Kyle Larson led the field to green Sunday to start the AdventHealth 400 with Chris Buescher alongside him on the front row.
It would only take seven laps for a caution to come out for the expiring engine of A.J. Almendinger, which set up a split strategy as Alex Bowman, Ryan Preece, Kyle Busch, and others all took to the pit lane while the cars at the front of the field stayed on the race track.
Larson snatched the top spot again and held it through the next stint until pit stops started on lap 36. During this round of stops, Bubba Wallace’s pit crew earned their driver a pass-through penalty for interfering with equipment in Josh Berry’s pit stall.
Jesse Love would drive through too many boxes, and Ricky Stenhouse would get nabbed for having pit crew members over the wall too soon.
After the green flag stops, Larson retook the lead as Ty Dillon and Riley Herbst, being the last two on the alternate strategy, tried to stretch their fuel cells to the end of the first stage.
William Byron would cut a tire running second on lap 66. Though he dragged his 24 car to pit road, the race stayed green to the end of the stage where Larson took the victory handily over teammate Chase Elliott and Christopher Bell.
Stage 1 Results:
- Kyle Larson
- Chase Elliott
- Christopher Bell
- Ryan Blaney
- Austin Cindric
- Alex Bowman
- Denny Hamlim
- Ryan Preece
- Joey Logano
- Zane Smith
Stage 2
Pit stops during the stage break saw no major shake-ups in the top-10. Hendrick teammates Larson and Elliott led the field to green to start stage 2, and as things shook out, some contenders experienced big moments in the field as Cindric dropped outside the top-10 after sacrificing his momentum to avoid hitting the wall.
Not only that, major contact between Shane van Gisbergen and Todd Gilliand nearly ended in an accident, but thankfully, the two were able to continue.
Green-flag pit stops kicked off on lap 124. During this cycle, Team Penske suffered issues with Cindric’s crew losing control of a tire and Blaney’s crew producing a 14.5-second stop due to issues with the tire changes.
The biggest loser of the pit cycle ultimately ended up being Denny Hamlin. Kansas Speedway’s all-time wins leader lost five spots as a result of multiple issues, including a faulty clutch that caused a brief stall.
After pit stops, Larson held serve at the point with a three-second advantage ahead of Elliott. Elliott made a late charge as Larson got mired in lapped traffic; however, Larson managed to hold on to sweep the first two stages for the 14th time in his career, the most in Cup Series history.
Stage 2 Results:
- Kyle Larson
- Chase Elliott
- Ryan Blaney
- Josh Berry
- Christopher Bell
- Brad Keselowski
- Alex Bowman
- Denny Hamlin
- Zane Smith
- Ryan Preece
Final Stage
Pit stops took place under the stage break, and troubles found Josh Berry and his 21 team as the second-year racer got clocked for speeding.
The story at the front looked to change as Elliott’s Amazon Prime pit crew delivered a great stop that put him ahead of the dominant Larson.
As such, the 2020 Cup champion took the preferred lane on the ensuing restart. Elliott leapt ahead on the restart as Larson faced competitive traffic and dirty air for the first time.
Brad Keselowski made the move to take second place from Larson. This endeavor did not bear fruit as Keselowski blew a tire while running second to bring out the race’s fourth caution on lap 195.
Leader Elliott suffered from issues with the left-side tires during this round of stops, but Denny Hamlin’s finally gave in and took the transmission with it, effectively ending his day.
Bell controlled the ensuing restart, but not for long as defending series champion Joey Logano made the dive low from the second row to try to take the lead over Larson before another caution flew for a wreck involving Cody Ware, Daniel Suárez, and Ty Dillon.
Upon review, Larson kept the lead over Logano as Bubba Wallace collected the free pass. The next restart also lasted less than a lap as four-wide doesn’t work, and Kyle Busch saw his No. 8 Rebel Bourbon Camaro sent spinning onto the apron without warning.
The next restart would be a rinse and repeat of the last as Corey Heim would get into Justin Haley just barely, collecting Bubba Wallace, Erik Jones, and others.
The next restart with 50 to go was a bit more orderly with only one incident between Tyler Reddick and Todd Gilliand heading into the first turn.
Larson pulled away as Bell and Bowman duked it out for the runner-up position. Things strung out a bit as with 32 laps to go. Larson legged out his advantage on Bell to over 1.5 seconds.
Some late chargers included Chase Elliott recovering from his pit-road miscues and Josh Berry driving his way into the the top-10 in the closing laps after his speeding penalty.
Blaney moved into third over Bowman with eight laps to go, setting a torrid pace to catch the top-2 though he was nearly five seconds behind Larson.
Briscoe followed the 12 through to take fourth after Bowman made contact with the wall on the exit of turn 4. Hocevar cut a tire and got into the wall with just three laps to go, threatening a caution and a trip to overtime.
However, Hocevar gingerly limped to pit road without a caution. Larson took the white flag and brought home the checkered despite his right-front tire peeling apart over the last three miles.
Kyle Larson and the 5 team exhibited dominance on a day where he truly did not have the fastest car, but he and the crew refused to make a mistake all day while others withered in their wake.
The victory represents Larson’s third victory of 2025, vaulting him up to the points lead as William Byron toiled around in the mid-20s after his tire woes.
Top-10 Finishers:
- Kyle Larson
- Christopher Bell
- Ryan Blaney
- Chase Briscoe
- Alex Bowman
- Josh Berry
- Ryan Preece
- Christopher Buescher
- Joey Logano
- John Hunter Nemecheck
For full race results, click here.
(Top Photo Credit: @NASCAR on Twitter/X)
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