No driver had won five of the first nine races of a season in the NASCAR Cup Series since Dale Earnhardt in 1987, and only three had done it in the entire history of the category. Tyler Reddick is now the fourth after winning the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway, the 13th victory of his career and his second at that oval, on an afternoon when Denny Hamlin led 131 laps, Kyle Larson 78, and Christopher Bell 47. Reddick led 11.

The race was not Reddick's at any moment until it was his. He spent much of the afternoon managing a car that was not the fastest in the front group but had enough to stay there, recorded 22 fast laps, and when the engine started to fail due to fuel, he had to change the pump in the final laps.

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Hamlin took the lead from Reddick on lap 265 and one lap later, with only one scheduled lap remaining, Cody Ware lost control and ended up sideways on the track, forcing the third yellow flag of the afternoon. The 16 cars on the lead lap pitted, and most of the front group, including Hamlin, Reddick, Larson, Bell, and Bubba Wallace, took two right-side tires.

On the restart, Larson went to the front on the inside before completing the first lap. Reddick made contact with Bell exiting the pits, Bell ended up in the outside wall, and the number 45 fell back. What Reddick found was the high lane with no traffic, built a speed advantage over Larson, whose car tightened up entering the final corners, and crossed the line 0.118 seconds ahead of the defending champion. Bell lost control on the white-flag lap and finished 20th.

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Hamlin and Larson with the car but without the result

Hamlin won the first stage, led more laps than anyone, and was fastest in 36 of them, but finished fourth. In the press conference, he acknowledged that he made the same mistake that had been made against him in the past by staying on the inside lane during the restart without being able to defend. "I've got to learn from those mistakes I make, I didn't execute those last laps," he said.

For Larson, the afternoon was similar: he won the second stage, led 78 laps, and had the most competitive car in the group until the tires hardened in overtime. With two fresh right-side tires, he couldn't get enough rotation in the final corners, and Reddick passed him without him being able to respond. His winless streak in Cup reached 33 races.

Chase Briscoe finished third on four new tires, Bubba Wallace was fifth, and Brad Keselowski, William Byron, Chase Elliott, Ty Gibbs, and Chris Buescher completed the top ten.

The championship

With 457 points and five wins in nine races, Reddick leads Hamlin by 105 units, with Hamlin second at 352. Ryan Blaney is third with 337, and Ty Gibbs fourth with 319 after his victory at Bristol the previous week. Larson, who has not won since Kansas in May 2025, moved up one position to fifth with 314 points, one place ahead of Chase Elliott, who has 305 and one win. The series races next Sunday at Talladega in the Jack Link's 500.

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