Christopher Bell came close but not quite close enough to catch a struggling Kyle Larson in the closing stages of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race at Kansas Speedway. But rather than be upset at finishing runner-up, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver was happy with his best Cup career finish ever at the quick 1.5-mile track in America’s heartland.
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Larson beat Bell to the finish line by 0.712 seconds. Ryan Blaney finished third, followed by Chase Briscoe and Alex Bowman. Larson led a race-high 221 laps in the 267-lap race. But his car started to struggle both with handling and speed in the final laps, allowing Bell to close the gap after Larson’s dominant performance.
Bell was surprised that Larson abandoned the top line in the final two laps. Unfortunately, he was not in a position to take full advantage of the situation. “I was struggling just as bad as he was, so I was just trying to get to the end,” Bell said about Larson to FOX Sports after the race.
Bell also had to fend off a late challenge from behind, leading him to feel content with the result. He said, “I know Ryan (Blaney) was coming on real strong there.
“So, overall, to get home second with a lot of stage points was something we needed after the last couple of weeks… To walk out of here second, I’m happy with and hopefully we can be a little bit stronger when we come back.”
Meanwhile, race winner Kyle Larson would have had his heart in his mouth after struggling toward the end. After taking pole and the first two stages, not getting the win would have hurt. “I was trying really hard to pace myself,” Larson told FOX Sports.
“Chase (Briscoe) was really good, so I felt I needed to be better on my end and I don’t know if I was paying off or not at the end. I was still struggling. I don’t know if the right front was wearing a lot or what, but I was starting to lose a lot of grip and was vibrating really bad, so I was afraid if the right rear was going to let go or what,” he added.
In the end, Larson thanked his team. “Great car, great execution for our team… Glad to not win by an inch right here this time, but a little bit safer gap,” he said, referring to his photo-finish victory over Chris Buescher at the same track last year.
Indy 500 up next for Kyle Larson
Larson’s schedule now gets hectic as he prepares for next weekend’s qualifying for the Indianapolis 500, as well as the NASCAR All-Star Race. And then, of course, two weeks from now is “The Double”, where Larson is hoping to become only the second driver ever to complete all 1,100 miles of the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day.
“It’s got to help a little bit,” Larson said of the momentum he has from Sunday’s win. “But it’s so different at Indy and the cars are different. We’re flying in there tonight and celebrate… It’s a cool win here at Kansas and we’ll now try to execute two good weeks at Indy.”
Kansas was a battle won but the “The Double” could be legacy defining for Kyle Larson.
