RICHMOND, VIRGINIA – APRIL 02: Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, and team race engineer Adam Wall celebrate in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway on April 02, 2023 in Richmond, Virginia. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
The NASCAR Cup Series took on Richmond Raceway this weekend for the Toyota Owners 400.
While the NASCAR Truck Series raced at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend, both the Cup Series and Xfinity Series were at Richmond Raceway in Virginia.
Twenty-year-old Chandler Smith pulled off the victory in the Xfinity Series race, the first of his career. He pulled double duty and also participated in the Cup race, his series debut.
Hendrick Motorsport’s Alex Bowman sat on the pole for the Cup race; followed by Kyle Busch, William Byron, Ross Chastain and Tyler Reddick.
NASCAR Cup Series: Kyle Larson takes the lead late to win first race of 2023
Byron dominated the show early, winning Stage 1 over Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain, earning some much needed playoff points. In Stage 2, Denny Hamlin stole the show, beating out Christopher Bell and Byron.
Martin Truex Jr. spent the majority of the final stage out front. Thanks to a poor pit stop, he took himself out of contention and ultimately wasn’t even able to bring home a top 10. Instead, Kyle Larson won the race pretty much solely on pit road strategy. He edged out Josh Berry, who is filling in for Chase Elliott as an injury replacement, who brought it home in second.
For the 30-year-old Larson, the victory is the 19th of his career and first of the 2023 campaign. The 2021 series champion has hit a whole new level since returning from a year long suspension in 2020.
NASCAR Cup Series: Toyota Owners 400 results
- Kyle Larson
- Josh Berry
- Ross Chastain
- Christopher Bell
- Kevin Harvick
- Michael McDowell
- Joey Logano
- Alex Bowman
- Ty Gibbs
- Brad Keselowski
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Chase Briscoe
- Aric Almirola
- Kyle Busch
- Todd Gilliland
- Tyler Reddick
- Chandler Smith
- Ryan Preece
- Harrison Burton
- Denny Hamlin
- Corey Lajoie
- Bubba Wallace
- Daniel Suárez
- William Byron
- Austin Dillon
- Ryan Blaney
- AJ Allmendinger
- Austin Cindric
- Justin Haley
- Chris Buescher
- Erik Jones
- Ty Dillon
- Anthony Alfredo
- Cody Ware
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- JJ Yeley
- Noah Gragson (OUT – ACCIDENT)