Kyle Larson snaps 51-race winless drought at Gateway

The longest winless drought of Kyle Larson's Hendrick Motorsports tenure finally came to an end on Sunday. 

Larson held off Alex Bowman and Joey Logano to win Sunday's Enjoy Illinois 300 at Gateway in double overtime. Sunday's race featured 18 cautions, plenty of which involved Chase contenders. 

The victory is the 33rd of Larson's career and his first since Kansas in May 2025. The defending series champion moved up to second in the series standings and is only six points back of points leader Denny Hamlin going into the Bristol Night Race on Sept. 19. 

"I had a good feeling, but you never know," Larson told USA Network. "I feel like this place is so weird, obviously with the brake rotor failures, strategy, all of that. Thanks to my fans for being patient with us. How about Hendrick Motorsports? How about Alex Bowman? You can't ask for a better teammate than him."

While Bowman was on the front row for the final restart, he gave Larson a vital push on the previous two restarts to ensure that the defending champion kept the lead. Larson dedicated the victory to Bowman's dog, Finn, who passed away earlier in the week. 

"I haven't doubted myself," Larson said. "I haven't doubted our team. Maybe myself at times, never my team. Thank you to everybody on the No. 5 team. No better time to have a great day than today. Feel like we got our swagger back a little bit."

Bowman, Larson's HMS teammate, finished runner-up, with polesitter Logano, William Byron and Ross Chastain rounding out the top five. Austin Dillon, Connor Zilisch, Carson Hocevar, Hamlin and Austin Cindric completed the top 10. 

Notable results

Other notable finishers include Brad Keselowski in 12th, Erik Jones in 13th, Bubba Wallace in 14th, Ryan Preece in 17th, Ty Gibbs in 18th, Christopher Bell in 19th, Tyler Reddick in 25th, Chris Buescher in 27th, Daniel Suarez in 29th, Chase Elliott in 31st, Chase Briscoe in 32nd and Ryan Blaney in 35th. 

Blaney, Buescher and Briscoe all suffered brake failures, with Elliott and Briscoe crashing together. Wallace, Bell, Reddick and Suarez were also involved in crashes. 

Zane Smith finished last (36th) after a brake failure and did not give an interview, though he was checked and released from the infield care center.