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Kyle Larson returned to Victory Lane for the first time since May 2025 (Photo: NASCAR)<\/p>\nNews Summary<\/p>\n
Kyle Larson won at Gateway to end a 51-race NASCAR Cup Series winless streak and claim the 33rd victory of his career.<\/p>\n
Larson resisted three late restarts before beating Alex Bowman in double overtime, while Joey Logano finished third after leading a race-high 96 laps.<\/p>\n
Gateway produced a track-record 18 cautions, two red flags and 87 laps under yellow in a chaotic second round of the NASCAR Chase.<\/p>\n
Kyle Larson finally returned to Victory Lane in the NASCAR Cup Series on Sunday, ending a 51-race winless streak with victory in an incident-filled race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.<\/p>\n
The reigning Cup champion held off Hendrick Motorsports team-mate Alex Bowman through a succession of late restarts before winning in double overtime. It was Larson\u2019s first victory since Kansas in May 2025, his 33rd in the Cup Series and Hendrick\u2019s first at the St. Louis-area circuit.<\/p>\n
Larson had started second alongside polesitter Joey Logano and led 80 laps, but his route to victory was anything but straightforward. Logano controlled more of the afternoon than anyone else, spending 96 laps at the front, while Brad Keselowski also led 55.<\/p>\n
The complexion of the race repeatedly changed because of cautions. There were 18 in total, the highest number ever recorded in a Cup race at Gateway and the most in any race during the 2026 season. Two red flags were also required during the final stage.<\/p>\n
Of the 247 laps completed, 87 were run under caution.<\/p>\n
Kyle Larson returned to Victory Lane for the first time since May 2025 (Photo: NASCAR)<\/p>\n
Larson nevertheless kept his Chevrolet at the front when it mattered. He had to defend the lead through three restarts covering the final two scheduled laps and the seven additional laps created by overtime.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, it feels great,\u201d Larson said after the race. \u201cAnd honestly, I mean, it doesn\u2019t feel like it\u2019s been 51 races.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Hendrick driver said the team\u2019s competitiveness during the drought had made the gap between victories feel shorter than the raw number suggested.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like we\u2019ve been in contention and had shots to win. We\u2019ve just had to work really hard at it; stay patient and trust in the process,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Larson also admitted Gateway was not where he expected the streak to end.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did not think that I would break the streak here, I was more looking at next week, but this definitely built some momentum and we just have to keep it going.\u201d<\/p>\n
The victory came despite Larson acknowledging that Logano probably had the strongest car over the course of the race.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt takes a lot more than just having the fastest car to win a Cup Series race,\u201d Larson said. \u201cYou still have to execute a day from start to finish with good pit stops, good restarts, good strategy, and we had that today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Logano had taken pole with a 32.817s lap on Saturday and looked capable of converting that speed into victory. He won Stage 1, finished second in Stage 2 and led more laps than anyone else, but the repeated late cautions eventually worked against the Team Penske driver.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had it won if the cautions didn\u2019t keep coming out,\u201d Logano told Motorsport.com.<\/p>\n
On the decisive restart, Bowman helped push Larson alongside the Penske Ford. Logano believed he came within inches of clearing the Hendrick driver into Turn 1, but Larson maintained enough overlap to complete the move.<\/p>\n
Logano eventually finished third, with Chase Elliott fourth to give Hendrick Motorsports three cars inside the top four. Keselowski completed the top five.<\/p>\n
The race was considerably less productive for several other championship contenders. Nine drivers failed to finish, including five of the 16 drivers competing in the Chase.<\/p>\n
The number of incidents prompted a particularly critical assessment from Bubba Wallace, who recovered to finish 14th despite being involved in multiple collisions.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody hit everything out here today,\u201d Wallace said. \u201cSuper frustrating and embarrassing for us as Cup drivers.\u201d<\/p>\n
The result also significantly tightened the championship picture. Denny Hamlin retained the Chase lead with 2,168 points, but Larson jumped five positions to second and is now only nine points behind on 2,159.<\/p>\n
Christopher Bell sits third with 2,150, 18 behind Hamlin, followed by Ryan Blaney on 2,135 and Tyler Reddick on 2,126. Logano\u2019s strong afternoon moved him to seventh with 2,117 points.<\/p>\n
The NASCAR Cup Series continues the Chase at Bristol Motor Speedway next weekend.<\/p>\n
Gateway NASCAR Cup Series \u2014 Top 10<\/p>\n
Pos.DriverTeam1Kyle LarsonHendrick Motorsports2Alex BowmanHendrick Motorsports3Joey LoganoTeam Penske4Chase ElliottHendrick Motorsports5Brad KeselowskiRFK Racing6Ross ChastainTrackhouse Racing7Josh BerryWood Brothers Racing8Christopher BellJoe Gibbs Racing9Carson HocevarSpire Motorsports10Ryan BlaneyTeam Penske<\/p>\n
FAQ<\/p>\n
How long had Kyle Larson gone without winning a NASCAR Cup race?<\/p>\n
Larson had gone 51 Cup races without a victory. His previous win came at Kansas Speedway in May 2025 before he ended the drought at Gateway in September 2026.<\/p>\n
How many cautions were there in the 2026 NASCAR race at Gateway?<\/p>\n
There were 18 cautions, a Gateway record and the highest total in a NASCAR Cup race during the 2026 season. The event also featured two red flags and ended in double overtime.<\/p>\n
Who leads the NASCAR Chase after Gateway?<\/p>\n
Denny Hamlin remains the championship leader with 2,168 points. Larson climbed five places to second with 2,159, reducing the deficit to only nine points.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"News Summary Kyle Larson won at Gateway to end a 51-race NASCAR Cup Series winless streak and claim…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":895668,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":["post-895667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=895667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/895668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=895667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=895667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=895667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}