The Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas delivered one of the wildest playoff races in recent memory, the second event in the Round of 12. Chase Briscoe started on the pole, but before the green flag even got going, Shane van Gisbergen and Michael McDowell were both hit with stop-and-go penalties for splitter violations found after Saturday inspection.
On lap 21, Denny Hamlin powered past Briscoe for the lead. The first caution came on lap 56 when Cody Ware blew a right-front tire, setting up a sprint to close out the stage. Hamlin held off Christopher Bell to win Stage 1, with Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, and Briscoe completing the top five.
By lap 175, Elliott edged ahead of Hamlin by a car length on a restart with Bell running third and Bubba Wallace fourth, though the playoff outlook for both Wallace and teammate Tyler Reddick was shaky. Twenty laps later, Hamlin ran Elliott back down for the lead. On lap 210, JJ Yeley spun coming off Turn 4, bringing out a caution. Off pit road, Hamlin led Wallace and Elliott, but chaos broke out on the restart when Noah Gragson got into Austin Cindric and Joey Logano, triggering a multi-car accident. Soon after, Alex Bowman hit the wall after being squeezed up by van Gisbergen. Then with 15 laps to go, Kyle Busch cut a tire and hit the wall, shredding rubber all the way to pit road and forcing another caution. During pit stops, Ryan Blaney and Ty Gibbs were both penalized for speeding, while Bell took two tires to cycle to the lead.
With seven laps left, Carson Hocevar spun with help from Chris Buescher, sending the race into overtime. But the scariest moment came just after, when John Hunter Nemechek forced Zane Smith into the wall. Smith’s car rode the outside wall on its driver’s side like a rocket on rails before flipping violently down the embankment and landing upright. The net was slow to drop, creating a tense silence before Smith climbed out with help from AMR, drawing a huge ovation from the crowd. The red flag flew for cleanup and the race moved into a second overtime.
What followed was a finish for the ages. Bubba Wallace and Hamlin dueled side by side while Elliott, the only car on four fresh tires, charged from eigth with a head of steam. He weaved through traffic and closed fast, then committed fully coming off Turn 4 on the final lap. In a bold move, Elliott washed up into Hamlin’s door but had the momentum to beat both Hamlin and Wallace to the line, locking himself into the Round of 8 in dramatic fashion.
The thrilling Kansas finish also shuffled the playoff picture, leaving Austin Cindric, Ross Chastain, Tyler Reddick, and Wallace below the cut line heading into next week’s cutoff race at the Charlotte Roval.
Photo Credit: KANSAS CITY, KANSAS – SEPTEMBER 28: Chase Elliott, driver of the #9 Kelley Blue Book Chevrolet, takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400 Presented by ESPN BET at Kansas Speedway on September 28, 2025 in Kansas City, Kansas. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)