AP Top News｜凯尔·拉森（Kyle Larson）在堪萨斯州再次获得胜利，本赛季第三次获得纳斯卡杯系列赛的胜利

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) Kyle Larson took most of the drama out of his second straight spring victory at Kansas Speedway on Sunday.

After putting his No. 5 car on the pole for Hendrick Motorsports, Larson led 221 of 267 laps, winning both stages and cruising to his third NASCAR Cup Series win of the season. He was never challenged down the stretch by second-finishing Christopher Bell and he most certainly didnt need another last-lap pass to win at the wire like he did a year ago .

The margin over Chris Buescher then was 0.001 seconds, the closest in Cup Series history. It was 0.712 seconds on Sunday.

Glad to not win by an inch this time, Larson said with a smile. A little safer gap.

Larson, who also has wins at Homestead and Bristol, has finished in the top four in each of his past four Cup Series races, and now he will take that momentum to Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Larson will be on track Tuesday as he begins another shot at the Double running every lap of the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day Memorial Day weekend.

Last year, he contended in the rain-delayed Indy 500 before a speeding penalty on pit road resulted in an 18th-place finish. He then hopped a flight to Charlotte for the NASCAR race, but rain there kept him from ever completing a lap.

Its a cool win here at Kansas, Larson said in victory lane, and now well try to execute two good weeks at Indy.

Even though Larson spent most of a hot, sunny day at Kansas in the lead, he found himself trailing Chase Elliott early in the final stage. But when Elliotts team dropped the jack too soon before his right rear tire was on during a pit stop, Larson was able to get back to the front on the restart, and he spent the last 50 laps cruising to the checkered flag.

Bell, a three-time winner already, finished in the top three for the sixth time this season. Ryan Blaney came in third, giving Team Penske another good run after Austin Cindric won two weeks ago at Talladega and Joey Logano won last week at Texas.

I was just trying to get to the end. I know Ryan was coming on really strong there, Bell said. I feel like our day was kind of a product of qualifying well and having good pit stops and restarts.

Blaney knew he was coming on strong, too, but he was left to lament what might have been.

We were kind of running those guys down quick, Blaney said. A few more laps, I would have scared the 5 a bit at least.

Chase Briscoe finished fourth and Larsons teammate Alex Bowman rounded out the top five.

Brad Keselowski looked as if he might finally have his first top-10 finish this season. He started from the rear but steadily made his way forward, and the 2012 series champion had moved into second behind Elliott when his right rear went down with 72 laps to go. Keselowski wound up in the wall, ending his hopes of contending.

I mean, it was going to be a great day, Keselowski said. I heard a big boom and around it went. Its unfortunate.

Denny Hamlin also had a fast car all afternoon, but he wound up fighting a clutch problem that made pitting a nightmare. He was still running with the leaders before Keselowskis caution, when yet more clutch trouble finally ruined his day.

Really fast again, Hamlin said. Just cant keep it together right now.

Green and yellow

There had been only one non-stage caution before Keselowski hit the wall. Cody Ware, Daniel Suarez and Ty Dillon brought out another in a wreck on the restart; Kyle Busch was bumped and spun to bring out another yellow on the next restart; and Justin Haley, Erik Jones and Bubba Wallace were involved in another wreck on a third consecutive restart.

Odds and ends

Larson won for the 32nd time, and joined Hamlin and Busch as the only active Cup Series drivers to have led more than 10,000 laps. ... Briscoe was fourth for the fourth time this season. He has yet to finish better. ... Larson made it three straight wins for Chevrolet at Kansas Speedway. Ross Chastain won the fall race last season. ... Hamlins streak of seven straight top-10s at Kansas ended. He finished 36th. ... Logano challenged for second late in the race before finishing ninth.

Up next

The All-Star Race is up next Sunday at North Wilkesboro, where Logano is the defending champ. There are changes to the format this year, including an optional promoters caution flag, which could dramatically reshape the 250-lap race.

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

堪萨斯城（美联社）——凯尔·拉森（Kyle Larson）在周日于堪萨斯州速通赛车场（Kansas Speedway）取得的第二次连续春季胜利中，将大部分戏剧性元素抛诸脑后。

在为Hendrick Motorsports车队将5号车置于起跑点后，拉尔森在267圈中领跑221圈，赢得了两个阶段的比赛，并轻松地获得了本赛季第三场NASCAR Cup Series的胜利。在最后的冲刺阶段，他从未受到第二名完赛的克里斯托弗·贝尔的挑战，而且他当然不需要像去年那样在最后一圈超越对手来赢得比赛。

克里斯·布歇斯（Chris Buescher）的领先优势为0.001秒，这是杯赛历史上最接近的领先差距。然而，到周日时，这一差距扩大到了0.712秒。

拉森微笑着说：“很高兴这次不是险胜一寸，而是有了一个更安全的差距。”

拉尔森在Homestead和Bristol也有获胜的经历，他过去四场Cup系列赛中均进入了前四名，现在他将把这种势头带到印第安纳波利斯赛道。周二，拉尔森将开始他另一次的“双赛”尝试——在阵亡将士纪念日周末的同一天参加印第安纳波利斯500赛和可口可乐600赛的每一圈比赛。

去年，他在因雨推迟的印第安纳波利斯500英里赛中奋力一搏，但在维修区因超速被罚后，最终排名第18位。之后他飞往夏洛特参加NASCAR比赛，但那里的雨天让他未能完成一圈。

在堪萨斯这里获得了一次冷静的胜利，拉尔森在胜利之路上说，“现在我们将尝试在印第安纳的比赛中执行两个好的周次。”

尽管拉尔森在堪萨斯州的一个炎热、阳光明媚的日子的大部分时间里都处于领先地位，但在最后阶段的早期，他发现自己落后于查斯·埃利奥特。然而，在埃利奥特的团队在进站期间过早地放下千斤顶，而他的右后轮胎尚未安装时，拉尔森得以在重新启动时回到领先位置，并在接下来的50圈中以轻松的节奏驶向终点旗。

贝尔，这位已经三次获胜的选手，本赛季第六次跻身前三名。瑞恩·布兰尼紧随其后，为潘斯克车队再添佳绩，此前奥斯汀·辛德里克两周前在塔拉德加获胜，乔伊·洛根诺上周在德克萨斯获胜。

贝尔表示：“我当时只是想完成比赛。我知道瑞安（Ryan）当时确实表现强劲。我觉得我们那天的成绩是得益于良好的排位赛成绩以及出色的进站和重启。”

布兰尼意识到自己的态度过于强硬，但他只能惋惜那些本可能发生的可能性。

我们当时的确是在快速追赶那些人。

钱斯·布里斯科以第四名完赛，而拉尔森的队友亚历克斯·博曼（Alex Bowman）则位居第五。

布雷德·凯泽洛夫斯基（Brad Keselowski）看起来可能终于能在这个赛季获得前十名的成绩了。他从最后一名起跑，但稳步前进，2012年系列赛冠军在还剩72圈时右后轮胎出现问题，但他已经升至第二名，紧随埃利奥特（Elliott）之后。然而，凯泽洛夫斯基最终撞上了墙，结束了他的竞争希望。

我指的是，那本会是一个非常棒的日子。凯斯罗夫斯基说道，我听到了一声巨大的爆炸声，然后就发生了这样的状况。真是遗憾。

丹尼·哈林（Denny Hamlin）整个下午都拥有一辆快速的车，但最终却因为离合器问题而陷入了困境，这让他进站维修变成了一场噩梦。在库塞尔斯基（Keselowski）的注意之前，他仍然与领头羊并驾齐驱，但更多的离合器问题最终毁了他的这一天。

汉林（Hamlin）说：“这又是非常快的速度。现在我真的无法控制它了。”

绿色和黄色

在科塞洛夫斯基撞墙之前，只有一次非阶段警告。科迪·瓦尔、丹尼尔·苏亚雷斯和泰·迪伦在重新启动时发生了另一起事故，科尔·布斯在接下来的重新启动中发生了碰撞并旋转，导致又出现了一次黄色警告；紧接着，贾斯汀·海利、埃里克·琼斯和巴布·华莱士在第三次连续重新启动中又发生了一起事故。

零碎小物

拉尔森第32次夺得冠军，与哈姆林和巴斯并列，成为唯一一位在超过10,000圈的比赛中领先的现役杯系列赛车手。……布里斯科本赛季第四次获得第四名，但他尚未取得更好的成绩。……拉尔森在堪萨斯赛车场连续三次为雪佛兰赢得比赛。罗斯·查斯坦上赛季的秋季比赛获胜。……哈姆林在堪萨斯连续7次进入前十的纪录结束，他最终排名第36位。……罗迦诺在比赛的最后阶段挑战第二名，最终排名第9。

接下来

下周日将在北威尔克斯伯勒举行全明星赛，罗迦诺（Logano）是上届冠军。今年赛制有所改变，包括可选的推广方警告旗，这可能会极大地改变250圈的比赛格局。

美国新闻社（AP）的汽车比赛：请访问[此处](https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing)了解更多信息。