Kyle Larson takes over points lead in pursuit for third NASCAR Cup championship

For the first time all year, a driver not driving a Toyota is leading the NASCAR Cup Series points standings, if only by the slimmest of margins. 

With a second-place finish in Saturday's Bristol Night Race, defending champion Kyle Larson leads Denny Hamlin, who finished eighth at Bristol, by a single point going into the Sept. 27 race at Kansas Speedway.

Hamlin has had good speed in the first three Chase races, but not the race-winning pace he had for most of the season. Larson, meanwhile, has looked better than he has all year, finishing fifth in the Southern 500, winning at Gateway and finishing runner-up on Saturday. 

Kyle Larson takes over NASCAR points lead

"Was happy to come away with a second there at the end," Larson told USA Network. "That was better than where I thought we could finish. It’s good. But there’s still so much racing left. Just got to keep having good consistent days. It’s three top 5s to open the Chase and looks like leading the points now by just a point.

"We’re going to some good tracks for us, but also good tracks for the Toyotas are Vegas and Kansas, Charlotte. It could easily change a lot here in the next upcoming weeks. But we’ve just got to be ready for anything and keep plugging away."

Mile-and-a-half tracks such as Kansas, Las Vegas and Charlotte have been playgrounds for Toyota this year. Hamlin won at Las Vegas in March, while 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick won at Kansas in April. Had the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte not been rain-shortened, either Hamlin or Christopher Bell very well could've beaten Daniel Suarez to win that race, too. 

But Larson, Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet as a whole have come on strong as of late, and if any driver can take down Toyota over the final seven weeks of the season, it's Larson.