Larson heads to Bristol nine points back after snapping 51-race drought

Kyle Larson moved within nine points of the NASCAR Cup Series postseason lead with a victory at Gateway, snapping a 51-race winless streak. He now heads to a Bristol Motor Speedway track where he has been dominant in recent years.

Larson vaulted from seventh to second in the Chase standings with the Sunday win in the Enjoy Illinois 300 outside St. Louis. It was his longest stretch without a victory since he joined Hendrick Motorsports in 2021.

“I can see how on paper or in media’s eyes, or maybe even some competitors’ eyes, that you could doubt us, and I think that’d be reasonable,” Larson said. “You know, we hadn’t won in 51 races, and yeah, we were kind of just mid throughout the season, and not starting as high as we want to be in the Chase.”

Larson and crew chief Cliff Daniels thought Joey Logano had a better car Sunday, but Larson passed Logano on a late restart in regulation and held him off in overtime.

Postseason leader Denny Hamlin has four wins this season. Larson trails him by nine points heading into Saturday night’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Larson led 284 laps in this year’s spring race at Bristol before finishing third. He led 462 of 500 laps in a 2024 night race win there and 411 laps in his 2025 spring victory.

“We’re just trying to do the best job we can and try to score as many points as we can,” Larson said. “And, I mean, I would love to be nine points ahead (rather) than nine points behind right now. But you know, it’s been a good start to our Chase.”

Daniels said the Hendrick teams underestimated their gap to the Toyotas early in the season. Toyotas won five of the first six races, and Hendrick teams struggled by trying to do too much in their setups at early races including Darlington and Phoenix.

“We have learned through those mistakes that we can’t just go overreach on everything every week,” Daniels said. “Like, everything can’t be in question every week. There’s some things that have to be your solid foundation point.”

Jeff Gordon, a four-time Cup Series champion and the current Hendrick vice chairman, credited Larson and his team for continuing to work hard without getting deterred by mistakes or strategic decisions that did not pan out.

“The thing that gets you down the most, especially when you’ve had success, is not having fast race cars, not having cars capable of of running up front,” Gordon said. “And I think if anything has probably challenged those guys the most, it’s that.”

Larson, who had not won since May 2025 at Kansas, said his confidence never wavered during the drought. He also won the 2025 Cup Series title despite not winning a race in last year’s playoffs.

“I’ve had more fun this year than a lot of years, and we hadn’t won till this point, so I don’t mind the struggle,” Larson said. “I’m not scared of it.”

Larson was asked if he is “back” after the Gateway win. He dismissed comparisons to 2021, when he won the championship, or 2023, when he won four times and finished second in the playoffs.

“But we’ve been definitely building to get back to Victory Lane,” Larson said. “I don’t know if we’re quite yet where we can go dominate like we have in the past, but you know, a day like (Sunday) definitely gives you confidence leading into a track where we know we can go dominate.”