Enjoy Illinois 300: Kyle Larson snaps 51-race winless streak, wins caution-filled Gateway race

MADISON, Ill. — 2025 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson had his best day in over a year, snapping a 51-race winless streak after a strong performance in the Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway.

The driver of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet ran toward the front for most of the day and avoided all of the record-breaking 18 cautions to earn a much-needed victory in the second race of The Chase. With a third-place finish in Stage 1 and a Stage 2 win, Larson went on to score 73 points, tied for the second-most points scored in a Cup Series race all season.

“Yeah, it feels great,” Larson said. “And honestly, I mean, it doesn’t feel like it’s been 51 races. You know, I feel like we’ve been in contention and had shots to win. We’ve just had to work really hard at it; stay patient and trust in the process. I’m so proud of the team; proud of Cliff Daniels (crew chief), the pit crew, everyone at Hendrick Motorsports. What a day for Hendrick Motorsports. Three in the top five at a track that doesn’t suit our style; that just shows the hard work that’s gone into it. I did not think that I would break the streak here; I was more looking at next week, but this definitely built some momentum and we just have to keep it going. There’s still a lot of racing left, but we need more days like today.”

Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman also had one of his strongest performances in quite some time. The driver of the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet was a big factor in Larson’s victory, pushing him on multiple restarts that helped him secure the win. Larson even shouted on the radio, “Thank you, Alex Bowman,” as he was very appreciative of his teammate’s help.

Bowman was also very emotional at the end of the event, as he recently announced his dog, Finn, had passed away just a few days before the race.

“It feels good to get a top five with this No. 48 Ally Chevrolet team,” Bowman said. “I’m really happy for Kyle (Larson, race winner). I hate to be one spot short, but just really proud of this team. We’ve certainly struggled here in the past, so I’m just glad we could have a good, solid day. Certainly, the pushes on the restarts were really important. I’m just glad I was able to help (his teammate, Kyle Larson) and make it happen. Glad it worked out.”

Team Penske driver Joey Logano seemed to be the driver to beat all race as the three-time Cup Series champion ended the day with a Stage 1 win, a runner-up finish in Stage 2, the Xfinity Fastest Lap and 54 points to go along with a third-place finish in the race.

“The restart where Larson took the lead — that’s where I lost it obviously,” Logano said. “He just rolled the bottom really good and cleared me, which is really surprising. His first, like, three laps of every run was pretty spectacular. You had a bunch of three-lap runs there at the end. Once he got there, then the 48 (Bowman) got there, the 24 (William Byron) got there. Had no homies with me. No more friends. On my own…”

In five Cup Series races at Gateway, Logano is the only driver to finish in the top five in every race.

Results from the 2026 Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway are listed below:

CAUTION CHAOS

The 2026 Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway had a record 18 cautions, including two red flags. The 308.75-mile race lasted three hours, 47 minutes and 23 seconds.

Many of the cautions came from cars experiencing brake failures or major mechanical issues. Zane Smith, Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott and Noah Gragson were among the drivers who suffered a failure.

Regarding the multiple incidents, Kyle Larson and Joey Logano were the only two Chase drivers to either not be involved in any of the 18 cautions or just did not have any setbacks. Chase drivers like Bubba Wallace, Daniel Suárez, Ty Gibbs and Chase Briscoe were all involved in more than one of the cautions. Riley Herbst, Shane van Gisbergen and AJ Allmendinger were all credited for being involved in three or more cautions.

Other Race Facts

A very interesting thing happened in the race:

Ross Chastain, Brad Keselowski and Josh Berry were the only non-Chase drivers to lead at least one lap in the Enjoy Illinois 300.

The five lap leaders were:

• Joey Logano (96 laps led, finished third, Chase),
• Kyle Larson (80 laps led, finished first, Chase),
• Brad Keselowski (55 laps led, finished 12th),
• Ross Chastain (15 laps led, finished fifth),
• Josh Berry (one lap led, finished 28th.

Hendrick Motorsports had three top-five finishers for the first time since this year’s Martinsville spring race, with Larson (first), Bowman (second) and Byron (fourth).

According to NASCAR Insights, Chevrolet had seven of the top eight finishers for the first time since the 2015 Daytona summer race.

Trackhouse Racing driver Connor Zilisch finished seventh, tying his best Cup Series finish on a non-drafting oval.

“It was certainly a chaotic day, but we survived and we were able to get ourselves back into a decent spot at the end there,” Zilisch said. “We had a few restarts at the end and this No. 88 Very Good Ventures Chevrolet team was able to come home with a solid day. I hate that Shane (van Gisbergen) got wrecked there at the end. We had three Trackhouse cars in the top-10 during one of those overtime restarts, so it’s just unfortunate that happened. But overall, it was a good day for us nonetheless.”

Brad Keselowski now has over 10,000 laps led in his Cup Series career. He is just the 23rd driver in Cup Series history to accomplish this, according to NASCAR Insights.

Chase Driver Gateway Results

• Kyle Larson (1st)
• Joey Logano (3rd)
• William Byron (4th)
• Carson Hocevar (8th)
• Denny Hamlin (9th)
• Austin Cindric (10th)
• Bubba Wallace (14th)
• Ty Gibbs (18th)
• Christopher Bell (19th)
• Tyler Reddick (25th)
• Chris Buescher (27th)
• Daniel Suárez (29th)
• Chase Elliott (31st)
• Chase Briscoe (32nd)
• Ryan Blaney (35th)

Chase Standings Post-Gateway

GRID Ranking

The 2026 GRID Ranking is the 10th year of the world’s premier motorsports ranking system, which was initially released on Sunday, April 5.
The official ranking includes drivers participating in seven racing series (NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula 1, Formula E, WRC, Supercars, MotoGP). Each driver earns GRID Ratings, which help determine their seeding in the GRID Ranking.

DRIVER	OLD RATING	PREVIOUS RANKING	MOST RECENT FINISH	NEW RATING	NEW RANKING
Denny Hamlin	13.54	5th	9th	13.16	5th
Tyler Reddick	13.16	8th	25th	12.69	8th
Christopher Bell	11.62	13th	19th	11.21	14th
Ty Gibbs	10.96	15th	18th	10.57	19th
Ryan Blaney	9.87	23rd	35th	9.51	27th

Week 24 of the GRID Ranking:

Week 24 of the Ranking saw all five NASCAR GRID Rating drivers remain in the same order, but all saw their rankings decrease. After being the lone driver in the NASCAR Rating outside the top-10 finishers last week, Denny Hamlin was the only driver inside the top 10 this week.

The next race on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday, Sept. 19. Coverage begins at 7:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

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