Only 0.565 seconds was the difference between Kyle Larson and Austin Cindric after the checkered flag dropped at Kansas Speedway. The No. 2 Penske Ford had the raw speed to compete against Larson, but he got held up in traffic and made a couple of mistakes on the pit road. On a day where the No. 5 Chevy looked unbeatable, Cindric saw something that felt like the only chink in Larson’s otherwise perfect armor. 

“I think if there’s any weakness in Larson’s game today, it didn’t seem like he could pull off too many passes on lap traffic,” Cindric told the media post-race. “So, kind of knew that was gonna be our opportunity. And obviously, 19 pounced on those guys back and forth.”

Larson got his second Chase win, but even he believed that the win wasn’t a cakewalk. The No. 2 Ford perhaps had the best long-run speed, and the No. 5 of Larson lost the balance while navigating the lap traffic. It was evident during the stage 1 run when Larson wanted to know which lines the No. 2 and No. 11 car were running. And Cindric and the No. 2 team knew that was going to be their focus.

“That really is what gave us a shot when we had the lap of time, had the pace, but we were way too far back after the pit cycles,” Cindric said. “Which gave us a shot and probably had one of the better long-run speed cars there at the end, which is great because I didn’t think we had that most of the day. So it’s kudos to the team, but yeah, sucks to come up that short.”

Larson bagged the highest-points finish of the season with 76 points and created a 26-point gap to Denny Hamlin, who himself had a 51-point day and finished 3rd. Not to forget, he swept the stages and led 235 of 267 laps.

Kansas and the next two races at Las Vegas and Charlotte, three intermediate tracks, were a stretch where it felt like Toyota would have the advantage. Going into Kansas, the question was, has anyone caught up to Toyota at mile-and-a-half tracks? Larson’s win was a resounding yes from Chevrolet, while it was Cindric’s race that proved that Ford isn’t lacking pace either. 

While Larson won both stages, Cindric finished third in the first stage and second in stage two, rounding up his day with 52 crucial points to jump up to 9th in the championship. 

Ahead of the Kansas race, Cindric said that he wanted to end his season with multiple wins. The No. 2 Penske driver, who was 11th in points, also admitted that while the gap to the leader was over 100 points, a few wins could change that. 

His Penske teammate Joey Logano started the race on pole but finished 20th, while Blaney started 25th and finished 5th. Logano fell to 4th in points and saw his 16-point deficit to Larson after winning in Bristol increase to 67 points. Blaney, on the other hand, managed to get his second finish in four Chase races after DNFs at Gateway and Bristol plagued his otherwise consistent season. 

While Logano struggled and Blaney managed to pull off a damage-control race, Cindric came into Kansas with an air of confidence and actually said before the race that it was a track where he has run well previously and expected to finish well. Cindric’s wishes to get a win, though, went narrowly unanswered; albeit, it was his best finish of the season. 

Cindric’s form in the Chase has been remarkable. He entered the Chase in 15th, and after four races he’s 9th. He’s finished 13th in Darlington, 10th at Gateway and 11th in Bristol. Cindric is the only Penske driver to finish every race in the Chase within the top 15, and if that streak continues, a win is definitely around the corner for Roger Penske’s No. 2 car.