Kyle Larson walked away from Kansas Speedway with another Cup Series near miss on his record, and the Hendrick Motorsports driver admitted afterwards that even the perfect overtime restart was not enough to convert pole-sitter's pace into a first NASCAR victory of 2026.
Larson had briefly seized the lead on the penultimate restart of the AdventHealth 400, only for Tyler Reddick to pick him off on the inside line through Turn 1 of overtime. It was the fourth time this season Larson has finished inside the top two without winning, and the second-straight race in which he has taken the stage one or stage two honours only to come up short when it mattered most.
"When it all worked out like that, I was like, 'Oh, great, clean air,'" Larson told Fox Sports in the moments after climbing from the number five Chevrolet. "And then I went through three and four and I was plowing and yeah, I was nervous."
The short-track tactician had seen Reddick's 23XI Toyota gathering huge momentum in his mirrors on the run off Turn 2, and the window of clean air proved brief.
"I could tell he had a huge run on me behind and thought maybe if I could get to the banking it would like load and cut, but it didn't. So, yeah, he was really good right there and I was just hoping to be better."
Larson could nonetheless point to genuine progress on an oval where Hendrick has struggled to match the Joe Gibbs and 23XI alliance in recent years. His Sunday day read: second in stage one, first in stage two, second in the race.
"We got lucky with the caution too. So, yeah, good day," Larson said. "Second in the first stage, first in the second in the race. So we're getting closer. Really close there, but we'll keep trying."
Behind Larson, Chase Briscoe brought home his Bass Pro Shops Toyota in third after one of the most opportunistic late-race salvages of the weekend. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver had been running outside the top ten when a late caution released him with four fresh tyres while most of the leaders were stuck on short-run rubber.
Briscoe sliced from tenth to third on the overtime restart, and was convinced another lap would have put him into contention for the win.
"Definitely would have been nice having another lap or just even another corner," Briscoe said. "I kind of lost all my momentum. Me and the 11, we were so tight off of two that we kind of both killed each other, truthfully. So, yeah, I would have loved to have another corner."
The 11 is Denny Hamlin, who finished fourth after being out-lined by Reddick on the same overtime restart, and the pair had stalled each other in traffic at exactly the moment Briscoe was trying to convert his tyre advantage into a podium charge.
Briscoe's day was made even sweeter by how firmly he had been parked in the midfield before the late yellow.
"Our Bass Pro Shops Tracker Toyota was not good. We were going to run 12th or 13th and James did a really good job there being able to put me on offense and was able to make something out of it," Briscoe said. "So, for as bad as the stuff has gone for us early in the season, this is a lucky break for us. I'm just glad we were able to make the most of it."
Reddick's overtime pass gave 23XI Racing its fifth victory at Kansas in the last nine races, but for Larson and Briscoe the weekend reinforced very different themes. Larson leaves Kansas with the uncomfortable sense that the speed is there and the wins are not, while Briscoe banks the kind of unearned podium that can change the complexion of a season when the averages eventually even out.
---
*Originally published on [Motorsports Global](https://motorsports.global/article/larson-kansas-runner-up-we-re-getting-closer-briscoe-four-tire-lucky-break-2026). Visit for full coverage.*