Kyle Larson Ends Winless Streak in NASCAR Chase Race #2

World Wide Technology Raceway, Madison, IL — September 13, 2026

“The Chase” NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race #2 runs this afternoon just across the Mighty Mississippi from the shadow of the St. Louis Arch. The fans are ready for all the drama and excitement of stock car racing in the heartland. World Wide Technology Raceway (WWTR) officials announced this morning that today’s Enjoy Illinois 300 NASCAR Cup Series race is sold out, marking the event’s fifth consecutive sellout since its 2022 debut.

The Chase has fans focused on the 16 drivers that make up NASCAR’s Postseason. Darlington proved to be a bit of a wild card, shuffling the standings.

• 12 of the 16 positions changed in the Chase standings, with Christopher Bell and Bubba Wallace gaining the most (+4) and William Byron losing the most (-3)
• The top 4 in the Chase standings are separated by 24 points , less than the top 2 were separated after the reset
• 11 Chase drivers scored stage points, with seven scoring stage points in both stages
• Nine Chase drivers finished in the top-10, including a sweep of the top-six
• 15 of the 16 Chase drivers finished on the lead lap, with William Byron’s DNF the lone exception
• 10 Chase drivers were involved in a total of 12 incidents at Darlington
• Josh Berry (seventh) was the best finishing non-Chase driver at Darlington
• Five of the top six in the Chase standings are Toyota drivers, including all four Joe Gibbs Racing entries, with Ryan Blaney in third breaking them up

The biggest Chase movers at Darlington were:

• Christopher Bell +4 (6th to 2nd)
• Bubba Wallace +4 (14th to 10th)
• William Byron -3 (13th to 16th)
• Ty Gibbs -2 (4th to 6th)
• Daniel Suárez -2 (11th to 13th)

Today’s Race

Joey Logano starts on the pole for today’s race. Logano has the best average finish of all drivers at WWTR, having never finished worse than 5th since winning the inaugural Cup race at the track in 2022. Kyle Larson starts next to Logano on the front row.

A total of 240 laps make up the 300 miles with Stages set for 45/95/100 laps. The race winner took the lead with two laps to go in two of the four races at St Louis. Two of the four St. Louis races ended in overtime.

Stage One

Joey Logano(22) jumped out front at the drop of the green flag as the field went 2, 3, and 4 wide behind. Tyler Reddick(45) got loose in the opening laps and bounced off the outside wall. Just a few laps later, Reddick’s teammate, Riley Herbst(35), spun off Turn 4 and hit the inside wall, bringing out the day’s first caution.

The yellow flag allowed Reddick to come in and have his crew check the alignment on the right side of his car where it impacted the wall. They also changed the right side tires. Herbst also came to pit road to have his car inspected and he went a lap down to the field.

On the restart Logano again pulled away with Kyle Larson(5), Christopher Bell(20), Ryan Blaney(12), and Carson Hocevar(77) in tow. Blaney took the second row three wide, making the pass on the bottom of the track, to move in behind his Team Penske teammate for second place.

On Lap 15, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.(47) spun unassisted and the caution displayed again.

No sooner had the race gone back under the green flag than cars began spinning at the rear of the field. Michael McDowell(71) got forced into the wall, Shane van Gisbergen(97)(SVG) and Noah Gragson(4) spun around as a result of the melee. There has not been a continuous green flag run long enough for drivers to truly evaluate their cars.

Logano’s Ford Mustang Dark Horse seems to love the clean air as he is able to step away easily at the front of the pack.

On lap 28, SVG goes three wide in turn two and he spins around. Fortunately, those drivers running at the back of the pack were able to avoid the incident. On this caution several drivers took the opportunity to come to pit road for adjustments, tires, and fuel.

On the restart, Logano is able to hang onto the lead. However, Bell and Kyle Larson(5) take Blaney three-wide and drop the #12 car to the fourth spot. Bell is the first car so far that has been able to close on Logano and race with the leader.

Logano is able to hold off Bell for the Stage win and the maximum number of Stage points.

Results of Stage One

Position	Car	Driver	Behind	Points
1	22	Joey Logano (C)	—	10
2	20	Christopher Bell (C)	0.244	9
3	5	Kyle Larson (C)	1.501	8
4	12	Ryan Blaney (C)	1.829	7
5	9	Chase Elliott (C)	3.250	6
6	77	Carson Hocevar (C)	4.852	5
7	19	Chase Briscoe (C)	6.034	4
8	48	Alex Bowman	6.235	3
9	54	Ty Gibbs (C)	6.404	2
10	6	Brad Keselowski	6.780	1

Stage Two

Christopher Bell took only two tires on his pit stop and won the race off pit road. The cars that pitted early in the Stage lead the field back to the restart.

Brad Keselowski(6) led. Followed by John Hunter Nemechek(42), Daniel Suarez(7), William Byron(24), and Denny Hamlin(11).

Three and four wide racing on restarts can be blamed for the number of incidents that have slowed the field so far. This time the racing was no different and on lap 56, Ty Gibbs(54) tapped the left rear of Erik Jones(43) and sent the Byron, Michigan native driver around and the cautions began to fly again.

On the following restart, Keselowski and Nemechek are able to make a slight breakaway. But again, at the back of the pack, Herbst and AJ Allmendinger(16) get together. This caution brings almost the whole field to pit road but its a complete scramble between cars taking two tires and four ne Goodyears. The fuel window to the end of the Stage is open so a lot of teams are gambling on tire wear.

New names are at the front of the pack as Ross Chastain(1) leads the field back to green with Erik Jones beside him on the front row. Ryan Preece(60), Hamlin, and Keselowski in the top five.

Kyle Larson was the driver on the move as he worked his way to the from and passed Chastain for the top spot. Joey Logano recovered for off-cycle pit stops and returned to the top five just ahead of Jones.

After a difficult start, things have finally settled down and drivers are logging laps. Larson built a 2.5-second lead over Chastain. Keselowski, and Logano are putting pressure on the Trackhouse Racing driver. Three more Fords, Blaney, Preece, and Josh Berry(21) are keeping the Blue Oval solidly in the race.

As laps wound down to the end of the Stage, Chastain pitted with 10 laps to go. His crew had trouble removing the tear-off on the windshield. As Chastain was exiting the pits, the material on the right side of the windshield was still attached.

At the same time, Zane Smith(38) had a mechanical failure (suspected broken brake rotor) and spun right in front of Larson the race leader. Smith hit the outside wall hard and took a while exiting his car after the impact. As the caution for the Smith wreck came with 10 laps or less the Stage ended with the incident. As the first car a lap down, Chastain was awarded the free pass and returned to the lead lap.

Results of Stage Two

Position	Car	Driver	Behind	Points
1	5	Kyle Larson (C)	—	10
2	22	Joey Logano (C)	2.088	9
3	6	Brad Keselowski	3.278	8
4	12	Ryan Blaney (C)	5.206	7
5	21	Josh Berry	5.930	6
6	11	Denny Hamlin (C)	7.389	5
7	60	Ryan Preece (C)	8.832	4
8	45	Tyler Reddick (C)	10.707	3
9	19	Chase Briscoe (C)	11.226	2
10	23	Bubba Wallace (C)	12.818	1

With 10 points in Stage One and 9 more in the Second Stage, Joey Logano is taking full advantage of his pole winning speed and staying near the front of the pack. He won the race off pit road.

The Final Stage

With Logano out front the remainder of the top 10 heading into the Final Stage is as follows. (C) = Chase drivers.

• Joey Logano (C) Leader
• Kyle Larson (C)
• Brad Keselowski
• Josh Berry
• Ryan Preece (C)
• Chase Briscoe (C)
• Denny Hamlin (C)
• Ryan Blaney (C)
• Bubba Wallace (C)
• Chase Elliott (C)

Pushing and shoving on the restart sent Wallace, Byron, and Chase Briscoe(19) around out of turn two and the cycle of caution flags started again.

With 86 laps to go Ryan Blaney had the right front brake rotor on his car fail going down the front straightaway. He was able to keep the car against the wall and not spin as Zane Smith did. Unfortunately, he will join Smith behind the wall as only the second car out of the race. A costly points day as a result. Blaney will be thankful for the 14 Stage points he accumulated in the first two Stages.

It was a mad scramble at the front of the pack as Larson led the field back to the restart. Josh Berry took a top in the top spot. Brad Keselowski made a pass for the lead. Logano ran in third but was challenging Berry for second. Lurking in fourth was Carson Hocevar. With the bad blood between Hocevar and Keselowski last week at Darlington, could fireworks be in store for the final laps of this race.

With 72 laps to go, Briscoe and Chastain got tangled near the rear of the field and Ross spun out bring out the caution.

During yellow flag pit stops, Riley Herbst crew had some fuel splash on the fender of his car and catch fire. They were quickly able to extinguish the blaze with a water hose. Herbst name has been mentioned more times today than in his last half dozen races.

With Keselowski and Logano restarting on the front row with 66 laps to go, Hocevar lines up directly behind Brad’s car. Bell and Gibbs make up the remainder of the top five.

Two laps in, Riley Herbst spun again and backed into the outside wall between turns one and two. A number of cars used the caution to make their final pit stop of the day.

Same lineup at the front as we head to the restart with 59 laps to go. Logano move around Keselowski on the first lap back to green flag racing. Hocevar drops down and drives up next to Keselowski but cannot make the pass.

Logano and Keselowski separate themselves from Hocevar who drops back into the clutches of Christopher Bell who eventually made the pass for the position.

With 41 laps to go, Noah Gragson brought out the caution as he was shedding parts from his car around the track as a result of another brake rotor failure.

Most of the field pitted for fuel and tires. Keselowski, Gibbs, Preece, SVG, and Chastain all stayed out. Logano took only two tires and was the first driver off. Hocevar had to return to pit road and make sure all of his wheel were tight. Hamlin had a slow pit stop and lost considerable track position. Briscoe, Berry, Bell, and Elliott followed Logano off pit road.

The final laps have all the possibility of turning into a rolling wreck fest.

Keselowski moved away at the front and Logano quickly moved to second passing Chastain, Bell followed the #22 past. Keselowski is on lod tires, Logano has two new ones and Bell is on four fresh Goodyear Eagles.

Briscoe and Elliott crashed in turn one as Elliott had a brake rotor explode. The caution displayed with 29 laps to go.

The restart came with 20 laps to go as Logano and Keselowski sat side-by-side on the front row. Logano moved away and Larson drove up next to Keselowski.

A big wreck on the backstretch collected a bunch of contenders. Bubba Wallace(23), Berry, Bell, and Reddick tried to squeeze four cars wide out of turn two. It did not work.

Logano and Larson lead the pack back to the restart. However on the backstretch, Gibbs Suarez, Ty Dillon(10), and Allmendinger all wrecked. NASCAR displayed the red flag with 11 laps to go.

Larson had passed Logano prior to the yellow flag coming out and he will be the first car to fire off in the restart zone with seven laps to go. Larson pulled out at the drop of the green flag while Logano tucked in behind the leader.

With three laps to go, Chris Buescher(17) had a brake rotor come apart and spread debris across the track. The 17th yellow flag of the day, will carry the race into overtime and allow Logano another shot at Larson with a green, white, checkered finish.

NASCAR displayed the red flag again to clean the track prior to the overtime session.

On the restart Larson again gets the jump, but SVG spins out in turn one with some help from Hocevar.

Overtime number two, line them up and go again. Only this time, Alex Bowman(48) lines up next to Larson with Logano behind the leader. Both Hendrick Motorsports drivers are riding long winless streaks.

Larson got a great jump and pulled away. Logano was not able to keep up and Alex Bowman made the pass for the second spot. Larson’s win broke a 51-race winless streak, his longest since joining Hendrick Motorsports at the start of 2021. To put that in perspective, his teammates have six wins since his last win (Chase Elliott(4), William Byron(2). Denny Hamlin won eight times since Kyle Larson’s last win.

Results of the Enjoy Illinois 300 from World Wide Technology Raceway

Position	Car	Driver	Laps	Behind
1	5	Kyle Larson (C)	247	—
2	48	Alex Bowman	247	0.333
3	22	Joey Logano (C)	247	0.518
4	24	William Byron (C)	247	1.038
5	1	Ross Chastain	247	1.214
6	3	Austin Dillon	247	1.362
7	88	Connor Zilisch	247	1.641
8	77	Carson Hocevar (C)	247	1.675
9	11	Denny Hamlin (C)	247	2.271
10	2	Austin Cindric (C)	247	2.275
11	41	Cole Custer	247	2.933
12	6	Brad Keselowski	247	2.953
13	43	Erik Jones	247	3.022
14	23	Bubba Wallace (C)	247	3.080
15	42	John Hunter Nemechek	247	3.328
16	16	AJ Allmendinger	247	3.386
17	60	Ryan Preece (C)	247	3.393
18	54	Ty Gibbs (C)	247	3.414
19	20	Christopher Bell (C)	247	3.621
20	71	Michael McDowell	247	3.769
21	33	Austin Hill	247	3.975
22	51	Cody Ware	247	4.194
23	97	Shane Van Gisbergen	247	4.388
24	34	Todd Gilliland	247	4.519
25	45	Tyler Reddick (C)	247	5.362
26	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	247	13.625
27	17	Chris Buescher (C)	237	OUT
28	21	Josh Berry	231	16 laps
29	7	Daniel Suarez (C)	229	OUT
30	10	Ty Dillon	227	OUT
31	9	Chase Elliott (C)	214	OUT
32	19	Chase Briscoe (C)	213	OUT
33	4	Noah Gragson	198	OUT
34	35	Riley Herbst	176	OUT
35	12	Ryan Blaney (C)	154	OUT
36	38	Zane Smith	129	OUT

NASCAR Chase Standings After 2 Events

POSITION	CAR #	DRIVER	POINTS	BEHIND
1	11	Denny Hamlin	2168	0
2	5	Kyle Larson	2159	-9
3	20	Christopher Bell	2150	-18
4	12	Ryan Blaney	2135	-33
5	45	Tyler Reddick	2126	-42
6	54	Ty Gibbs	2117	-51
7	22	Joey Logano	2117	-51
8	19	Chase Briscoe	2109	-59
9	77	Carson Hocevar	2080	-88
10	23	Bubba Wallace	2078	-90
11	9	Chase Elliott	2075	-93
12	2	Austin Cindric	2060	-108
13	17	Chris Buescher	2057	-111
14	60	Ryan Preece	2055	-113
15	24	William Byron	2054	-114
16	7	Daniel Suarez	2049	-119

Next week the Series moves to Bristol Motor Speedway for the annual Night Race. The Lasco Press will again be Live at the track. It’s Bristol Baby