KANSAS CITY, MO. – NASCAR’s top stars battled over 267 laps on the 1.5-mile asphalt speedway in Kansas City in the 12th race of the 2023 Cup Series season.
After a daring last-lap pass, it was Denny Hamlin atop the podium, to score his 49th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his first of the season and his fourth at Kansas. His margin over second-place Kyle Larson was 1.307 seconds.
Hamlin was the ninth different winner in the 12 NASCAR Cup Series races run this season.
There were 11 caution periods for a total of 57 laps. Twenty-two of the 36 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
Ross Chastain remains the championship leader after Kansas with a 31-point advantage over second-place Christopher Bell.
Stage 1 Winner: Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Joey Logano of Team Penske (Ford)
SHR Race Finish:
- Kevin Harvick (Started 13th, Finished 11th / Running, completed 267 of 267 laps)
- Aric Almirola (Started 18th, Finished 13th / Running, completed 267 of 267 laps)
- Ryan Preece (Started 28th, Finished 27th / Running, completed 266 of 267 laps)
- Chase Briscoe (Started 31st, Finished 32nd / Running, completed 260 of 267 laps)
SHR Points:
- Kevin Harvick (5th with 358 points, 46 out of first)
- Chase Briscoe (17th with 255 points, 149 out of first)
- Aric Almirola (25th with 205 points, 199 out of first)
- Ryan Preece (28th with 179 points, 225 out of first)
Kevin Harvick is the only driver who has competed in every NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas, a run of 35 races dating back to the inaugural race on Sept. 30, 2001.
“We had an OK day,” said Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang. “We got up there and I thought we were going to run top-10, and then out of nowhere, spun off of turn two. Our cars are really knife-edge right now. We’re having a lot of trouble getting our cars balanced where we need them to be. There is such a small window to get the balance where we need it to be, that it just makes it really difficult to race. We can be really tight, we can be really loose, but we can’t get it in the window where we need it to be – consistent. So, we’ll just keep working.”
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Goodyear 400 on Sunday, May 14 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. The race begins at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
