After going winless for 51 NASCAR Cup Series races, Kyle Larson has now won for the second time in the last three. And in Sunday's Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway, he put on one of his vintage clinics by leading 235 of 267 laps and sweeping both stages.
Larson had to outlast Chase Briscoe in a late duel, but he took the lead for good with seven laps to go and held off a hard-charging Austin Cindric. In the process, the Hendrick Motorsports star extended his championship points advantage to 26 over Denny Hamlin, doing so in a race that favored the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas on paper.
In the words of Billy Madison: "Now you're all in big, big trouble."
Kyle Larson is officially in the championship driver's seat as Toyota's intermediate advantage seems to have disappeared
We knew Larson could contend at "driver's tracks" like Darlington Raceway, World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, and Bristol Motor Speedway. But Hendrick, and the whole rest of the field, for that matter, has had nothing for Toyota on high-speed intermediates all year.
This three-week stretch of 1.5-mile ovals at Kansas, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and Charlotte Motor Speedway is where Hamlin and Christopher Bell had the opportunity to gap the field and settle the title among themselves. Instead, the 2021 version of Larson showed up, the one who could control a race virtually uncontested from start to finish on his best days.
When Larson is on, there's nobody else in the sport who can do what he can do. For most of the season, he hasn't had enough car to be at his best. But supposedly a small adjustment NASCAR made to the splitters has helped level the playing field, which coincides with when Hendrick and especially Team Penske have made up some ground to Toyota.
NASCAR added some splitter struts in what has been frequently described as leveling an advantage found by Toyota teams.
— Matt Weaver (@MattWeaverRA) August 25, 2026
There isn't enough sample size yet but there's a lot of mixed opinions on it from drivers and crew chiefs.https://t.co/9AaXG1RHPC
And just like that, Larson is doing Larson things again. The next two weeks suddenly go from advantage Hamlin to advantage No. 5 team, as the two-time champ will have a great opportunity to go three-in-a-row if his car drives anything like it did at Kansas.
Larson might not just win the title; he might win it going away. And if the race is even close entering November, the season finale is at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where he might just be better than any driver is at any track on the schedule, save for Shane van Gisbergen on road courses.
The field had its chance to keep Larson mortal. They had him squeezing every ounce out of a second-tier race team while he could, which was supposed to fall apart over these next few weeks. Now, he's pulling away.
Larson and the No. 5 team are all the way back. If they don't beat themselves over the next six weeks, it might be over for everybody else.
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