Kyle Larson’s 51-race wait for another NASCAR Cup Series victory is over, and the timing could hardly be more important.
Larson won Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway after a chaotic race that went into double overtime, ending his winless run that stretched back to Kansas in May 2025.
The victory also gave his championship campaign a major boost. Larson entered Gateway seventh in the Chase standings but left second, just nine points behind Denny Hamlin, with eight races remaining.
That makes the No. 5 Chevrolet one of the biggest stories coming out of the second race of the Chase.
Larson survives a chaotic finish
Gateway produced a race where staying out of trouble was almost as important as having a fast car.
The race featured 18 cautions and two red flags, with 87 laps run under caution. Five Chase drivers failed to finish, including Ryan Blaney, Daniel Suárez, Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott and Chase Briscoe.
Larson managed to avoid the major incidents and put himself in position for the win as the race entered its closing stages.
His team made an important call on the final scheduled pit stop, taking four fresh tires on Lap 201 while Joey Logano’s team opted for only right-side tires. As the race continued through a series of late restarts, Larson’s fresher tires gave him an advantage.
He moved into the lead on Lap 227 and then had to hold on through two overtime attempts.
Larson eventually crossed the finish line ahead of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman by 0.333 seconds, with Logano completing the top three. He led 80 laps and earned the 33rd Cup Series victory of his career.
The championship picture has changed
The win matters even more because of where Larson now sits in the standings.
Before Gateway, he was seventh and already facing a sizeable gap to the championship lead. One race later, he is second and only nine points behind Hamlin.
Hamlin finished ninth after a slow pit stop dropped him down the field late in the race. He recovered during the series of cautions, but Larson still closed almost the entire gap.
Christopher Bell now sits third, 18 points behind Hamlin, while Blaney and Tyler Reddick are 33 and 42 points back respectively.
There is still a long way to go, but Larson has put himself in a very different position after just two Chase races.
The win also gave the No. 5 team a much-needed confidence boost after a long stretch without a victory.
“We got our swagger back,” Larson said after the race.
That may be one of the most telling comments from the weekend. The win ended the drought, but the bigger story could be what it does for Larson’s confidence with the championship now within reach.
The Chase moves on to Bristol next, with Larson carrying the momentum of a victory that has suddenly put him right back in the middle of the title fight.