MADISON, Ill. – Kyle Larson snapped a 51-race winless streak as Chase competitors crashed in the Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway.

Larson finished fifth in the Cook Out Southern 500 last weekend at Darlington Raceway, but on Sunday in Illinois, Larson survived double NASCAR Overtime to win his first race since May 11, 2025, at Kansas Raceway

“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.”

Larson was strong all race long. He started the race on outside pole and raced up front for most of the day. He finished third in Stage 1, and then he won Stage 2. He was out in front of the field for 80 laps, including the final 20 as caution after caution happened behind him. Most importantly for Larson, he now jumps up to second in The Chase standings, just six points behind Hamlin.

“I’m so proud of the team; proud of Cliff Daniels (crew chief), the pit crew, everyone at Hendrick Motorsports,” Larson said. “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.”

Larson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Alex Bowman, finished second. Bowman played a big role in Larson’s victory; he pushed Larson out in front of the field during the late restarts. Bowman also had speed throughout the day, but ultimately, he just didn’t have enough speed to challenge for the win. The effort marked his first top-five since Chicagoland Speedway in July.

“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.”

Polesitter, Joey Logano, finished third. William Byron and Ross Chastain rounded out the top-five. Completing the top-10 was Austin Dillon, Connor Zilisch, Carson Hocevar, Hamlin and Austin Cindric.

There were 11 lead changes among five drivers. Logano led a race high of 96 laps.

The race was filled with 18 cautions. Nearly every Chase competitor was caught up in an accident throughout the day. The cautions later in the race proved to be more impactful as far as the points are concerned.

On Lap 156, Ryan Blaney had a rotor fail as he sailed into the Turn 1 wall. At one point in the day, he was leading the points, but a 35^th-place finish set him even further back from point-leader Hamlin.

Chase Elliott had a brake rotor failure as he was battling Chase Briscoe for position in entering Turn 1 on Lap 215. Elliott spun and collected Briscoe. Both made significant contact with the outside wall. Elliott finished 31^st, and Briscoe finished 32^nd.

“Yeah, really nothing that said it was fixing to break, unfortunately,” Elliott said. “I knew that there had been some issues throughout the day, obviously. I was right behind Ryan (Blaney) when he blew his. I guess it’s kind of the luck of the draw, unfortunately. I just went to make a move on the No. 19 (Chase Briscoe) there. I stepped on the brakes, exploded a rotor and that was about it.”

Following the crash, Briscoe said, “Just wrong place, wrong time for our Bass Pro Shops, Tracker Boats Toyota Camry. Just have to go the next eight weeks and try to win as many of them as we can. We kind of used nine lives today and kept trying to find our way back up there and at the end wasn’t in the place where we needed to be. Will go to the deer stand tomorrow and reset.” 

Once back to green, caution came out again on Lap 224. Bubba Wallace, Josh Berry and Christopher Bell tangled while battling for position three-wide out of Turn 2. With nowhere to go, Tyler Reddick ran into the back of Berry and went airborne. Bell, who looked like a race-winning contender, had to settle for a disappointing 19^th. Reddick was meticulously making his way through the field at the time of the accident. He finished 25^th.

“I mean, for us, we were just getting caught up in everyone’s messes,” Reddick said. “Whether it was early on there – the 7’s (Daniel Suarez) mistake, and I don’t know what happened with Bubba (Wallace) and (Josh) Berry there. Yeah, just tried to bring it home and get a good finish, and couldn’t even do that. It is just kind of where we are used to at this point, for us, we did a really good job at bouncing back from the issues early.” 

Hamlin leads The Chase standings, followed by Larson (-6), Bell (-15), Blaney (-37), Reddick (-42), Ty Gibbs (-48), Logano (-49), Briscoe (-58), Carson Hocevar (-82), Wallace, (-88), Elliott (-90), William Byron (-104), Cindric (-104), Chris Buescher (-108), Ryan Preece (-114) and Daniel Suarez (-116).

The third race of The Chase will take place at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday, Sept. 19. The Bass Pro Shops Night Race will broadcast live on the USA Network at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Photo Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images