The NASCAR Cup Series visited Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon in the Wurth 400. Carson Hocevar started the race on the pole with William Byron starting in second.
In Stage 1, the first caution came on lap 20 when Noah Gragson got sideways and had a long slide in Turn 2. He was trying to pass Daniel Suarez for the 20th position. Carson Hocevar led the opening 22 laps. Denny Hamlin led a lap during the caution after a miscommunication and pitted a lap later. He went to pit road during the caution and Austin Cindric was the new leader.
Austin Cindric led 50 laps until the second caution came on lap 70 when Denny Hamlin’s car engine expired and caught on fire. The caution would end the first stage which was won by Austin Cindric.
In Stage 2, Josh Berry was the new leader with Austin Cindric in second place. Berry cleared Cindric at Turn 1 and Kyle Larson challenged Cindric for second place when the caution came out again for Chase Briscoe, who went high at Turn 4 and spun collecting Riley Herbst in the process.
On the restart, Josh Berry held on to the lead with Kyle Larson chasing him. Unfortunately, on lap 125, Berry spun at the exit of Turn 4 and hit the wall that brought out another caution. Everyone went to pit road with Todd Gilliland as the new leader and Kyle Larson was in second place.
On the restart, Kyle Larson got the lead from Gilliland at Turn 2 and slowly began to extend his lead. He was in control until Chris Buescher blew a right rear tire and part of the tire went on the track bringing out the caution. The caution would end the second stage which was won by Kyle Larson.
In the final stage, William Byron was the new leader with Chase Elliott in second place. On lap 172, Bubba Wallace hit the Turn 2 wall and spun in the backstretch causing a major crash that involved AJ Allmendinger, Alex Bowman, Noah Gragson, and Chad Finchum.
On the restart, Kyle Larson worked his way back up to challenge William Byron for the lead on lap 190. He cleared Byron at Turn 3 for the lead and Ty Gibbs challenged Byron for second place. Larson began to distance himself from the two drivers.
On lap 221, Jesse Love got loose at the exit of Turn 2 and hit the inside wall. Michael McDowell stayed out while the rest went to pit road. Michael McDowell led nine laps before losing the lead to Ryan Blaney. Late in the race, McDowell tried to hold off Joey Logano but he got loose at the exit of Turn 2 and crashed hard in the inside wall sending the race to overtime.
In overtime, Joey Logano took the lead and held off Ross Chastain to win his first race of the season by 0.346 seconds. Logano led a total of seven laps. The rest of the top ten finishers were Ryan Blaney third, Kyle Larson fourth, Erik Jones fifth, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. sixth, Austin Dillion seventh, John H. Nemechek eighth, Christopher Bell ninth, and Daniel Suarez tenth.
There were 12 cautions for 73 laps. There were 20 lead changes among 13 changes. Kyle Larson led 90 laps which was the most in the race.
The Cup Series heads to Kansas Speedway for Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 next Sunday at 3 pm on FS1. Purchase NASCAR Cup Series tickets today at StubHub.
