Kyle Larson won the final race off pit road, held on over two restarts and scored his first 2023 victory in Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway in Richmond, Virginia.
In the first of three straight weeks of short-track racing in the NASCAR Cup Series, Larson and the field pitted with 25 laps left after Tyler Reddick’s spin on Lap 372 brought out the seventh caution.
Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet emerged with the lead and won a 14-lap dash to the checkers over teammate Josh Berry, the replacement in the No. 9 for injured Chase Elliott.
Larson led 93 laps in his 20th career win. His previous win at RIR was on Sept. 9, 2017.
Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top five.
With qualifying washed out, NASCAR used a performance-based metric that put Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman on the front row beside Kyle Busch for the 400-lap race at the 3/4-mile track.
William Byron quickly charged to the front from third place in his No. 24 Chevy and dominated Stage 1 to record his series-best fifth stage win.
Larson led 67 laps and was in control of Stage 2 until he pitted under green and made hard contact while exiting his pit box with Daniel Suarez’s No. 99 Chevy.
Eventually, Larson lost the handling on his Camaro due to the incident and was passed by Byron and Bell before the segment ended.
Bell’s No. 20 Toyota got better on the longer run and slipped past Byron to lead for the first time in the final 25 laps of Stage 2.
However, Hamlin maneuvered his No. 11 Camry by Bell’s to the point with two circuits left to claim the stage — the first for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2023.
–Field Level Media