Ross Chastain takes checkered flag in Hollywood Casino 400 NASCAR playoff race

Ross Chastain turned in a breakthrough performance in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race, denying postseason contender William Byron at Kansas Speedway and notching his first win of the season.

Chastain’s No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet led 52 of the 267 laps in the Hollywood Casino 400, holding a 0.388-second winning margin at the end of the first race in the postseason’s Round of 12.

Chastain’s first win at the 1.5-mile Kansas City, Kansas track marked the fifth of his Cup Series career — his first since the 2023 season finale at Phoenix Raceway, 30 races ago.

Byron led 24 laps and finished second in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Martin Truex Jr. placed third, with Ryan Blaney fourth and Ty Gibbs completing the top five.

Christopher Bell started his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota from the pole position and led a race-high 121 laps. He drove on after a pair of wall scrapes — one near the end of each of the first two stages — which kept him from collecting a bigger stage-point bonus, then salvaged a seventh-place finish.

Kyle Larson entered as the series’ points leader, but his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet scrubbed the outside retaining wall in the 19th lap after a tire deflated. Larson continued after multiple pit stops for repairs, eventually regaining a lost lap and finishing 26th.

This story will be updated.