Kyle Larson turned Kansas Speedway into the first maximum-points performance of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, and the scale of his domination left Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell openly talking about how many wins they’d need to keep their championship hopes alive.
He led a track-record 235 of 267 laps, won both stages, and recorded the fastest lap before reclaiming the lead from Chase Briscoe with seven laps remaining.
Denny Hamlin Scores 51 Points and Still Loses 25 to Larson
Hamlin finished third, scored 17 combined stage points and collected 51 points from Kansas. On almost any normal weekend, that qualifies as an excellent championship result. Larson still outscored him by 25.
Kyle Larson WINS at Kansas! pic.twitter.com/mLP7skXYGW
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) September 27, 2026
Hamlin entered the weekend only one point behind the No. 5 Chevrolet, so that difference expanded to a 26-point deficit despite his third-place finish.
“Winning. That’s the only difference,” Hamlin said when pit road reporters asked what separated his strong day from an exceptional one. “We got to win a few races between now and the end of the year.”
Hamlin also called his short-run a problem. His Toyota acquired strength during longer runs, but Larson and Austin Cindric created too much separation early for Hamlin to recover the track position he needed before pit cycles interrupted his progress.
Christopher Bell Thinks Three Wins May Now Be Necessary
Christopher Bell felt the championship equation change after his sixth-place finish at Kansas moved him into third in the standings but increased his deficit from 17 to 50 points.
“After Darlington, I was thinking that two more wins would do it,” Bell said after the race. “Now with Larson winning, if I’m going to be the champion, I think we’re going to have to win three of the next, whatever it is, six.”
A winner receives 20 more finishing points than a runner-up before NASCAR adds stage points and the fastest-lap bonus. Three wins with Larson finishing second would create a 60-point swing on finishing position alone, enough to erase Bell’s current 50-point deficit under that specific scenario.
Different stage results, fastest laps and finishing positions could completely change that calculation. Bell also delivered an even harsher assessment of his current performance.
“We’re just not good enough, period,” he said.
Chase Briscoe’s Best Opportunity Disappears in Seven Laps
Chase Briscoe came closest to breaking Larson’s control of the race.
After the final green-flag pit cycle, Briscoe chased Larson down and passed him with 30 laps remaining. The ease of the move convinced Briscoe that he could drive away, but his No. 19 Toyota quickly developed a loose condition.
Briscoe then pushed the high lane in what he called “desperation mode,” repeatedly contacted the wall and lost second place to Cindric and third to Hamlin before finishing fourth.
Crew chief James Small could not identify one definitive cause for the sudden decline and said the car “fell apart like a $2 watch” during the closing laps. Small still praised his pit crew, which recorded the two-fastest four-tire stops in Cup Series history, according to Racing Insights.
The result moved Briscoe to eighth in the Chase, but Larson’s massive haul stretched the gap between them to 123 points.
What Else Happened at Kansas?
- Joey Logano entered Kansas third in the championship and started from the pole after rain prevented NASCAR from holding qualifying. The Team Penske driver spent much of the afternoon inside the top 10 and collected stage points while his team worked through balance issues.
- A late-race tire problem dropped Logano from 12th to 20th and pushed him to fourth in the championship, 67 points behind Larson. “We worked hard to keep ourselves in the mix, so it was frustrating to have the tire issue at the end,” Logano said in Ford’s post-race report.
- Bubba Wallace faced a completely different problem when a multi-car crash happened on the Lap 123 restart. Carson Hocevar moved toward the middle as Ty Gibbs attempted to advance, triggering contact that also swept Wallace, Josh Berry, Zane Smith, and Erik Jones into the incident.
- Wallace kept his No. 23 Toyota on the lead lap and kept racing while several competitors faced heavier consequences.
- He eventually recovered to ninth, giving 23XI Racing a top-10 finish from a day that could easily have produced a major points loss. Hocevar suffered far greater damage and finished 33rd.
- The finish left Wallace tied with Austin Cindric at 140 points behind Larson.
- Reddick fell from 15th to 34th during the opening run as his Toyota struggled with balance, but 23XI gradually improved the car and helped him climb as high as fifth.
- Reddick then contacted the wall before a poor green-flag pit stop cost him additional track position. He finished 11th and left Kansas seventh in the championship, 111 points behind Larson.
- Las Vegas is the next test, and the track offers an interesting opportunity for Hamlin to respond. He has won the last two Cup races there, including this season’s spring event, while Larson owns three career Las Vegas victories. Bell also carries consecutive top-five finishes at the track.