Larson ends 51-race winless streak,
boosts NASCAR title hopes in Hendrick 1-2 finish at Gateway
[September 14, 2026]
BY JEFF LATZKE
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 the final two laps of
regulation and seven laps of overtime.
The track formerly known as Gateway was the only regular stop on the
series where Hendrick hadn’t won.
“It takes a lot more than just having the fastest car to win a Cup
Series race,” said Larson, acknowledging Joey Logano had the best
car. “You still have to execute a day from start to finish with good
pit stops, good restarts, good strategy, and we had that today.”
The second race in NASCAR's new postseason Chase format gave
significant boosts to the championship hopes for Larson and Logano,
a three-time Cup Series champion who finished third and added 19
stage points.
“When you have an opportunity like that and you have a car like
that, you need to win,” said Logano, who won the pole and led a
race-high 96 laps, 16 more than Larson.
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. Larson racked up 73 points in the race to jump from
seventh to second in the Chase standings, nine behind Hamlin.
Christopher Bell, the winner of last week’s Southern 500, is another
nine points back in third place after two of 10 postseason races.
“I think we are so fortunate,” Hamlin said. “We were strong last
week, and this week we were not strong, and still, we maintained the
lead.”
Crashes impact Chase competitors
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.
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Kyle Larson pits during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race Sunday, Sept.
13, 2026, in Madison, Ill. (AP Photo/Connor Hamilton)
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.
“I stepped on the brakes and, yeah, exploded a rotor, and that was
that was about it, so I was kind of hanging on,” Elliott said
“Really unfortunate. Thought we were yeah having a really solid day,
honestly. I was kind of right there around the top five.”
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 bumped
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's brakes break
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.
No revenge for Keselowski
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.
Up next
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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