Kyle Larson Wins Ninth Race of 2021 at Kansas

Denny Medley/USA Today

KANSAS CITY, KS – RIS – Kyle Larson won his ninth NASCAR Cup race on Sunday which was the second time this season he has won three Cup races in a row. His magical season was capped by the fact that his car number and paint scheme mirrored the scheme Rick Hendrick, son of car owner Rick Hendrick, used on his short career in NASCAR.  Twenty-one years ago, Ricky was killed in a place crash traveling to the Martinsville Cup race, but the day is still celebrated every year.

Larson led a race-high 130 laps Sunday at Kansas Speedway in claiming his ninth win of the season. He is now on his second three-race win streak of 2021. The last driver to have two three-race win streaks in a season was Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt in 1987.

Entering next Sunday’s Round of 8 elimination race at Martinsville Speedway, he’s the only one of the eight remaining playoff drivers that knows he’ll have a shot to win it all in Phoenix.

“I want to dedicate this win to Rick and Linda (Hendrick),” Larson said after the race. “I didn’t get to ever meet Ricky or the other men and women who lost their lives that day. But I felt the importance of this race, no doubt. “Crazy kind of how it all worked out there for me to win. I know they were all looking down, helping me out there on all the restarts and stuff and after getting in the wall.”

Hendrick Motorsports teammate and reigning Cup champion Chase Elliott finished second to boost his hopes of making the Championship 4.

Non-playoff drivers Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch turned in strong drives to finish third and fourth, respectively. Rounding out the top five was Denny Hamlin in fifth. He managed to score nine stage points, which helped expand his cushion above the cutline to 32 points at day’s end.

Below Larson, Elliott and Hamlin however, there’s little margin for error now.

Kyle Busch holds the final transfer spot to the Championship 4 by a single point over Ryan Blaney. Both drivers suffered poor results Sunday to put them in this situation. Austin Dillon got loose in Turn 2 with 44 laps to go, and his attempt to correct sent him into playoff driver Ryan Blaney, who promptly hit the wall. Blaney’s car was too damaged to continue. His 37th-place finish was made even worse due to having scored zero stage points.  Blaney was not happy.

“Yeah, we got run into from two lanes below me,” Blaney said. “ I have no idea. Obviously it hurts. Finishing 37th is not prime. We didn’t have a great day but we did a good job of fighting back and getting back into the top-10 but then just got wiped out when we had plenty of room. That sucks. It is very unfortunate.”

Martin Truex Jr. (-3) and Brad Keselowski (-6) did enough Sunday to noticeably close their deficits entering Martinsville. At the bottom is Joey Logano (-26), who finished ninth Sunday but is still in a must-win situation for next week.

Unofficial Results: the 21st Annual Hollywood Casino 400, October 24, 2021; Kansas Speedway, 1.5 - Mile Paved

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 1, Kyle Larson (P), No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, 267, 1, 3, 9, 130, 6, 58, Running
2) 5, Chase Elliott (P), No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 267, 3, 2, 3, 42, , 52, Running
3) 11, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Subway Delivery Ford, 267, 6, 5, , , , 45, Running
4) 13, Kurt Busch, No. 1 AdventHealth Chevrolet, 267, 4, 4, 2, 4, , 47, Running
5) 6, Denny Hamlin (P), No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota, 267, 5, 8, , , , 41, Running
6) 9, William Byron, No. 24 RaptorTough.com Chevrolet, 267, 2, 1, 5, 57, 1, 50, Running
7) 7, Martin Truex Jr. (P), No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, 267, , , , , , 30, Running
8) 10, Christopher Bell, No. 20 Craftsman Toyota, 267, , , , , , 29, Running
9) 8, Joey Logano (P), No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 267, , , 1, 22, , 28, Running
10) 14, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Get Bioethanol Chevrolet, 267, , , , , , 27, Running
11) 25, Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 267, 7, 7, , , , 34, Running
12) 21, Chris Buescher, No. 17 Fastenal Ford, 267, , , , , , 25, Running
13) 24, Ross Chastain, No. 42 Clover Chevrolet, 267, 8, 10, , , , 28, Running
14) 27, Bubba Wallace, No. 23 Door Dash Toyota, 267, , 9, , , , 25, Running
15) 16, Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Good Sam Chevrolet, 267, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 18, Michael McDowell, No. 34 Love's Travel Stops Ford, 266, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 3, Brad Keselowski (P), No. 2 Discount Tire Ford, 266, , , 1, 2, , 20, Running
18) 22, Cole Custer, No. 41 Feeding America/Wow Wow Ford, 266, , , , , , 19, Running
19) 19, Chase Briscoe #, No. 14 DEKALB Ford, 266, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 40, * Parker Kligerman(i), No. 96 Fast Checkout Toyota, 266, , , , , , 0, Running
21) 32, * Ryan Preece, No. 37 Louisiana Hot Sauce Chevrolet, 265, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 12, Tyler Reddick, No. 8 Cat Dealer Tech Chevrolet, 265, 10, 6, 1, 6, , 21, Running
23) 15, Matt DiBenedetto, No. 21 Menards/Monster Ford, 265, , , 2, 4, , 14, Running
24) 28, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Bush's Beans Chevrolet, 265, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 23, Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Circle B Diecast Chevrolet, 263, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 20, Aric Almirola, No. 10 Farmland/Hy-Vee Ford, 263, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 31, Ryan Newman, No. 6 Violet Defense Ford, 263, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 4, Kyle Busch (P), No. 18 M&M's Halloween Toyota, 261, 9, , , , , 11, Running
29) 17, Erik Jones, No. 43 Petty's Garage Chevrolet, 260, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 26, BJ McLeod(i), No. 78 NASCAR Ignition Ford, 259, , , , , , 0, Running
31) 36, Cody Ware(i), No. 51 Nurtec ODT Chevrolet, 258, , , , , , 0, Running
32) 39, Joey Gase(i), No. 53 Donor Network Chevrolet, 256, , , , , , 0, Running
33) 30, Josh Bilicki(i), No. 52 Tailgreeter Ford, 256, , , , , , 0, Running
34) 38, * David Starr(i), No. 13 Brown & Brown Dealer Services Ford, 255, , , , , , 0, Running
35) 35, Quin Houff, No. 00 CREEK/Chariton Chevrolet, 255, , , , , , 2, Running
36) 34, Ryan Ellis(i), No. 15 Arrowhead Brass Chevrolet, 254, , , , , , 0, Running
37) 2, Ryan Blaney (P), No. 12 Menards/Cardell Cabinetry Ford, 224, , , , , , 1, Accident
38) 29, Anthony Alfredo #, No. 38 Speedy Cash Ford, 171, , , , , , 1, Accident
39) 33, Justin Haley(i), No. 77 Circle B Diecast Chevrolet, 165, , , , , , 0, Engine
40) 37, * Chad Finchum(i), No. 66 Smithbilt Homes Toyota, 47, , , , , , 0, Handling
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie, (P) Playoffs

Time: 3 Hrs, 3 Mins, 49 Secs.
Distance: 267 Laps, 400.5 Miles
Average Speed: 130.728 MPH
Margin of Victory: 3.619 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 5, 24, 9, 1, 11, 4, 48, 42, 18, 8
Stage 2 Top 10: 24, 9, 5, 1, 4, 8, 48, 11, 23, 42

Comments: Kyle Larson won the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway, his 15th career NASCAR Cup Series victory.

Prior to the start, the following cars dropped to the rear of the field for the reasons indicated: No. 00 (Three Inspection Failures), No. 6 (Two Inspection Failures), No. 14 (Unapproved Adjustments).

Cautions: 7 for 33 laps;
Laps: 11-15 (Weather (Red Flag:15:46) [00]);
24-27 (No. 18 Incident in Turn 1 [78]);
82-86 (Stage 1 Conclusion [96]);
162-167 (Stage 2 Conclusion [20]);
174-178 (No. 38 Incident on the Frontstretch [42]);
219-222 (No. 6 Spin in Turn 2 [17]);
225-228 (No. 3 and 12 Incident in Turn 2 [34]).

Lead Changes: 23 among 8 drivers;
K. Larson (P) 1-14;
B. Keselowski (P) 15-16;
K. Larson (P) 17-24;
M. DiBenedetto 25-27;
K. Larson (P) 28;
M. DiBenedetto 29;
K. Larson (P) 30-32;
C. Elliott (P) 33-34;
W. Byron 35-36;
K. Larson (P) 37-87;
C. Elliott (P) 88-121;
W. Byron 122;
K. Busch 123;
J. Logano (P) 124-145;
W. Byron 146-163;
K. Larson (P) 164-167;
W. Byron 168-169;
K. Larson (P) 170-172;
T. Reddick 173-178;
K. Larson (P) 179-185;
W. Byron 186-219;
K. Busch 220-222;
C. Elliott (P) 223-228;
K. Larson (P) 229-267.

Unofficial Point Standings:
Pos, Driver, Car, Starts, GL, Points, Ldr, Nxt, Race Wins, Stage Wins, Playoff Pts
1) Kyle Larson (P), No. 5, 34, 0, 4181, 0, 0, 9, 17, 65
2) Chase Elliott (P), No. 9, 34, 3, 4107, -74, 74, 2, 4, 22
3) Denny Hamlin (P), No. 11, 34, 0, 4105, -76, 2, 2, 10, 30
4) Kyle Busch (P), No. 18, 34, 0, 4074, -107, 31, 2, 7, 23
5) Ryan Blaney (P), No. 12, 34, -3, 4073, -108, 1, 3, 4, 24
6) Martin Truex Jr. (P), No. 19, 34, 1, 4071, -110, 2, 4, 5, 29
7) Brad Keselowski (P), No. 2, 34, -1, 4068, -113, 3, 1, 2, 8
8) Joey Logano (P), No. 22, 34, 0, 4048, -133, 20, 1, 5, 13
9) Kevin Harvick, No. 4, 34, 0, 2293, -1888, 1755, 0, 0, 2
10) Kurt Busch, No. 1, 34, 1, 2243, -1938, 50, 1, 3, 8
11) William Byron, No. 24, 34, 2, 2233, -1948, 10, 1, 4, 14
12) Christopher Bell, No. 20, 34, -2, 2227, -1954, 6, 1, 0, 5
13) Tyler Reddick, No. 8, 34, -1, 2213, -1968, 14, 0, 3, 3
14) Alex Bowman, No. 48, 34, 1, 2169, -2012, 44, 3, 0, 15
15) Aric Almirola, No. 10, 34, -1, 2147, -2034, 22, 1, 0, 5
16) Michael McDowell, No. 34, 34, 0, 2128, -2053, 19, 1, 0, 5
17) Austin Dillon, No. 3, 34, 0, 885, -3296, 1243, 0, 0, 0
18) Chris Buescher, No. 17, 34, 1, 731, -3450, 154, 0, 2, 1
19) Matt DiBenedetto, No. 21, 34, -1, 727, -3454, 4, 0, 1, 0
20) Ross Chastain, No. 42, 34, 0, 696, -3485, 31, 0, 0, 0
21) Bubba Wallace, No. 23, 34, 0, 686, -3495, 10, 1, 2, 6
22) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47, 34, 0, 647, -3534, 39, 0, 0, 0
23) Chase Briscoe #, No. 14, 34, 0, 638, -3543, 9, 0, 0, 0
24) Daniel Suarez, No. 99, 34, 1, 609, -3572, 29, 0, 0, 0
25) Erik Jones, No. 43, 34, -1, 597, -3584, 12, 0, 0, 0

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Ron Fleshman with John Davison

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2021, Issue 10, Posted 7:48 PM, 10.24.2021