September 28, 2025: during the Hollywood Casino 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, KS. (HHP/Tom Copeland)
· In a dramatic overtime finish, a masterful restart by Chase
Elliott saw the Team Chevy driver go from the eighth position to make a
final lap pass for the lead to earn his second win of the 2025 NASCAR
Cup Series season. The victory – his second in the series at Kansas
Speedway – delivered the former champion a guaranteed ticket into the
Round of Eight
· Despite a dismal start of the day for William Byron and the
No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team, the combination of a
late-race caution and a fast two-tire spot netted into a strong rebound
that saw the team take home a ninth-place finish. Taking advantage of an
already solid points cushion, the 27-year-old Charlotte, North Carolina,
native will head into the Round of 12 elimination race ranked sixth in
the playoff standings and 40-points above the cutline.
· It was a pair of Hendrick Motorsports teammates that led Team
Chevy to the green-flag Sunday afternoon at Kansas Speedway with Kyle
Larson and Chase Elliott claiming the second row to kick off the second
race of the Round of 12. Larson, the track’s defending winner, settled
into the third position as laps clicked off in the opening stage. Slowly
closing in on the leaders, Larson made the pass for second on Lap 32
before the green-flag pit cycle got underway. A quiet driver behind the
wheel, crew chief Cliff Daniels called Larson to pit road for their
first stop of the day on Lap 36 – ultimately finding himself back in the
runner-up position as the cycle was complete. As the first caution of
the day flew with 25 laps to go in the stage, varying pit strategies saw
much of the top 10 runners opt for a fresh set of four tires to set up
for the 18-lap run to bring Stage One to a close. Lining up on the
front-row, Larson went on to bring Team Chevy to the first green-white
checkered flag in the second position – leading fellow playoff
contenders, Elliott (third) and Ross Chastain (fifth), to valuable
point-earning results in Stage One.
· With the majority of the field hitting pit road under the
stage break, Larson and Elliott led the field off pit road among the
cars that made a four-tire stop – regaining their running positions to
start the next 85-lap run. The race for second began to heat up among
the Hendrick Motorsports teammates with Elliott making the pass for
position on Lap 102. Despite losing a few positions during an intense
battle among the second- through fifth-place drivers, Larson continued
to find rhythm in the fifth position as the green-flag pit cycle was
looming near the halfway point of the stage. Once the field cycled
through, Elliott and Larson found spots back in the top-four with 35
laps to go in the stage. Going green to the end of Stage Two, the pair
of teammates were among the four drivers to earn top-five points in both
stages with Larson and Elliott taking the next green-white checkered
flag in the third and fourth positions, respectively. With Chastain
crossing the line to collect eighth-place points, the trio of Team Chevy
playoff contenders were among the seven drivers to earn points in both
stages.
· With two positions gained in the race off pit road, Elliott
inherited a spot on the front-row to take the green-flag for the final
stage. With a masterful restart, Elliott drove his No. 9 Chevrolet to
the top position to lead his first laps of the day. The long green-flag
run proved to be a challenge for Elliott, falling to the fourth position
before the caution came out with 57 laps to go. With another clutch stop
by the No. 9 pit crew, Elliott gained yet another position on pit road
to find himself in third position for the restart. Maintaining a running
position in the top five, Elliott battled through a pair of overtime
finishes to make his second trip to victory lane this season.
Team Chevy Unofficial Top 10 Results
Pos. Driver
1st – Chase Elliott
6th – Kyle Larson
9th – William Byron
10th – Shane van Gisbergen
Chevrolet’s season statistics with 31 NASCAR Cup Series races complete:
Wins: 13
Poles: 11
Top-Fives: 57
Top 10s: 126
Stage Wins: 22
UP NEXT: THE 2025 NASCAR CUP SERIES PLAYOFFS ROUND OF 12 WILL CONCLUDE
AT THE CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY ROAD COURSE WITH THE BANK OF AMERICA
ROVAL 400 ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 5, AT 3 P.M. ET. LIVE COVERAGE CAN BE FOUND
ON THE USA NETWORK, PRN AND SIRIUSXM NASCAR RADIO CHANNEL 90.
Post-Race Driver Quotes:
Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
Finished: 11th
“We fought around 10th place all day. I thought our No. 1 Kubota
Chevrolet showed signs of brilliance at the beginning and at the end of
Stage One. I thought we were really strong, and then I just never had
that feeling again. We just couldn’t get the balance right and the
grip to go with it. We’ll regroup and get ready for the Charlotte
ROVAL next weekend.”
(HHP/Jacy Norgaard)
Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Finished: 6th
You looked like you were a top-five car for most of the day, and then
you scraped the wall there at the end. How much did that affect your
ride?
“It didn’t affect my ride, I don’t think. I actually felt pretty
good after it. My No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet was good all race
long. I just couldn’t go for 15 laps like the Toyota’s could, but I
felt like after that, we were really good. We could kind of move around
and get some lines going. It’s just really difficult to pass. But
overall, our team brought a really fast Chevy. I just need to study the
restarts and those first handful of laps on each restart to see what I
could do better with the balance that I had. But overall, it was a great
day. We’re 54-points above the cutline, happy about that heading into
the Charlotte ROVAL.”
(HHP/Jacy Norgaard)
Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
Finished: 19th
“The entire No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet team worked
throughout the race to make adjustments to make us competitive today. We
made forward progress, but it just wasn’t enough to get us where we
needed to be to contend for a victory this afternoon at Kansas Speedway.
This race is in the books and our attention is now on securing that
first win of the season next weekend at the Charlotte ROVAL.”
Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Finished: 1st
“Everything worked out perfect for me. Had a great push through
(turns) one and two. That kind of all started with the No. 6 (Brad
Keselowski). I had a big run off of two. The seas kind of parted and I
just was able to keep my momentum up. That was really it. Obviously we
still had pretty good tires compared to those guys, but what a crazy
finish. Hope you all enjoyed that. I certainly did. Really proud of this
No. 9 Kelley Blue Book Chevrolet team. Had a really solid weekend, win
or no win. Really nice to qualify really well. We’ll certainly enjoy
this, man. This is pretty cool. Just never take this stuff for granted
because it’s hard to come by. Learned that the hard way. Always enjoy
it. Always appreciate it.
Thanks to everybody at KBB. What a great partner. This is our 10th
season together, which is pretty cool. Everybody at Chevrolet and
Hendrick Motorsports, I appreciate it. Glad to be bringing one home.”
William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Finished: 9th
“We struggled there at the beginning. We missed something, but we made
a bunch of changes and our No. 24 Cincinnati Chevrolet came to life
there in the final stage. I’m not sure… it was really confusing,
honestly. I couldn’t carry any speed, and then the changes we made
seemed to fix it and I could carry speed there at the end. Even on
two-tires, I was competitive on the restarts. It’s just a bummer that
it was the way it was early, but the bright side is that we finished
well and we found something there at the end.”
What does the rebound say about your team, that you were able to hang in
there?
“It sucks that we’re having to throw hail Mary’s this time of
year… we don’t want to do that. But this team is resilient. We
weren’t going to give up. The fact of the matter was that we had to
fix it and work on it. We just had to try a bunch of stuff and we got
the car going in the right direction. I could carry speed and do the
things we needed to do there at the end.”
(HHP/Jacy Norgaard)
Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
Finished: 10th
“It was really cool to get a top-10 finish at Kansas Speedway. It was
good to do it in a Red Bull car. We’ve had some really cool partners
this year and stoked to be able to do it here at Kansas Speedway. I feel
like we’re getting better and better at these tracks. It was difficult
starting a lap down and having that penalty, but Chais Eliason (interim
crew chief) did a great job. We had really good speed at points of the
race, so I’m stoked to get a top-10. I’m over the moon with that.”