LAS VEGAS - Kyle Larson made a little history on Sunday.
He's in good shape to make a little more in the weeks to come.
Larson was the dominant car at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, leading a race-high 129 laps before finishing second in the opening round of the NASCAR Cup Series Round of 8. In the process, Larson, who was already one of only 21 drivers to lead over 10,000 laps in his career, passed Kurt Busch for 20th on the all-time list. He'll leave Las Vegas with 10,356 to his credit.
All of that capped a blisteringly fast day for the No. 5 HendrickCars.com/Zac Brown Band Chevrolet team, one in which Larson collected 19 stage points to go with his runner-up showing, moving 35 points above the cutline with two events left before the Championship 4 is set.
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"Hats off to my team, too," Larson said. "We had an awesome day as well. Good points day, obviously."
Elliott, Byron and Larson qualified fourth, fifth and sixth respectively and had front-of-field speed from the drop of the green flag on Sunday. Byron was the first to reach the front of the field, cycling through on the first set of pit stops in stage one. A caution with nine laps to go brought the field down pit road a final time but Byron was able to hold them all off to score the stage win with Larson right behind in second and Elliott in fifth.
Stage two was more of the same for the organization, this time with Larson ascending to the top of the scoring pylon. The driver of the No. 5 Chevy showed the way for the bulk of the second segment and came home with a stage win with Byron in third.
Late in stage three, Larson and Byron seemed poised to post a 1-2 sweep for Hendrick Motorsports. Larson slipped by Byron with 36 laps to go. Just five laps later, Byron was swept up in a crash, taking him out of contention.
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While the team's three playoff drivers shuffled positions toward the front, Alex Bowman methodically closed in. By the time a restart with 31 circuits to go went green, Bowman was in the top six and powered to third with a push from behind.
However, his run was stalled by another yellow flag as a massive crash erupted before the leaders could even exit turn two. Several laps of cleanup were required but when the green flag finally waved again, Bowman (third) and Larson (fourth) filled the second row.
Though the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets had unmatchable long-run pace throughout the day, the short run was too much to navigate. Larson battled eventual-winner Denny Hamlin tooth and nail for second before succumbing. He'd pick off Chase Briscoe with a couple of laps to go to secure the runner-up spot.
"(Hamlin) must've nailed the bottom behind me, got to my inside and it was kind of over from there," Larson said. "Hats off to them."
Bowman, meanwhile, came home seventh. Elliott settled for an 18th-place showing.
The second race of the Round of 8 will be held at Talladega Superspeedway next Sunday. Green flag is set for 2 p.m.
Here's a look at the final finishing order from Las Vegas:
Who won the NASCAR race today?
- Denny Hamlin, No. 11
- Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com/Zac Brown Band Chevrolet
- Christopher Bell, No. 20
- Chase Briscoe, No. 19
- Tyler Reddick, No. 45
- Joey Logano, No. 22
- Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally "Love, Your Mind" Chevrolet
- Kyle Busch, No. 8
- Ryan Preece, No. 60
- Brad Keselowski, No. 6
- Austin Cindric, No. 2
- Chris Buescher, No. 17
- Noah Gragson, No. 4
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47
- Erik Jones, No. 43
- Michael McDowell, No. 71
- Riley Herbst, No. 35
- Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet
- AJ Allmendinger, No. 16
- Daniel Suarez, No. 99
- Todd Gilliland, No. 34
- Bubba Wallace, No. 23
- Ross Chastain, No. 1
- Zane Smith, No. 38
- Austin Dillon, No. 3
- Josh Berry, No. 21
- Justin Haley, No. 7
- Cole Custer, No. 41
- John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42
- JJ Yeley, No. 44
- Katherine Legge, No. 78
- Carson Hocevar, No. 77
- Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88
- Ty Gibbs, No. 54
- Cody Ware, No. 51
- William Byron, No. 24 Relay Chevrolet
- Ty Dillon, No. 10
- Ryan Blaney, No. 12