Cup: Hamlin, Larson Lead Early: Kansas Mid-Race Report

What’s Happening?

Two stages down, one to go in the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway. One of the most exciting circuits on the NASCAR schedule, it has been known for two things in recent years: being one of Kyle Larson’s better tracks and being a Toyota stomping ground. That was proven to be true after a strong showing from both parties during Saturday’s time trials. Early in the race, Denny Hamlin jumped out to assert his dominance, winning the opening stage and leading 75 of the 80 laps. Meanwhile, Larson finished runner-up in the opening stage and polesitter Tyler Reddick finished not that far behind. Though Hamlin was initially able to clear Hamlin on the restart to begin Stage 2, Kyle Larson battled back and managed to clear him on the backstretch. From there, he never looked back, going on to lead 73 of the stage’s 85 laps.

With 102 laps remaining, here’s where everything stacks up heading into the final stage.

Mid-Race Report

• The first stage belonged to outside polesitter Denny Hamlin, who led 75 of the opening 80 laps of Stage 1. Hamlin appeared to be the class of the field early on, taking the lead from the drop of the green flag over his 23XI driver, Tyler Reddick. Also, briefly leading laps during a cycle of green flag pit stops were Reddick (2 laps led) and Carson Hocevar (3 laps led).
• Earning points in the opening stage were: Denny Hamlin (10), Kyle Larson (9), Tyler Reddick (8), Ty Gibbs (7), Christopher Bell (6), Chase Elliott (5), Chase Briscoe (4), Carson Hocevar (3), and Bubba Wallace (2). Corey Heim rounded out the top 10 but is ineligible to collect points in the Cup Series due to being registered for the Craftsman Truck Series.
• The second stage saw the dominance shift. This time, pouncing on the restart was defending Cup Series champion Kyle Larson, who took the race lead on Lap 89 and never looked back. Hamlin faded down to the third position as he became wrapped up in a hot battle with fourth-place Chase Elliott. Hamlin recovered, though, and climbed back up to 2nd place. However, he still didn’t have quite the pace as Larson, who went on to lead 73 laps in the stage and earn his third stage win of 2026.
• The following drivers earned stage points in the second stage: Kyle Larson (10), Denny Hamlin (9), Tyler Reddick (8), Chase Elliott (7), Christopher Bell (6), Bubba Wallace (5), Brad Keselowski (4), Ty Gibbs (3), Chris Buescher (2), and Carson Hocevar (1).
• Both stages went green to their conclusion, and there are no incidents of note in the first half of this race. Due to the long green flag runs, only 19 cars were listed on the lead lap by the end of stage 2.

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