Larson ends 51-race winless streak, boosts NASCAR title hopes in Hendrick 1-2 finish at Gateway

MADISON, Ill. (AP) — Kyle Larson ended a 51-race winless streak Sunday, edging Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman in overtime of a crash-filled NASCAR Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway that shook up the playoff standings.

Larson, the defending series champion, took his No. 5 Chevrolet to Victory Lane for the first time since May 2025 at Kansas Speedway after defending the lead on three restarts in in the final two laps of regulation and seven laps of overtime.

The second race in NASCAR's new postseason Chase format gave significant boosts to the championship hopes for Larson and Joey Logano, a three-time Cup Series champion who finished third and added 19 stage points.

What was supposed to be a 240-lap race in suburban St. Louis featured a season-high and track-record 18 cautions. It was marked by dramatic brake failures and several spinouts without any contact between cars.

After several Chase contenders were involved in late crashes, the race was red-flagged with 11 laps to go, just after Larson swiped the lead from Logano, and again with two left in regulation.

Larson benefited from his crew's decision on lap 202 to put four tires on while Logano took two to maintain track position.

Hendrick's William Byron, who was last in the 16-driver Chase field, finished fourth and was followed by Ross Chastain.

Denny Hamlin, the defending race champion, placed ninth to maintain his points lead.

A series of final-stage crashes had significant Chase implications.

On Lap 141, Bubba Wallace dove under Chase Briscoe's No. 19 Toyota going into Turn 1, creating four-wide traffic on Gateway's tighter series of turns. Briscoe had no room to move up the track, and Wallace spun around after he was forced onto the curb. Briscoe also went sideways, and Byron slammed into Wallace's spinning No. 23 Toyota.

The three — each of them in the 16-driver Chase field — dropped into positions 29-31 on the restart, and the impacts could have reached even further. Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, and Ty Gibbs were also racing in the same pack, and Chase Elliott was able to squeeze under Wallace as he whirled around entering the backstretch.

On Lap 213, Elliott had an apparent brake issue and collected Briscoe as both crashed into the wall in Turn 1. Both were knocked out of the race.

Then, the contenders who escaped danger earlier got caught up in another collision on Lap 222. Wallace and Josh Berry made contact in Turn 1, and Tyler Reddick slammed into Berry as Christopher Bell got slammed into the wall.

On the ensuing restart, Chase contenders Ty Gibbs and Daniel Suarez sustained damage in a wreck on the backstretch that also involved AJ Allmendinger.

Blaney, who was third in the Chase entering the race, had a catastrophic brake failure at the finish line on Lap 155 while he was running in sixth place.

Blaney's brakes exploded on the frontstretch, and he rode his No. 12 Ford into the wall heading into Turn 1.

Blaney finished 35th but earned 14 points from ending each of the first two stages in fourth place.

“It’s a shame,” Blaney said. “I thought we did a great job today running up towards the front and doing really good in the stages and was looking forward to seeing how that last run played out.”

Chris Buescher, who was 11th in the standings, had his brakes fail on Lap 237.

Despite failing to qualify for the postseason, Keselowski found himself in the spotlight after indicating he’d seek out retribution against Chase contender Carson Hocevar, who spun him out in last week’s Southern 500.

The two played nice while running in second and third place in the final stage of the race, and Keselowski ended up in the lead when he decided not to pit with 38 laps to go before finishing 12th. Hocevar was eighth.

The third race of the Chase is Saturday night on the half-mile track in Bristol, Tennessee. Gibbs won the Bristol spring race in overtime, edging Blaney by 0.055 seconds. Blaney led a race-high 190 laps. Christopher Bell is the defending champion of the night race. ___

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