From Pole to Victory: Kyle Larson Dominates AdventHealth 400

Kyle Larson celebrates his second consecutive AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway victory. (Photo: Sydney Redden | The Podium Finish)

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Kyle Larson turned in a commanding performance at Kansas Speedway on Sunday, leading 221 of 267 laps to win the AdventHealth 400 and secure his third NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2025 season. The win marked Larson’s 32nd career Cup triumph, tying him with Dale Jarrett on the all-time list, and his third at Kansas.

Starting from the pole, Larson’s No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet was the class of the field. He swept both stages and managed his tires expertly during the final green-flag run, fending off challenges from Christopher Bell and Ryan Blaney.

“Yeah, it was tough,” Larson said. “I could get out to a good lead, and I could kind of manage my tires. But Chase (Elliott) was really good at the end of the long runs. We decided to take control of the race, and we kind of lost it a little bit there. We had some restarts work out in our favor, and that last run just played out well enough to get the win.

“I wasn’t very good again at the end of the run, but I am just proud of my team and proud of this HendrickCars.com Chevy team. It’s just been an awesome day.”

Larson’s crew chief, Cliff Daniels, emphasized the strong working relationship he shares with his driver.

Kyle Larson swept the stages to win the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway on Sunday. (Photo: Sydney Redden | The Podium Finish)

“Yeah, honestly, the common thing that we have in our relationship is how much pure love we have for racing,” Daniels said. “We don’t go fishing together. We don’t even really talk much during the week. But I try to watch every single lap that he runs, XFINITY, Truck, of course sprint car, anything else, and we’ll maybe share a text quickly back and forth depending on how his night went. Normally, I’m telling him ‘good job.’ This week, I was asking if he was okay.

“But we love the sport. We love attacking races, figuring out ways to get better, ways to be faster. We both enjoy the way we build our team, the way our team interacts and we communicate. We play crazy music before the race now; that’s a new thing for the 5 team. All of our vision for how we approach racing together, we’re so common in that that — I don’t know, it’s just fun. I think it keeps us connected.”

Bell, driving the No. 20 Reser’s Fine Foods Toyota, finished second, his best result at Kansas. He acknowledged the challenge of managing tire wear in the closing laps.

“Well, I was surprised that he kind of gave up on the top those last couple laps and pulled down,” Bell said. “But I was struggling just as bad as he was, so I was just trying to get to the end. I know Ryan was coming on really strong there.

“Overall, to get home second with a lot of stage points was something that we needed after the last couple weeks, and this Reser’s Camry was just not quite what we needed.”

Blaney secured a third-place finish in the No. 12 Würth Ford, showing strong pace in the final laps.

“Yeah, overall good day,” Blaney said. “I think we were third in both stages and finished third, and honestly we were kind of running those guys down quick there at the end the last handful of laps. I just kind of restarted too far back and had to make up a lot of ground.

“It took a lot for my car to come in. I think five more laps, I think I probably would have scared the 5 a little bit at least.”

Chase Briscoe and Alex Bowman completed the top five, finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.

Kyle Larson burns his tires out following his win in Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway. (Photo: Sydney Redden | The Podium Finish)

The race featured seven cautions for 37 laps and 15 lead changes among nine drivers. Larson’s victory also marked Hendrick Motorsports‘ 10th win at Kansas Speedway and extended Chevrolet’s winning streak at the track to three races.

With this win, Larson now shares the 2025 season lead in victories with Bell, each having three. He also reached the milestone of 10,000 career laps led during the race, joining active drivers Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch in that achievement.

Looking ahead, Larson expressed enthusiasm about heading to Indianapolis as the Cup Series points leader to prepare for the H1100 (Hendrick 1100) double-duty efforts.

“It’s really cool to head to Indy as the point leader two years in a row in the Cup Series,” Larson said. “It’s really tough to do, and it’s really cool for our team and our sport that the Cup Series point leader gets to run the Indianapolis 500.

“It’s awesome, and thanks again to these guys right here. I won’t get to celebrate with them tonight, but we will do a little celebrating here before we have to leave the track.”

The NASCAR Cup Series continues next Sunday at North Wilkesboro Speedway for the NASCAR All-Star Race.

Stage 1 Top 10 Results

1. Kyle Larson
2. Chase Elliott
3. Christopher Bell
4. Ryan Blaney
5. Austin Cindric
6. Alex Bowman
7. Denny Hamlin
8. Ryan Preece
9. Joey Logano
10. Zane Smith

Stage 2 Top 10 Results

1. Kyle Larson
2. Chase Elliott
3. Ryan Blaney
4. Josh Berry
5. Christopher Bell
6. Brad Keselowski
7. Alex Bowman
8. Denny Hamlin
9. Zane Smith
10. Ryan Preece

AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway Race Results