Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway (3:00 PM ET on USA Network) marks the second of three races in the Round of 12 of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. Ryan Blaney is the lone Playoff contender who knows that he is set to move on to the Round of 8, regardless of what happens on Sunday, due to a win last weekend at New Hampshire. That being said, what will we see on Sunday afternoon?
Related: Previewing the NASCAR Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas
This is the Racing America On SI live-race updates page for the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway. This page will serve as your guide leading up to and throughout Sunday’s race. This page will be updated with key pre-race updates, in-race updates such as lead changes, and video highlights of crashes or incidents. Also included will be stage and race results, and more. Continue checking back for additional updates.
Lap 255: Bell Wins Race Off Pit Road
Christopher Bell won the race off pit road ahead of Bubba Wallace, Chase Briscoe, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, William Byron, and Denny Hamlin, who lost six spots. Chase Elliott, and Kyle Larson took four tires, as opposed to the top-seven, who took two tires, and will restart eighth and ninth.
Lap 253: Caution!
A tire carcass on the track in Turn 4 from Kyle Busch’s No. 8 car has brought out the caution.
Lap 240: Hamlin Not Sure How Much Longer He Can Go
Denny Hamlin is fighting a car with no power steering, and he has radioed to his team that he is not sure how much longer he can hold the wheel.
Lap 217: Back to Green!
Denny Hamlin leads the field back to green, and it appears that his steering issue is just fine for now, as he pulls out cleanly to the lead over Christopher Bell.
Lap 216: Caution!
There is a big crash on the restart… but it isn’t involving Denny Hamlin, who reported steering issues. It did involve Playoff contenders Joey Logano, and Austin Cindric and numerous non-Playoff contenders.
CHAOS ON THE RESTART‼️ pic.twitter.com/sFuxOejKaB
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) September 28, 2025Lap 215: Hamlin Reports Steering Issues Worse
Denny Hamlin thinks the steering rack on his car could be broken. We’ll see what happens on this restart.
Lap 213: Hamlin Wins Race Off Pit Road
Denny Hamlin has won the race off pit road, but he is now reporting he has a potential steering issue under this caution. We’ll see if that impacts his ability to win the race. Bubba Wallace gained a spot and now runs second ahead of Chase Elliott, Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, Chase Briscoe, Chris Buescher, Tyler Reddick, and Carson Hocevar.
Lap 211: Caution!
The thing Denny Hamlin didn’t want to see, just happened. J.J. Yeley went for a spin on the frontstretch, and that has brought out the caution.
Lap 196: Lead Change!
Denny Hamlin has worked his way back around Chase Elliott on Lap 196.
Lap 173: Lead Change!
Chase Elliott had the momentum in the outside lane after the restart, and he takes the lead from Denny Hamlin!
Lap 173: Back to Green!
Denny Hamlin brings the field back to green, and he is looking to continue his dominance in this race.
Lap 168: Hamlin Wins Race Off Pit Road
Denny Hamlin won the race off pit road in the Stage Break caution, and will retain the lead of the race. Chase Elliott gained two spots to move into the second position ahead of Christopher Bell (-1 spot), Kyle Larson (-1 spot), Chase Briscoe, Bubba Wallace, Ross Chastain (+1 spot), Joey Logano (-1 spot), and Chris Buescher (+2 spots).
Lap 165: Hamlin Hangs on For Stage 2 Win
Denny Hamlin got stuck alongside Brad Keselowski, who he was trying to lap at the end of Stage 2, and that allowed Christopher Bell to close the gap. However, Hamlin was able to hang on to take the Stage 2 win by 0.288 seconds over Bell.
Stage 2 Results
Fin
Car
Driver
Stage Points
Playoff Points
1
11
Denny Hamlin (P)
10
1
2
20
Christopher Bell (P)
9
—
3
5
Kyle Larson (P)
8
—
4
9
Chase Elliott (P)
7
—
5
19
Chase Briscoe (P)
6
—
6
23
Bubba Wallace (P)
5
—
7
22
Joey Logano (P)
4
—
8
1
Ross Chastain (P)
3
—
9
12
Ryan Blaney (P)
2
—
10
48
Alex Bowman
1
—
(P) indicates Playoff driver
Lap 156: Hamlin Pulling Away
Denny Hamlin has cruised out to a near-two-second lead over Christopher Bell with less than 10 laps left in Stage 2. It looks like it’s all Denny unless something drastic happens at the end of the Stage.
Lap 130: Hamlin Cycles Out as Leader
Denny Hamlin has cycled back out as the race leader following the round of green flag pit stops. Bubba Wallace initially cycled out ahead of Hamlin, but when Daniel Suarez relinquished the lead on Lap 130, Hamlin had regained the lead.
Lap 120: Green Flag Pit Stops Underway
Ryan Blaney kicked off the latest round of green flag pit stops on Lap 120.
Lap 118: Reddick Into Top-20
Tyler Reddick is trying to claw back from pit road issues, and has now cracked the top-20 on Lap 118.
Lap 104: Bubba Wallace On the Move!
Bubba Wallace has breezed by Kyle Larson to move into the fourth position. Wallace, who struggled in Stage 1, has rebounded heavily in Stage 2. Christopher Bell continues to lead, while Chase Elliott, and Denny Hamlin run second and third.
Lap 95: Back to Green!
Christopher Bell brings the field back to green and he has Kyle Larson looking to get by for the lead, but he’s holding him at bay for now.
Lap 93: Hamlin Reports Issue
Denny Hamlin is telling his team that his throttle is sticking under this caution. Obviously, this can be a big issue if it doesn’t correct itself.
Lap 89: Caution!
John Hunter Nemechek and Ryan Preece got together and went for a ride through the infield grass on Lap 89. It looked like Preece slipped off Turn 4, and got into Nemechek to cause the incident.
That’s going to be a problem. pic.twitter.com/00gLbTKS2n
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 28, 2025Lap 88: back to Green!
Christopher Bell leads the field back to green, but he finds himself in a battle with Kyle Larson for the lead after crossing the stripe. Bell prevails.
Lap 85: Tyler Reddick 28th
After needing to come to a stop on pit road to avoid contact with Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick now sits 28th in the running order on Lap 85.
Lap 83: Bell Takes Lead On Pit Road
Christopher Bell narrowly missed colliding with Tyler Reddick on his way to his pit stall under this caution, and was able to take the lead with a fast pit stop.
Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain, Chase Briscoe, Denny Hamlin, Chris Buescher, Joey Logano, Carson Hocevar, and Zane Smith were the remainder of the top-10 in the race off pit road.
Lap 80: Hamlin Wins Stage 1
With only two fresh tires, Denny Hamlin was able to use aeroblocking to hold off Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott for the Stage 1 win of the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas.
Stage 1 Results
Fin
Car
Driver
Stage Points
Playoff Points
1
11
Denny Hamlin (P)
10
1
2
5
Kyle Larson (P)
9
—
3
9
Chase Elliott (P)
8
—
4
20
Christopher Bell (P)
7
—
5
1
Ross Chastain (P)
6
—
6
19
Chase Briscoe (P)
5
—
7
22
Joey Logano (P)
4
—
8
17
Chris Buescher
3
—
9
38
Zane Smith
2
—
10
77
Carson Hocevar
1
—
(P) indicates Playoff driver
Lap 64: Chase Elliott Knifes Way to Second!
Chase Elliott made a three-wide move to the inside on Lap 64 to move past Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson, and he is now running in the runner-up spot behind Denny Hamlin.
Lap 63: Back to Green!
Denny Hamlin brings the field back to the green flag, and this race has restarted. Hamlin gets out front cleanly as Kyle Larson defeats Joey Logano in a battle for the runner-up spot.
Lap 60: Reddick Needs Additional Pit Stop
The No. 45 23XI Racing team had an issue getting the right rear wheel changed on their initial pit stop, and have come back to pit road to get that addressed. Reddick now runs 26th after the rough luck on pit road.
Lap 59: Hamlin Wins Race Off Pit Road With Two Tires
Denny Hamlin (2 tires) won the race off pit road, and will retain the lead of the race. However, the majority of the field took four fresh tires.
Kyle Larson will line up second ahead of, Christopher Bell, Joey Logano (2 tires) who gained 13 spots, Chase Briscoe (lost 1 spot), Chase Elliott, Ty Gibbs (up 1 spot), Carson Hocevar (down 1 spot), and Chris Buescher.
Lap 55: Caution!
Cody Ware has encountered an incident in Turn 4, and we are under caution. It looked like his left front wheel either went flat or detached and got caught in the wheel-well of the car. This caution came moments after Kyle Busch, running 27th, was lapped. Busch will get the free pass under this caution.
Lap 45: Hamlin Cycles Out to Lead
As Brad Keselowski finally hit pit road on Lap 45, Denny Hamlin cycled back out as the leader of the race. Hamlin had to get around Kyle Larson to get in position to retake the lead prior to Keselowski’s pit stop as Larson had cycled off of pit road ahead of him initially.
Lap 32: Wallace, Cindric Kick Off Green Flag Pit Stops
Bubba Wallace, and Austin Cindric are among the first cars to hit pit road to start this first green flag pit sequence of the Hollywood Casino 400.
Lap 30: Bubba Wallace Fading, Penske Cars on the Rise
Bubba Wallace has dropped to 19th position from a top-10 starting spot in the opening laps of this race. Meanwhile, the three Team Penske drivers, who started from the rear of the field, have climbed to 22nd, 23rd, and 24th.
Lap 20: Lead Change!
Denny Hamlin has taken the race lead from teammate Chase Briscoe, and we have our first official lead change of the Hollywood Casino 400.
Lap 14: Briscoe Continues to defend Against Hamlin
Denny Hamlin has been applying pressure to Chase Briscoe for the race lead since essentially lap 4, but Briscoe has expertly defended so far, and continues to lead from the pole.
3:05 PM ET: Green Flag!
We are green! Chase Brisoce, the polesitter, breaks out to an early lead over his teammate Denny Hamlin, who has emerged with second place after a battle with Kyle Larson.
2:54 PM ET: Engines Fired!
The invocation, national anthem, and command to fire engines have been completed. After a command from the Johnny Dare Morning Show, the engines in the 37 cars in the field for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway have roared to life. The cars will head out on the track for pace laps in short order.
Austin Cindric Joins Group Heading to Rear Before Sunday’s Race
Austin Cindric is the lastest driver, who will head to the rear of the field before the green flag of Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway. All three Team Penske cars will drop to the rear. Ryan Blaney for going to a backup car, Joey Logano and Cindric for unapproved adjustments.
Additionally, Michael McDowell and Shane van Gisbergen will drop to the rear for the infractions discovered after pre-race inspection on Saturday. McDowell and van Gisbergen will also be required to perform a stop-and-go penalty after taking the green flag.
NASCAR Reveals Pre-Race Festivities Schedule
1:50 PM ET: Driver’s Meeting
2:15 PM ET: Driver Introductions
2:46:20 PM ET: Invocation
2:47:00 PM ET: National Anthem
2:54:00 PM ET: Command to Start Engines
3:05:00 PM ET: Green Flag
No. 71, No. 88 Teams Penalized for Modifying Splitter During Inspection
Two teams were hammered with pre-race penalties after unapproved adjustments were discovered with the front splitters of their race cars following pre-race inspection on Saturday at Kansas Speedway.
The two teams that were caught with the unapproved adjustments were Michael McDowell’s No. 71 Spire Motorsports team, and Shane van Gisbergen’s No. 88 Trackhouse Racing team.
As a result, NASCAR has ejected Travis Peterson and Stephen Doran, the crew chiefs for both teams, for the remainder of the weekend. Additionally, both teams lost pit selection (determined by qualifying position), will have to drop to the rear before the green flag of Sunday’s race, and will have to perform a stop-and-go penalty after taking the green flag in the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas.
Hollywood Casino 400 Race Pre-Race Info
The Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway will be televised on USA Network and can be streamed on the HBO Max streaming platform, as well as the NBC Sports App. The race broadcast will begin at 3:00 PM ET on Sunday, September 28.
The Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide the radio broadcast of Sunday’s race. For subscribers of the HBO Max streaming service, NASCAR Driver Cam, which streams live in-car camera footage from every car in the field, will be available for today’s race.
The overall race purse, which teams will fight for their portion of in Sunday’s race, is a total of $9,797,935.
The race distance is 267 laps around the 1.5-mile intermediate oval, which equates to a 400.5-mile race distance.
The Hollywood Casino 400 will be broken up into three Stages. Stage 1 will end at the conclusion of Lap 80. Stage 2 will end at the conclusion of Lap 165. And the race is scheduled to finish at the end of Lap 267, barring an Overtime finish.
The winner of Stages 1 and 2 will be awarded one Playoff Point, and the overall race winner will be awarded five Playoff Points. The Playoff Points will be added to the reseeded point totals in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs and will be carried through each round of the Playoffs.
This race is the second race of the three-race Round of 12 of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. If one of the 12 drivers in the Playoffs wins this event, they will automatically advance to the Round of 8 of the Playoffs. Ryan Blaney, who will start last in Sunday’s race, secured his advancement into the Round of 8 with a win last weekend at New Hampshire.
Ross Chastain is the defending winner of this race. Chastain is a Playoff driver, so a repeat win for him in this race would move him onto the next round of the Playoffs.
Team Penske Teammates Find Trouble in NASCAR Cup Practice at Kansas
Goodyear brought a new right-side tire for teams this weekend at Kansas Speedway, which was designed to put crew chiefs in a position to decide whether they wanted to have raw speed, or whether they wanted to be good over the long run.
While many acknowledged that the tires were for sure different on Saturday, no team suffered as rough a day as Team Penske, which saw two of its cars cut right rear tires in practice for Sunday’s race.
Ryan Blaney was the first to suffer a cut right-rear tire, which sent his No. 12 Ford Mustang hard into the outside wall, and led to him not having a chance to compete in Saturday’s qualifying session. As a result, Blaney will start from the rear on Sunday.
Trouble for @Blaney in practice! pic.twitter.com/jFVdKRBmkl
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 27, 2025
Fortunately, Blaney locked his position into the Round of 8 of the Playoffs a week ago.
Joey Logano, the defending series champion, has not locked hi place in the Round of 8, and he also found trouble in practice as he cut a right-rear tire late in the session. Fortunately, Logano was able to keep from colliding with the outside wall, but running on a flat tire likely damaged the underbody components on his car, which led to a subpar 35th-place qualifying run.
Chase Briscoe Continues to Impress in Qualifying, Takes Kansas Pole
Chase Briscoe, who had just two pole positions through the opening four seasons of his NASCAR Cup Series career heading into 2025, notched his seventh pole of the season on Saturday afternoon at Kansas Speedway.
With how electric Briscoe has been in qualifying this season, the driver is even more excited about his prospects of securing his third race win of the year in Sunday’s race.
“Just super excited for what we have tomorrow,” Briscoe said after securing the pole.
Briscoe continued, “We’ve been really solid. I mean, we haven’t run outside the top-10 in the Playoffs yet, and we’re on the cutline, that’s the crazy thing. Tomorrow, track position is going to be a big key, and for us to start out front and be able to get stage points is the biggest component of these Playoffs, so as long as we do our job and execute, at least the first stage we should get points and hopefully keep it up there all day long.”
Hollywood Casino 400 Starting Lineup
Pos
Car
Driver
1
19
Chase Briscoe (P)
2
11
Denny Hamlin (P)
3
5
Kyle Larson (P)
4
9
Chase Elliott (P)
5
20
Christopher Bell (P)
6
17
Chris Buescher
7
23
Bubba Wallace (P)
8
54
Ty Gibbs
9
1
Ross Chastain (P)
10
43
Erik Jones
(P) denotes NASCAR Cup Series Playoff contender
Click here for the fuill official starting lineup
Ryan Blaney secured his advancement to the Round of 8 of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs with a win last weekend at New Hampshire, but the rest of the Playoff field remains undecided heading into Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.
Playoff Grid Entering Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas:
Rank
Car
Driver
To Cutline
1
12
Ryan Blaney
Locked
2
24
William Byron
+47
3
5
Kyle Larson
+41
4
20
Christopher Bell
+29
5
11
Denny Hamlin
+27
6
22
Joey Logano
+24
7
9
Chase Elliott
+14
8
19
Chase Briscoe
+12
Cutline
9
1
Ross Chastain
-12
10
2
Austin Cindric
-19
11
45
Tyler Reddick
-23
12
23
Bubba Wallace
-27
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