After finishing in the top five in each of the first five races of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series postseason, Kyle Larson was due for a less-than-stellar result.
He got exactly that on Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway: sixth.
And he still managed to extend his points lead.
Kyle Larson wins even when he loses
Larson entered the afternoon with a 40-point lead over Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin in the point standings. Hamlin, who won the regular season championship by 89 points over Team Penske's Ryan Blaney, has seen his place in the standings worsen after each of the six postseason races so far, even though he is still second behind Larson.
Although Hamlin finished one spot ahead of Larson in fifth in Sunday's 267-lap Bank of America 400 around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Concord, North Carolina oval, he fell to 49 points behind the driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet in the standings.
Larson won stage one and finished fourth in stage two, netting him 17 stage points, while Hamlin's third place finish (and eight stage points) in stage two came after he was unable to rally from the back in stage one.
Why did he need to rally? Because a pit crew member fell over the wall, and Hamlin had to drop to the rear. It's simply not postseason NASCAR Cup Series racing without some sort of miscues within the No. 11 group, and that's been the case now for the past two decades.
Additionally, despite Hamlin finishing one spot ahead of Larson, Larson and Hamlin scored the same number of points for their race result, since Larson got a bonus point for running the race's fastest lap.
So even with his worst finish of the postseason, Larson's lead over Hamlin grew to 49. Over the past four races, it has turned from a nine-point deficit into a one-point lead, from a one-point lead into a 26-point lead, from a 26-point lead into a 40-point lead, and now from a 40-point lead into a 49-point lead.
Where Larson did lose ground on Sunday was further behind Hamlin in the standings. Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Chase Briscoe and Christopher Bell finished 1-2 in a photo finish after scoring 13 and 18 stage points, respectively. With his second consecutive victory, Briscoe outscored Larson by 19 points, while Bell outscored him by four.
Bell is third in the point standings, 51 points out of the lead, while Briscoe is 65 behind. The fact that Briscoe held off Bell at the finish line could prove crucial, as Bell would have been just 31 points behind, while Briscoe would have faced a much less manageable 85-point deficit.
Still, everybody is chasing Larson, and the fact that he can look back on Charlotte as a "good points day" and have it actually mean something is something that drivers who make a habit of allegedly racking up "good points days" cannot often do.
Four races remain on the 2026 playoff schedule, including this coming Sunday's Freeway Insurance 500 at Phoenix Raceway. Live coverage is set to be provided by USA Network from the Avondale, Arizona oval, which is no longer the host of the championship finale like it was each year from 2020 to 2025, beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, October 18.
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