AdventHealth 400 highlights: Denny Hamlin wins late thriller at Kansas Speedway

The NASCAR Cup Series‘ May schedule kicked off Sunday with the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway, and we had you covered with all the action from Denny Hamlin‘s exhilarating win, exclusively on FS1 and the FOX Sports app!

NASCAR’s top stars battled over 267 laps on the 1.5-mile asphalt speedway in Kansas City in the 12th race of the 2023 Cup Series season.

Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron earned Sunday’s pole position after recording a lightning-fast 179.206 mph (30.133 seconds) lap in Saturday afternoon’s qualifier.

You can find a full list of winners so far this year, as well as the season’s remaining schedule here.

Here are the top moments!

Green!

Pole-winner Byron fell deep into the pack and lost his lead almost immediately after touching the wall right out of the gate.

Seeing yellow

Meanwhile, Kyle Larson spun out after taking contact from Tyler Reddick to bring out the first caution of the day.

Follow the leader

Reddick led after the restart with Ross Chastain close behind him, but it was Martin Truex Jr. who ended up taking over the top spot on Lap 29. Then, after a series of green-flag pit stops, Corey LaJoie became the new leader.

Elsewhere, misfortune struck for Chase Briscoe when he lost his left front tire on pit road, narrowly avoiding a caution.

Double trouble

Byron hit the wall once again later in Stage 1, dropping him all the way back to 34th.

Wild Stage 1

It was Hamlin who won the opening stage by 0.824 seconds after taking the lead from Truex on Lap 72.

Behind Hamlin and Truex were Ty Gibbs, Reddick and Daniel Suárez rounding out the top five in the first stage.

Close call

Suárez was this close to getting turned around early in the second stage. The miscue dropped him eight spots.

Not how he drew it up

Austin Cindric hit the wall after blowing a tire on the track, bringing out another caution.

Meanwhile, Bubba Wallace and Truex fought for the lead off the restart.

More contact

Then, Aric Almirola, who running 13th before he lost control, went for a spin of his own to bring yet another caution.

Not so fast!

Meanwhile, Gibbs was forced to back up on pit road due to a loose wheel, while Brad Keselowski was penalized for speeding off pit road. Teammates Larson and Truex were racing neck-and-neck for the lead after the restart.

Another one!

Erik Jones and Josh Berry spun out with 18 laps remaining in the second stage, bringing out a late caution.

Chaos

Then, Kyle Busch and Chastain got into it a bit before Christopher Bell spun and crashed hard into the inside wall to bring out another caution with eight laps to go in Stage 2. The AMR Safety Team came out to assist Bell after the collision.

Stage 2 in the books

Right after Bell’s exit, Busch’s day was cut short after a big crash into the inside wall after the restart.

Joey Logano got the stage win under caution, followed by Michael McDowell, Noah Gragson, Jones and AJ Allmendinger.

Can’t catch a break

Another caution — the eighth of the race — came out for Gibbs, who got huge damage after spinning out due to contact from Truex, early in the third stage. The collision also ended Gibbs’ day prematurely.

Meanwhile, Hendrick Motorsports teammates Larson and Chase Elliott were battling for the lead after the restart.

Spin cycle!

You guessed it. Another caution came out early in Stage 3, this time it was for Harrison Burton, who spun out on Turn 2.

Double digits

Then, with 61 laps remaining, Gragson brought out the 10th caution of the day after also spinning out on Turn 2.

When it rains, it pours

Then, Suárez lost a tire late in the stage before the 11th caution of the day came out, this time because of Jones.

Closing time

With 20 laps to go, Larson was leading by a wide margin, with Hamlin in second and Byron racing third, respectively.

Pulling out all the stops

It quickly became a two-wide battle between Larson and Hamlin, who were locked in a thrilling side-by-side battle for the lead with five laps to go.

Winner!

Things came down to the wire, but in the end, Hamlin, who failed to pass Larson with five laps to go, was victorious after Larson got into the wall in the race’s final moments.

Punch thrown!

But the action wasn’t over yet. Following the race, Ross Chastain and Noah Gragson got into a fight on pit road, with Chastain landing a punch in the exchange.

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