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Kyle Larson finished second in the October 4, 2026 South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, recovering from an early pit-stop setback and widening his NASCAR Cup Series Chase lead over Denny Hamlin from 26 to 40 points. Chase Briscoe won after leading 175 of 267 laps and sweeping both stages; Larson did not win the race.

How Larson recovered from an early setback

Larson started sixth in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet but struggled with handling early. He stopped for an adjustment around the right-front wheel area. Autoweek reported that the Lap 33 stop lasted 26 seconds and left him a lap down. A timely caution let Larson take a wave-around and return to the lead lap, limiting the damage (Autoweek).

He was 23rd at the end of Stage 1, then climbed to 10th by the end of Stage 2. With 30 laps remaining, he was third. He passed Bubba Wallace with 11 laps to go and was 0.346 seconds behind Briscoe with 10 laps left, according to Autoweek.

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Briscoe controlled the race; Larson made a late charge

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chase Briscoe led 35 of the opening 80 laps to win Stage 1, then swept both stages and led a race-high 175 of 267 laps. He finished 1.376 seconds ahead of Larson, with Tyler Reddick third, according to the NASCAR Wire Service race recap.

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That result came after Larson’s recovery, not because he had controlled the race. Larson said his tires were worn down by the time he reached Briscoe. He described the day simply: “It was a fight,” he told NASCAR.

What happened on the final lap

Larson kept pressing Briscoe as the leaders approached the finish. On the last lap, he moved high through Turns 3 and 4 to build momentum, got loose and overcorrected into the outside wall. Reddick then contacted Larson and slid across the infield grass. Both drivers recovered and retained their positions: Larson second, Reddick third. NASCAR reported that Larson and Reddick had closed to under four-tenths of a second with one lap remaining before the incident.

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Larson explained the move to NASCAR: “Just tried to stay patient, but my tires were pretty much burnt off by the time I got there [to Briscoe]. Just tried to do what I could to try to win. Felt like I moved up at the right time and did a decent job with it; just was trying to push hard in [Turns] 3 and 4 to build some momentum out, and I don’t know, and just got really loose and overcorrected in the wall.”

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Briscoe, the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing driver, said his focus was “more of the windshield, except for when Larson would get really, really close,” according to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway recap.

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How the result changed the Chase standings

Larson entered the Las Vegas race 26 points ahead of Hamlin and left 40 points ahead, a 14-point gain at the event. This is the post-race standings snapshot from October 4, 2026, with five Chase races remaining; it does not settle the championship. Autoweek reported that Larson’s average finish through the first five Chase races was 2.2. Hendrick Motorsports described that as the best opening five races of a postseason in NASCAR history (Hendrick Motorsports).

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