Kyle Larson wins again at Kansas, dominating for his 3rd NASCAR Cup Series win this season

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) - Kyle Larson made it back-to-back spring race wins at Kansas Speedway on Sunday, dominating the NASCAR Cup Series race from the pole to win for the third time this season and continue a torrid stretch of on-track success.

Larson, who also has won at Homestead and Bristol, swept both of the stages and led 221 of 267 laps, never giving second-place finisher Christopher Bell and third-running Ryan Blaney a chance to challenge him down the stretch.

The comfortable winning margin stood in stark contrast to a year ago, when Larson sent his No. 5 Chevrolet roaring around the outside on the final lap and edged Chris Buescher by 0.001 seconds, setting a Cup Series record for closest finish.

Larson has finished in the top four in each of his past four Cup Series races, including that win at Bristol, and now he will take his momentum to Indianapolis Motor Speedway this coming week. Larson will be on track Tuesday as he begins another shot at "the Double" - running every lap of the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day Memorial Day weekend.

Even though Larson spent most of a hot, sunny day in the lead at Kansas, he found himself trailing Chase Elliott early in the final stage. But when Elliott’s team dropped the jack too soon before his right rear tire was on during a pit stop, Larson was able to get back to the front on the restart, and he spent the last 50 laps cruising to the checkered flag.

Bell, a three-time winner already this season, finished in the top three for the sixth time this season. Blaney gave Team Penske another strong run after Austin Cindric won two weeks ago at Talladega and Joey Logano won last week at Texas.

Chase Briscoe was fourth and Larson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman finished fifth.

Brad Keselowski looked as if he might finally have his first top-10 finish this season. He started from the rear but steadily made his way forward, and the 2012 series champion had moved into second behind Elliott when his right rear went down with 72 laps to go. Keselowski wound up in the wall, ending his hopes of contending.

"I mean, it was going to be a great day,” Keselowski said. “I heard a big boom and around it went. It’s unfortunate."

Denny Hamlin also had a fast car all afternoon, but he found himself fighting a clutch problem that made pitting a nightmare. He was still running with the leaders before Keselowski’s caution, when yet more clutch trouble finally ruined his day.

"Really fast again," Hamlin said. "Just can’t keep it together right now."

There had been only one non-stage caution before Keselowski hit the wall. Cody Ware, Daniel Suarez and Ty Dillon brought out another in a wreck on the restart; Kyle Busch was bumped and spun to bring out another yellow on the next restart; and Justin Haley, Erik Jones and Bubba Wallace were involved in another wreck on a third consecutive restart.

The All-Star Race is up next Sunday at North Wilkesboro, where Logano is the defending champ. There are changes to the format this year, including an optional promoter’s caution flag, which could dramatically reshape the 250-lap race.