Ross Chastain turned in a breakthrough performance in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race, denying postseason contender William Byron at Kansas Speedway and notching his first win of the season.
Chastain’s No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet led 52 of the 267 laps in the Hollywood Casino 400, holding a 0.388-second winning margin at the end of the first race in the postseason’s Round of 12. Chastain’s first win at the 1.5-mile Kansas City track marked the fifth of his Cup Series career — his first since the 2023 season finale at Phoenix Raceway, 30 races ago.
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Byron led 24 laps and finished second in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Martin Truex Jr. placed third, with Ryan Blaney fourth and Ty Gibbs completing the top five.
Christopher Bell started his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota from the pole position and led a race-high 121 laps. He drove on after a pair of wall scrapes — one near the end of each of the first two stages — which kept him from collecting a bigger stage-point bonus, then salvaged a seventh-place finish.
SHOP: Race winner gear
Kyle Larson entered as the series’ points leader, but his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet scrubbed the outside retaining wall in the 19th lap after a tire deflated. Larson continued after multiple pit stops for repairs, eventually regaining a lost lap and finishing 26th.
Fellow playoff driver Austin Cindric found trouble in the 157th lap, with his No. 2 Team Penske Ford spinning on the backstraight after contact with Kyle Busch’s No. 8 Chevrolet. He was 34th.
The Cup Series will continue the Round of 12 at Talladega Superspeedway next Sunday (2 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
This story will be updated.
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