Kyle Larson got booted out of line on the final lap and fell all the way back to 11th, but somehow fought back to win the race.
With Ross Chastain drafting, they sliced through the disorganized pack as Ricky Stenhouse Jr. held the lead. Behind him, Austin Hill ran out of fuel, leaving Stenhouse as a sitting duck.
Larson surged forward, passing Stenhouse in a Hendrick Motorsports 1-2 with William Byron second, Stenhouse, and Chastain fourth. There was just 0.041s between the Hendrick teammates at the finish line, and 0.073 separating the top four finishers.
Cole Custer finished fifth, Carson Hocevar sixth, Todd Gilliland seventh, Denny Hamlin eighth, Alex Bowman ninth, and Michael McDowell 10th.
Larson now leads the championship standings by a massive 73-point margin over Hamlin.
Stage 1
Briscoe led the race from pole position, but Hill quickly moved ahead after starting alongside.
The entire pack went three-wide for a bit before becoming strictly two-by-two. T. Dillon fell a lap down early after serving a drive-through penalty for some unapproved pre-race adjustments.
With everyone saving fuel, Keselowski put the throttle to the floor and passed the entire pack with no help, joining up with his teammates at the front.
As the RFK trio led the bottom line, it was the underdogs controlling the top with Cody Ware, Daniel Dye, and Gray Gaulding. Both Gray and Dye led laps for the first time in their Cup careers.
Around 30 laps into the run, the RFK trio decided to go, completely abandoning the pack and driving away. They got a full 40 seconds clear of the pack.
On Lap 50, the Chevrolets were the first to pit in two separate groups. Hocevar, Chastain, Suarez, Gase, and Mears were all caught speeding and issued penalties.
The RFK trio came down two laps later, and blended right into the pack.
When the Toyotas pitted, Bell lost control and spun into the inside wall, damaging the right-front heavily. The race stayed green, but the driver who entered this race second in the standings was now in big trouble. Bell had to pit again as the damage cut a tire down. Things only got worse from there as he was penalized by NASCAR.
When the Ford group pitted, Gragson had to bail into the grass to avoid a collision, which got him a penalty.
Zane Smith had to make an unscheduled pit stop for a flat tire, but again, the race stayed green.
The RFK trio cruised to the end of the stage, with Buescher winning Stage 1 over Preece and Keselowski. Way behind them, Larson led the main pack in fourth, Byron fifth, Herbst sixth, Briscoe seventh, Blaney eighth, Logano ninth, and Cindric tenth.
Stenhouse in 27th was awarded the free pass.
Stage 2
Logano took the lead on a frantic restart, leading the RFK Fords.
The field got side-by-side, but there was a lot more jockeying this time with no green-flag pit stop expected.
With just over ten laps to go in the stage, the first major incident of the race unfolded. A stack-up in the top lane ended with Wallace and Blaney tangling, spinning across the track and damaging several cars.
Two title contenders were eliminated from the race — Blaney, and also Reddick. Hamlin, Elliott, Nemechek, Gibbs, Wallace, Suarez, Gragson, and Gaulding were all involved.
Blaney, Reddick, Elliott, and Nemechek were unable to continue, while Mears fell out of the race at the same time with a mechanical issue.
In the mad-dash for stage points, Logano narrowly won Stage 2 over Larson, Briscoe, Cindric, Byron, Buescher, Zilisch, Van Gisbergen, and Hill.
Stage 3
A handful of cars stayed out, with Buescher and Jones leading the way on the 40-to-go restart.
As things got settled out, Larson took control of the race with several Chevrolets right behind him.
The third line began to form with Chastain moving up in front of Logano, and the two of them going to the front, even with Chastain as one lap down.
With just a few laps to go, Logano lost control after a bump from Hocevar in the tri-oval, flipping upside down in a monstrous crash. Several cars were collected, but thankfully, all drivers were later checked and released from the infield care center. NASCAR red-flagged the race as they flipped Logano’s car back onto its wheels.
On the restart, the pushes were massive, and Larson had the lead at the white flag. However, Hill pushed him out line at the exit of Turn 2, and suddenly, Stenhouse surged ahead to take the lead.
Larson fell back to 11th at the entrance of Turn 3, but he had Chastain directly behind him and a disorganized pack ahead of them.
Stenhouse was all by himself as Hill ran out of fuel, and Byron pulled alongside him. But Larson was flying on the inside with Chastain following, and the Hendrick driver took the checkered flag.
RACE
All Stats
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