By AMANDA VINCENT
Kyle Larson claimed his first win of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season Sunday in the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway. It was Hendrick Motorsports third win, so far, of 2023 and Chevrolet’s fifth win, seven races into the season.
“What an awesome Hendrickcars.com Chevy,” Larson said. “Can’t say enough about it. I got into the 99 (Daniel Suarez) on pit road, there, sometime in the second stage, and we were awful after that. I was hoping the damage was the reason why, but they had to calm me down a little bit and get refocused and was able to get it done. Thanks to everyone on this team, Cliff Daniels, for everything he does to prepare the team to be as strong as we are without him on the box. So good to get a win and, hopefully, many more.”
Josh Berry parlayed his role as substitute driver for the the injured Chase Elliott into a career-best second-place finish for a Hendrick one-two finish. It was Berry’s first-career top-five in his sixth-career Cup Series race.
Ross Chastain finished third for a Chevy sweep of the top-three in the Toyota-sponsored race. Toyota driver Christopher Bell finished fourth, and Ford’s Kevin Harvick rounded out the top-five.
“It was pretty disappointing,” Bell said. “I felt like we had enough speed in our Rheem Camry to be up there all day, but I had a couple of restarts that put us in the back. We would lose spots when the yellow flags would come out, so it was just an uphill battle all day.”
Larson took his race-winning lead by getting off pit road first during a lap-372 caution for a Tyler Reddick spin. Berry was second. Before the caution, Larson and Berry’s HMS teammate William Byron was the race leader.
“William has been extremely good this year. It was going to be between probably him, the 19 (Martin Truex Jr.), us, and the 20 (Bell) was really good. So just things worked out,” Larson said. “My pit crew had a great stop. So shout out to Brandon Johnson. He is our jackman. He just turned 30 today. Our spotter, Tyler Monn, he turned 30 today. Great day for them guys.“
The yellow flag waved one additional time, the eighth time in the race, on the lap-380 restart when Byron hit the wall after being clipped by Bell. Byron led a race-high 117 laps before the incident. He wound up 24th at the finish.
“It was a pretty standard restart with the 1 (Chastain) behind you. I tried to protect from him going to the inside, and he still made it three-wide, there, at the last minute and there wasn’t enough room,” Bell said of the incident with Byron.
Toyota dominated the lead in the second half of the 400-lap race. Martin Truex Jr. was running second to Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin before a cycle of green-flag pit stops just before lap 300. Hamlin gave up the lead to pit on lap 293. A slow stop with trouble changing the right-front tire cost Hamlin significant track position. When the cycle of stops completed on lap 296, Truex was the new race leader.
Hamlin was back into the top-10 by pit stops during a lap-306 caution for Noah Gragson.
Truex pitted from the lead during the final cycle of green-flag stops on lap 352. Byron pitted two laps before Truex and took the lead on lap 367.
Truex was out of new tires by the final two cautions. During the yellow flag for Reddick, Truex’s team put 27-lap scuffs on the car. Meanwhile, Hamlin was assessed his second pit-road speeding penalty of the race.
Both JGR drivers were outside the top-10 at the checkered flag. Truex finished 11th and Hamlin 20th.
Byron won the 70-lap opening stage.
Byron first took the lead from Hendrick teammate and pole sitter Alex Bowman on lap 10. Chastain got off pit road first for the lead during a lap-30 competition caution, but Byron retook the lead on a lap-51 restart that followed a lap-45 caution when J.J. Yeley hit the wall after contact from Hamlin.
Hamlin was running near the back after his first pit-road speeding penalty during the competition caution.
By the end of stage one, Larson was up to second for a Hendrick one-two.
The win of the 160-lap stage two that concluded on lap 230 came down to a late-stage battle between JGR teammates Hamlin and Bell. Hamlin took his stage-winning lead from Bell on lap 228 after taking second from Byron on lap 220.
Three JGR drivers were in the top-four at the end of the second stage with Truex in fourth.
Bell led after taking second from Larson on lap 199 and, then, the lead from Byron on lap 207.
Larson ran second to Byron early in the 160-lap second stage before taking the lead on lap 124.
The second stage also included a caution for a spin by Berry on lap 95.
Larson gave up the lead to pit during a green-flag cycle of stops on lap 160. When the cycle completed on lap 165, Larson was, again, the race leader with Byron in second.
Byron retook the lead from his teammate on lap 197.
Michael McDowell finished sixth in Sunday’s race. Joey Logano finished seventh, Bowman was eighth, Ty Gibbs ninth, and Brad Keselowski finished 10th.
