Live updates from NASCAR at Kansas: Denny Hamlin wins; Ross Chastain throws a fist

Charlotte Observer NASCAR reporter Alex Zietlow will be passing along live updates during today’s race at Kansas Speedway. See the section below for the latest news. Results and analysis will be posted after the race.

Find unofficial results from Sunday’s race here.

All times are Eastern.

Live updates from NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas

Stage 3

Post-race: Noah Gragson and Ross Chastain get into a fight on pit road! More to come on this too. Watch what went down here.

Lap 265: Denny Hamlin wins! First win in 33 starts! Takes it from Kyle Larson! The 11 car waited and waited until Larson got loose, and then Hamlin made some contact with the 5 and then sped away. First last-lap finish at Kansas Speedway. Wow. More to come.

Here’s the last-lap finish:

Lap 262: Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin are really going after it! The two drivers are best friends and are going head-to-head respectfully but aggressively. Larson appears a bit loose. Can the 11 car make a pass and get his first win of 2023?

Lap 222: Green green green. Running Top 10 right now: Kyle Larson, William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, Ross Chastain, Joey Logano, Martin Truex Jr., Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Kevin Harvick.

Lap 216: Erik Jones spins. That’s the 11th caution of the day. Eleventh! Who would’ve thought this mile-and-a-half track would see this much carnage? The cars in contention won’t be filing down pit road. Another restart incoming.

Lap 207: Noah Gragson loses it by himself and prompts a caution. The leaders file down pit road once more. With 60 laps to go, this will likely be the last pit stop for drivers. They can make it on fuel from here.

Lap 192: Harrison Burton spins after having to brake suddenly, and that prompts another caution. After trips down pit road for most of the top of the field, the Top 10 is as follows: Martin Truex Jr., Austin Dillon, Joey Logano, Noah Gragson, Todd Gilliland, Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson William Byron, Daniel Suarez, Ryan Blaney.

Lap 178: Ty Gibbs pushed a little too hard and got into this teammate, Martin Truex Jr., on the inside. That sent him spinning and cut his right-front tire. The 54 car couldn’t even make it back to his pit stop on his own. That’ll end Gibbs’ day — a rare “Did Not Finish” result for the rookie who has had a remarkably consistent season to date.

Lap 170: Alright a quick recap is in order. After Christopher Bell’s spin, a bunch of the leaders filed down pit road to get on fresh tires and set themselves up well for the start of Stage 3. That opened the door for a bunch of cars — that weren’t previously in the mix all that much — to take the lead and perhaps steal a few stage points with a good Stage 2 finish. Kyle Busch then wrecked on the restart, and Stage 2 ended under caution. The Top 10 from Stage 2: Joey Logano, Michael McDowell, Noah Gragson, Erik Jones, AJ Allmendinger, Chris Buescher, Austin Dillon, Ty Dillon, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin.

Once the stage break came, the field largely cycled itself through, and the best cars returned to the top. Running in the Top 10 now: Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, Chase Elliott, Tyler Reddick, Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Blaney, Ty Gibbs, Kevin Harvick, Ross Chastain.

Stage 2

Lap 165: Kyle Busch! He gets wrecked on that restart, and his day is done. Looks like Ryan Preece got into the back of him after Busch checked up in front of him to avoid running into Brad Keselowski. Tough break for the 8 car. So Joey Logano will take the Stage 2 win after essentially not being in the mix at all on Sunday.

Here’s what happened to Busch just now:

Lap 159: Some more action! Caution! Christopher Bell spins off of Turn 2 and then crashes his nose into the wall. A tow truck comes out. His day is done. Bubba Wallace leads a bunch of leading cars down pit road. Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex and Kyle Larson are among them. There are about four to go in Stage 2. The top nine cars stayed out.

Lap 140: Aric Almirola spins! Caution! The 10 car gets loose by himself, and because he was the leading car not on the lead lap, there will be no pass through. Kyle Larson leap-frogs Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. thanks to some great pit crew work. The driver of the No. 5 will start at the front on this restart.

Lap 108: Caution on Turn 2! Austin Cindric, who got the pass-through penalty to get back on the lead lap by Stage 2, had a tire issue and rubbed up into the wall. That prompted the second caution of the day. His wheel then broke off and rolled on the track. That’ll be a two-lap penalty for Cindric, per NASCAR. Fifty-five laps to go in Stage 2! (On the ensuing trips down pit lane under yellow, Chase Elliott has to back up into his pit box, and he’ll start from the rear. He was running in the Top 15.)

Lap 104: If Sunday thus far has been a show of Toyota’s strength, it has also been a show of Ford’s shortcomings. The best Ford running is Ryan Blaney running P10, followed by Aric Almirola in 12th and Kevin Harvick in 13th. Blaney isn’t all that happy though. On the most recent restart, he told his team over the radio that his car is “(expletive) terrible on restarts.”

Lap 90: Green green green!

Lap 85: Tyler Reddick drops six spots on the stage break pit stops under yellow. That’ll slightly change the complexion of the Top 10 on this upcoming restart. Here’s the order we have running now: Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Ty Gibbs, Daniel Suarez, Bubba Wallace, Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, Tyler Reddick, Ross Chastain.

Stage 1

Lap 80: Denny Hamlin notches his first stage win of the season. It’s a Joe Gibbs Racing — and really all of Toyota — kind of day. All four JGR cars are in the Top 6, and all six Toyotas are running in the Top 7. Here’s your Top 10 earning stage points (in order): Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Ty Gibbs, Tyler Reddick, Daniel Suarez, Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace, Ryan Blaney, Ross Chastain, Kyle Larson. (Note: Larson moved up 26 spots since his initial caution-prompting spin on Lap 6.)

Lap 51: The field has cycled through green-flag pit stops, and your Top 10: Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Tyler Reddick, Ty Gibbs, JJ Yeley, Daniel Suarez, Bubba Wallace, Ross Chastain, Ryan Blaney. During these stops, Chase Briscoe lost a wheel and subsequently had to serve a pass-through penalty.

Lap 6: Some entertaining racing in Kansas! Wow. William Byron gets free on a turn and gives up the lead on Lap 4. Then some wild three-wide racing for the lead ensues — and produces our first caution of the day. Kyle Larson was trying to slide up the racetrack and run the outside line, but Tyler Reddick nudges him from behind and sends the 5 car spinning. No one else got collected in the wreck (unlike last week). The Top 10 once the green flag waves: Tyler Reddick, Ross Chastain, William Byron, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Daniel Suarez, Ty Gibbs, Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney.

Here’s what happened on that contact between Larson and Reddick:

Green flag, 3:14 p.m.: Let’s go racing!

3 p.m.: Some betting odds via SportsLine as of today: Kyle Larson (9-2 odds), Denny Hamlin (23-4 odds), William Byron (6-1), Tyler Reddick (7-1). Brad Keselowski is coming in at 30-1, but the driver who has had robust success at Kansas in the past appeared quite focused on this racetrack and subsequent ones. Can Keselowski conquer Kansas again? Heat is going to be a story today: It is 86 degrees at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City — meaning that the track will be exceptionally slick. That could put a premium on short-run speed (which Hendrick cars certainly have) or it could just generally sow chaos. Almost time!

2:16 p.m.: The 7 (Corey LaJoie), the 47 (Ricky Stenhouse Jr.) and the 78 (Josh Bilicki) were all sent to the rear for unapproved adjustments, per NASCAR.

2:13 p.m.: Some pre-race housekeeping: Catch the race on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Average time of race is 3:11:53. Fuel window is 65 laps. The timing should go as follows:

• 2:15 p.m.: Drivers Meeting

• 2:30 p.m.: Driver Introductions

• 2:54 p.m.: Invocation

• 2:55 p.m.: National Anthem

• 3:02 p.m.: Command

• 3:13 p.m.: Green flag

2:03 p.m.: William Byron is turning into a favorite pretty much everywhere he goes nowadays. The driver of the No. 24 car will start P1 with his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson right beside him on the front row. Bubba Wallace, last year’s fall race winner at Kansas, will start P17 — and Kurt Busch, last year’s spring race winner at Kansas, will be in the Fox broadcast booth. Could another big day for 23XI Racing be on the way? See below for Sunday’s full starting lineup.

TV channel, radio info for Kansas Speedway

• Race: AdventHealth 400

• Place: Kansas Speedway

• Date: Sunday, May 7

• Time: 3 p.m. ET

• Purse: $7,536,752

• TV: FS1, 2 p.m. ET

• Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

• Distance: 400.5 miles (267 laps)

• Stages: Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 80), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 165), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 267)

Starting lineup for Kansas Cup race

The 7 (Corey LaJoie), the 47 (Ricky Stenhouse Jr.) and the 78 (Josh Bilicki) were all sent to the rear for unapproved adjustments.