for Daniel Suarez, but he will make it to Pit road as Denny Hamlin reassumes the lead. Denny Hamlin has opened up his lead now to three point three seconds on Tyler Riddick and looked like Christopher Bell got against the wall and then surrendered fourth place to Bubba Wallace. Right now, Denny Hamlin and Tyler Riddick are going through the same lap traffic, and that sequence didn't quite work out as well for Riddick that time through traffic. But let's go back and watch him. You see him up on the top of your screen in the wall. Pretty good right in the middle of three and four all the way down. Still in it. Finally pulled it out of it. And then one lap later. Oh, man. Bubba Wallace had to come up the racetrack right there because Ross Trastane was a groove. Two grooves off the bottom, right in the middle of the road, trying to get to Pit road. He's gonna make he's moving around, too. He's definitely searching down on the track. I would not have done that. He's gonna give up a ton of ground to Tyler Riddick right here. Watch this. Unless he feels like something's wrong with that car. Those two corners he gave up his whole his whole lead. He's trying to take the air off. That's exactly what you want to do. Do not. Whatever you do, don't give Tyler Riddick the outside. Right, Kevin? Yeah, and he gave him the outside on this in last lap, and now Riddick's gonna go to the bottom. He's been dying in the corner coming down, staying high this time. And as soon as he gets to that left rear quarter panel, this is over for Denny Hamlin. It's for the win. Ten to go and Riddick. The pole sitter goes back to the lead, and those five lap fresher tires show up. He's drove right back to his bumper with Austin Dillon, a lapper right in front of them. Yeah, to the outside. Here comes a run. It's really strange that Reddick drove all the way up to him, passed him, drove by him, and now Denny Hamlin has stayed right with him and passing back for the lead. Here we go. Austin's in the front. Look at that. Reddick's got that outside line. It was gonna be interesting to figure out what Austin Dillon was gonna do that time. It hurt Denny Hamlin. Man, he had a run to tire. Reddick Reddick is worried about that right front tire. He's got no room to baby it for these final six laps. You can hear the throttle on that car. He's without a doubt tight. We've seen the right front come apart on the forty five earlier in the race. Here's Denny looking to the inside. Also, trouble. Forty five. Mike got an offense. It's fun to see that guy nervous. Five laps to go. Yannick saying loose in that race car can't get into the corner, and that's why you see Denny Hamlin approach him. Denny needs to put the pressure on the rear of that car and try to loosen up even more. If he can get close enough. Yeah, I agree with him. You know, you see the two leaders with five laps to go in your meal mirror and just get out of the way and let him race. Dylan was trying to stay on the tail end of the lead lap so we could battle Alex Bowman there for position. But now goes a lap down. You could tell Reddick's a little bit easy getting into the corners. That's his loose in condition. Yeah, he's all of a sudden started using the whole racetrack right up against the wall through the middle of both ends of the racetracks. One and two and three and four. So it's just he's in the wall and out of fuel. Oh, my gosh. Hamlin back to the lead. Well, that's exactly what Denny Hamlin's guys were saying. Just stay with it right here. You just don't know what's gonna happen, and you're seeing it happen right now. As Hamlin pulls away, Tyler Reddick somehow has enough gas in the tank to hang on to it and now mounts a charge. Reddick coming back after him. A spinner turned for first yellow flag of the day for cause. Oh, you just can't make this stuff up. Cannot script this. Can you now coming to the white? But Cody Ware spun in turn four as the leaders came to the white flag. Reddick's gonna have to pit, though. They'll re rack and all get another chance. And let's listen into Tyler Reddick's radio. What happened? Talk to us. What happened there? Ran out of fuel. Had to go to pump two. I had plenty of fuel in it. We should not have any concern there. So don't know what happened there. Yeah, and when he ran out of fuel right there, he also ran into the wall. So a lot of things happening, getting into turn three that he had to deal with. Tyler Reddick in the forty five. His call was just follow and stay close to the forty five. You saw the forty five came in for fuel there, guys, and he jumps forty five out just behind the eleven. They come to the restart zone for credit. One overtime. Green, green, green. Oh, Hamlin gets a great restart, but he's got no pusher. Almost too good. Watch Larson. Here he comes. Larson looking low and gets there. He and Reddick will battle like that. Twenty on the outside. Miss the block. Reddick Bell, with the head of steam on the outside, gets hit by Reddick, bounces off the wall, holds on, but denies Hamlin. Clear track for the five. Kyle Larson coming around. Still green coming to the white flag. Now, if the leader takes the white under green, the next flag ends the race. One car spins at the entrance of Pit road down on the apron. White flags out. Leaders head into turn one with a huge run to the bottom of the racetrack. Track is clear. Here comes Hamlin on that. Oh, look at Reddick races on down the backstretch. Mike Toyota Chevy up front. Here comes Briscoe with their sport tires. Third on the inside, digging hard. Reddick slides up in front of Larson and the pole sitter is going to come to the line for win number five. What a great job by Tyler Reddick. I thought he had no chance there with about a lap to go, Clint. I thought that race was for sure Larson's. How he got back and got underneath Larson, which is where Larson wanted him to go, be on the bottom and was able to just drive right by him. Power moved Tyler Reddick on top once again. The 30 year old from Corning, California, gets his 13th career win today and becomes the first driver since Dale Earnhardt in 1987 to win five of a season's first nine races. Christopher Bell spun coming to the white, but down to Pit road and then pulled away. So no caution needed. Yeah, I think he actually broke a tolling when he hit the fence down the back straightaway, and then it just spun out fifth time this season. How about this moment? We watched those emotions. What was that like watching those closing laps? Well, I mean, look, I'm racing against Denny. So in essence, I really wanted to beat him because I know we're going to talk a lot of trash a little bit later, but it was a good race. Uh, when we started running out of fuel, I didn't know what was happening, but 23 11, all the guys drove well today. I mean, you know, we finished, I think all four cars in the top 15. So, I mean, that says a lot about the program and this kid is on fire. You know, I don't even know what to say. I don't know if I can cool him down. He's unbelievable. That was unbelievable. Last couple of laps and I'm proud of him. I'm proud of the whole team. Michael, how much fun is this for you? This is the way that you guys are on this season. Yeah. When you win, it's always fun, you know, and right now it's fun for everybody at 23 11. So, I mean, me being here and being able to see all the wins, uh, I am so happy for the, for the team. And I just think we need to continually build on this without a doubt. Congratulations, MJ, Tyler Reddick. He gets the winning flag and it's the fifth win on the season. Boy, if there's anybody who's used to winning, it's Michael Jordan. Five wins.