Larson vaults to second in Chase, nine points behind Hamlin

Kyle Larson vaulted from seventh to second in the NASCAR Chase standings with a Sunday win at Gateway, snapping a 51-race winless streak. The victory moved Larson within nine points of postseason leader Denny Hamlin as the series heads to Bristol Motor Speedway for Saturday night’s race.

Larson won the Enjoy Illinois 300 outside St. Louis, ending the longest drought of his tenure with Hendrick Motorsports since he joined the team in 2021. It was his first win of the season, compared to four for Hamlin.

“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 passed Joey Logano on a late restart in regulation and held him off in overtime. Crew chief Cliff Daniels said Logano had a better car, but Larson was able to pull off the win.

Larson was encouraged by a fifth-place run in the playoff-opening Southern 500, where he led a race-high 99 laps.

Bristol has been a stronghold for Larson. He led 462 of 500 laps in the 2024 night race there and followed it with 411 laps led in his 2025 spring victory. In this year’s spring race at Bristol, Larson led 284 laps before finishing third.

“We’re just trying to do the best job we can and try to score as many points as we can,” Larson said. “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, then overcorrected by trying to do too much with their setups.

“We have learned through those mistakes that we can’t just go overreach on everything every week,” Daniels said. “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 Hendrick vice chairman, credited Larson and his team for not getting discouraged by mistakes and slow cars.

“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 had not won since Kansas in May 2025, but still captured the 2025 Cup title despite the late-season drought.

“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 dismissed comparisons to his 2021 championship season or his 2023 campaign, when he won four times and finished second in the playoffs.

“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.”