• Thursday, May 2nd, 2024
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

Red-hot Denny Hamlin leads confident Toyota contingent to Kansas

After calling his shot and winning last Sunday’s Wurth 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover Motor Speedway, Denny Hamlin couldn’t ask for a better place for an encore than Kansas Speedway.

Hamlin is the defending winner of the AdventHealth 400 (3 p.m. ET Sunday on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

In addition, Hamlin’s minions—namely drivers for the 23XI Racing team he co-owns with former NBA superstar Michael Jordan—have won three of the last four races at the 1.5-mile intermediate track, encompassing the two-year Next Gen era.

Kurt Busch won the spring race at Kansas in 2022 before an accident at Pocono sidelined him. Bubba Wallace followed with a victory in the fall race that season. And after Hamlin triumphed last year, Tyler Reddick secured the third Kansas win for 23XI in the September Playoff race.

All told, Toyota drivers have won seven of the last nine races at the Wyandotte County track, with Hamlin accounting for three of those victories and former Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch accounting for another.

“Kansas is where we show up with confidence,” Wallace acknowledged. “If everything goes right, we’ve got a really good shot at being in Victory Lane.

“Something clicks when we show up there. The speed’s there, the confidence is there, the crew is on it, and everything lines up there.”

After boldly predicting victory at Dover on his Monday podcast, Hamlin held off charging Kyle Larson to win at the Monster Mile. Though he’s not ready to call his shot at Kansas—despite his recent success there—Hamlin feels his No. 11 JGR team can win anywhere.

“Yeah, I mean, I expect to win every week,” said Hamlin, who is tied with Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron for most victories in the series this season with three. “There’s no reason I shouldn’t expect to win (at Kansas)… it’s been on the radar for a while.

“This little stretch right here right before the All-Star break, between Dover, Kansas, Darlington, I mean, these are all kind of right in my wheelhouse. Certainly feel pretty good about it.”

Larson is the only Chevrolet driver to take the checkered flag in the last nine races at Kansas, a feat he accomplished from the pole position during his championship season in 2021—the last before the transition to the Next Gen car in the Cup Series.

Ford drivers haven’t found Victory Lane at Kansas since Joey Logano triumphed in the fall of 2020, and the Blue Oval contingent is winless through 11 races this season.

With Jeff Gordon having won the first two races at Kansas Speedway in 2001 and 2002, Hendrick Motorsports has eight victories in 36 races at the track, a total equaled by Joe Gibbs Racing with Hamlin’s win last year.

That victory was Hamlin’s track-record fourth at Kansas.

Between them, Hendrick and Gibbs have won nine of the 11 races this season, with Hendrick holding a 5-4 edge. The only winners not from those two camps are Daniel Suarez at Atlanta and Reddick at Talladega.

• AdventHealth 400
• Busch Pole Award Pole Winner: Christopher Bell
• Age: 29
• Team : No 20 - Yahoo! Toyota
• Owner: Joe Gibbs
• Crew Chief: Adam Stevens
• Christopher Bell won the Pole Award for the AdventHealth 400 with a lap of 29491 seconds, 183107 mph
• This is his 11th pole in 156 NASCAR Cup Series races
• This is his first pole and sixth top-10 start in 2024
• This is his third pole in nine races at Kansas Speedway
• Ross Chastain (second) posted his third top-10 start of 2024 and his fourth in 11 races at Kansas Speedway
• Noah Gragson (third) posted his first top-10 start at Kansas Speedway It is his third in 12 races this season
• Josh Berry (17th) was the fastest qualifying rookie

• Drivers Entered: 38
• Laps Scheduled: 267
• Laps Actual: 268 - NASCAR OVERTIME!
• Margin of Victory: 0.001 Seconds
• Time of Race: 3 Hours 10 Minutes 42 Seconds
• Average Speed: 126.481
• Cautions: 7 for 43 laps
• Lead Changes: 27
• Green Flag Passes: 3,653 (16.2 passes per green flag lap)

• AdventHealth 400
• Race Winner: Kyle Larson
• Age: 31
• Team : No 5 - HendrickCarscom Chevrolet
• Owner: Rick Hendrick
• Crew Chief: Cliff Daniels
• Kyle Larson won the AdventHealth 400, his 25th victory in 343 Cup Series races
• The margin of victory was 001 seconds, the closest finish in NASCAR Cup Series history
• This is his second victory and sixth top-10 finish in 2024 This is his second victory and 11th top-10 finish in 19 races at Kansas Speedway
• Chris Buescher (second) posted his fourth top-10 finish in 17 races at Kansas Speedway It is his sixth top-10 finish in 2024
• Chase Elliott (third) posted his 11th top-10 finish in 17 races at Kansas Speedway
• Josh Berry (15th) was the highest finishing rookie
• Kyle Larson leads the point standings by 29 points over Martin Truex Jr