Kansas Speedway didn’t always produce the most exciting stock car racing the world has ever seen, but with an aging surface, hot weather, and a new generation of NASCAR Cup car all concocted on Sunday, the AdventHealth 400 put on what may end up being one of the most memorable shows of the season.
Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson battled for the lead in the last 30 laps. They had the two best cars in the field on the final stint, and Larson took the white flag as the leader after both he and his friend in the No. 11 Toyota navigated lapped traffic in the closing laps.
Hamlin got to Larson’s bumper, and the ensuing contact led to Larson’s No. 5 bouncing off the backstretch wall. He kept his Hendrick Motorsports Chevy from spinning, but Hamlin took the lead into Turn 3 and earned his first win since the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway last May.
Larson finished second, followed by his teammate William Byron who was two laps down at one point. Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain rounded out the top five.
Sunday’s Cup event had the most ever changes for the lead on a 1.5-mile track in a 400-mile race in NASCAR history. Quite the statistic considering intermediate-sized tracks like Kansas make up a majority of the schedule. Among active tracks, NASCAR’s 1.5-milers include Las Vegas, Charlotte, Homestead, and Texas. There are several not on the schedule anymore, such as Chicagoland and Kentucky, and one track (Atlanta) whose transformation from traditional intermediate track to superspeedway-type track doesn’t make it the typical 1.5-mile circuit anymore.
Regardless, NASCAR used to visit many of these venues twice a year and to have a race in which the record for lead changes is broken is a testament to the current vehicle as well as the hot, worn surface Kansas now has.
In recent months, Hamlin has been vocal about drivers racing respectfully at the Cup level. He’s been critical of Ross Chastain’s antics, which were displayed again, but the contact between himself and Larson on the final lap seems good and fair.
“It’s the new NASCAR – it’s what everyone cheers about when someone else does it,” Hamlin said. “I was just trying to side-draft him there and miscalculated. It was great for us to get back into position to get close to him and get him loose through (Turns) 1 and 2.”
Larson said he was loose on the final run and knew Hamlin would be aggressive to end his winless streak.
“I haven’t seen a replay. Obviously, he was side-drafting me really aggressively like he would,” Larson said to Fox Sports. “He was touching me, it felt like, and it just had me kind of out of control.”
Then his happened between Noah Gragson and Ross Chastain:
https://twitter.com/NASCARONFOX/status/1655347062316081153
If Larson felt any disappointment after finishing second despite leading on the final lap, it fizzled quickly. He caught sight of Gragson — bowl-cut hairdo and all waving violently, yet humorously, through the air — and Chastain brawling and being separated by security on pit road after the race. It wasn’t the first time Gragson has been in the middle of chaos after a race — he had similar incidents in the Xfinity Series with Harrison Burton and Daniel Hemric during his tenure at JR Motorsports.
Chastain rode Gragson up the track — albeit probably unintentionally — and into the wall on the exit of Turn 4 in the middle of the race, and it cost both drivers track position at the time. Chastain rebounded to finish fifth, but Gragson ended up five laps behind in 29th.
“I’m just over it,” Gragson said, alluding to the on-track incident at Kansas and another at Talladega several weeks ago. “Nobody has the balls to at least confront him, at least just grab him and do something, so he’s just going to keep doing it.
“Nobody confronts the guy, he just keeps doing it, and I’m just sick and tired of it.”
Gragson seems to be taking a stand for what several Cup drivers feel toward Chastain. Hamlin has been involved with Chastain numerous times over the last 12 months. Last week, Brennan Poole and Rick Ware Racing were given an early day after the No. 1 driver nudged him into a corner at Dover. Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch, and Alex Bowman have also been displeased with Chastain this season.
“That’s between Noah and I,” Chastain responded when asked what was said before the fists started flailing. He wasn’t interested in sharing details about the discussion.
Sunday had 37 lead changes among 12 drivers. It was the first time in Kansas’ history that a last-lap pass was made for the win. And there was a fight that included the Chastain, who has become one of NASCAR’s most talked about drivers over the last year.
As entertaining as the race was, the fight will indeed be covered in headlines over the next few days. After Hamlin’s winner’s press conference, Fox Sports’ reporter Bob Pockrass showed the driver a replay of the fight:
Showing Kansas winner Denny Hamlin the Ross Chastain – Noah Gragson fight. pic.twitter.com/pECPYB3Gml
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) May 7, 2023
Hamlin watched in silence, and then said, “(Chastain) told him to stop,” with a laugh.
