KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Kyle Larson has always found it easier to be the hunter than the hunted.
He won't have much choice in the matter now.
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Joey Logano makes a stop on pit road at the end of the first stage during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race in Kansas City, Kan., Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)
Kyle Larson (5) and Joey Logano (22) lead the field into Turn 1 during the start of a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)
Denny Hamlin, front left, and Kyle Larson, front right, lead other drivers at the start of the second stage during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)
Kyle Larson makes a stop on pit road at the end of the first stage during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race in Kansas City, Kan., Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)
Chase Briscoe (19) heads through Turn 1 during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race in Kansas City, Kan., Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)
The defending NASCAR Cup Series champion capped a dominant performance at Kansas Speedway on Sunday by passing Chase Briscoe with seven laps left and leading the rest of the way, leaving Larson to wheel his No. 5 Chevrolet into victory lane for a record-tying fourth time at the mile-and-a-half oval and with a padded lead in the Chase for the championship standings.
Larson won each of the first two stages and broke his own record by leading 235 laps, allowing him to turn the slimmest of leads — a single point over Denny Hamlin at the start of the day — into a 26-point advantage heading to Las Vegas next weekend.
“Such a good day,” Larson said. “I was going to be happy with second how the race went, but to get the lead, that's a big deal.”
Briscoe chased down Larson throughout the final stage, finally getting around him with 30 laps to go. But after briefly pulling away, the No. 19 Toyota began to get loose, and Briscoe brushed the wall. Larson closed in on the lead again, made a move on the low side and powered away, taking the checkered flag for the second time in three races.
He also won at St. Louis, a victory that had ended a maddening 51-race winless drought.
“I think it's easier to be the hunter than the hunted,” Larson said. "With me out front, I'm just defending, trying to guess on what the fast lines are, and when he got in front of me he started getting really loose.”
So loose that Briscoe drifted all the way back to fourth. Austin Cindric wound up second and Hamlin finished third.
“It was better for me being in second. It would tighten me up and allow me to be a little better," Briscoe said, “and as soon as I got the lead I got really free again. Frustrating for sure.”
Cindric spent much of the day stalking Larson but was never able to get his No. 2 Ford around him. He might have been the fastest car on the track at the end, too, but Cindric was too far back to mount a challenge for the victory.
“I wish I would have had at least a shot at it. I thought we could join the fun at least," Cindric said, “but proud of the effort.”
It was a similar story — and a bittersweet day — for Hamlin, whose strong third-place run nevertheless cost him in the points race. The revamped Chase format offers a big reward for wins, and Larson was the one doing a celebratory burnout at the end.
“Just didn't quite have it today,” Hamlin said. “We could be really good in the long run. In the short run, the 5 was really good. The 2 was good. And we just couldn't quite hold those guys off, or keep them close enough in the short run.”
Persistent rain earlier in the weekend washed out practice and qualifying, leaving the starting lineup to be set by a combination of last week's results at Bristol and owner points. That left Larson in the enviable spot of starting alongside Joey Logano on the front row, and the fortunate position of having had so much success at Kansas that missing out on practice really didn't matter.
Larson's fourth win tied Hamlin's record for the track, and he's been first or second in seven of the past 11 races there.
“I feel like if we can just click it, we're the most comfortable on these (mile-and-a-half tracks),” Larson said. “Man, what a day. I thought we'd have a good shot. I didn't think we'd have a max points-type day, so I'm just thrilled.”
One week after Carson Hocevar's bump sent Ryan Blaney into the wall at Bristol, leading to a pit-road fracas, the driver of the No. 77 Chevrolet was involved in another caution. This time, after running near the front through the opening stage, Hocevar appeared to get bumped from behind on a restart, sending him into Bubba Wallace in a spin that collected several other cars.
Hocevar wound up finishing 33rd. Blaney started 25th due to the qualifying rainout and finished fifth.
“The guy leading the points won the race. Kind of dominated,” said Blaney, who is now 91 points back of Larson in the standings. “It is what it is. You just have to keep grinding and working hard, and try to get to victory lane a couple of times.”
The team co-owned by Jimmie Johnson announced the signing of Erik Jones to a multiyear extension to continue driving the No. 43 Toyota. The move provides some stability to Legacy Motor Club, which is replacing John Hunter Nemechek with Josh Berry in the No. 42 next season, and will have Riley Herbst driving the No. 84 that Johnson had driven in select races.
The NASCAR Cup Series continues its stretch of three straight races on 1.5-mile ovals with Las Vegas next Sunday. Hamlin won the race there in March, when he overcame a pit-road speeding penalty to pick up his first win of the season.
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Joey Logano makes a stop on pit road at the end of the first stage during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race in Kansas City, Kan., Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)
Kyle Larson (5) and Joey Logano (22) lead the field into Turn 1 during the start of a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)
Denny Hamlin, front left, and Kyle Larson, front right, lead other drivers at the start of the second stage during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)
Kyle Larson makes a stop on pit road at the end of the first stage during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race in Kansas City, Kan., Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)
Chase Briscoe (19) heads through Turn 1 during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race in Kansas City, Kan., Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Kyle Schwarber belly-flopped more than he actually slid headfirst into second base and popped up with his uniform smudged in dirt. He punched his right fist in the air and shouted something in exhilaration toward a fired-up Phillies dugout.
Schwarber delivered with a clutch two-run double, yes. He also showed the fire, the fight that vanished from the Phillies during a treacherous week that sent them from the brink of a wild-card clinch to the edge — and yes, the bottom was crumbling — of an all-time franchise collapse.
His slide had Phillies fans roaring from their feet — perhaps more than a few who wore brown paper bags over their heads a night earlier — and instantly all felt right on a soggy day inside Citizens Bank Park.
Zack Wheeler pitched a gem against Tampa Bay on Sunday and untangled a few thousand knots inside the stomachs of Phillies fans, and even from those inside a mostly solemn clubhouse. The Phillies survived their perilous five-day scare and are indeed headed to the playoffs for the fifth straight season after beating the Rays 7-3 to clinch the final NL wild-card berth.
“We didn't play the best baseball we could in September,” slugger Bryce Harper said. “Should we have clinched two weeks ago? Probably, right? But we didn't. We clinched today.”
Jhoan Duran struck out Nick Fortes to seal it. Duran pounded his mitt and was greeted by teammates for a fairly muted celebration on the field.
The Phillies got more rowdy inside the clubhouse and sprayed cheap beer and bubbly as bottle caps floated in booze-soaked puddles on the carpet while Gloria Gaynor's “I Will Survive” was cranked to 11.
Philadelphia did indeed survive a freefall that coincided with the Arizona Diamondbacks getting hot over the final week of the season. The Phillies’ slam dunk of a playoff spot morphed into something much more tenuous.
Interim manager Don Mattingly said ahead of Wednesday’s game — the first day the team could clinch — that, yes, Philadelphia would wait until midnight if needed to pop the bubbly if it beat Milwaukee and the Diamondbacks lost a time zone away to Colorado.
The Phillies lost that one. Then came three more defeats, capped by a 12-1 embarrassment on Saturday against the AL East champion Rays.
Mattingly's presumed wait of a few hours to celebrate was not complete until 5:19 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, Sept. 27.
The Phillies scored only three runs during their four-game losing streak. They needed an unearned run on Saturday to snap a 21-inning scoreless streak.
Schwarber’s double in the second inning made it 4-0, and that all but erased the significance of the Diamondbacks' outcome in San Diego. Philadelphia entered the day needing a win or an Arizona loss to make the playoffs.
J.T. Realmuto slogged through 34 straight hitless at-bats. He also ripped an RBI double in the second inning.
Bryson Stott batted cleanup for only the seventh time in his career. He also hit an RBI double that scored Schwarber in the first inning.
Harper lined a solo shot into the first row of the right-field seats, and Edmundo Sosa added a two-run homer for a 7-1 lead in the seventh.
Slumps were busted. Losing streaks were obliterated. Corks were popped.
“It was kind of a living hell in slow motion,” Phillies managing partner and CEO John Middleton said of the final week.
Wheeler allowed one run and threw 97 pitches over six innings to earn his 14th win of the season on a rainy day that stirred memories of the 2008 World Series between the same teams.
The Phillies, though, likely took a loss by pushing the clincher to the 162nd game. With Game 1 in the best-of-three Wild Card Series set to start Tuesday in Atlanta, the Phillies will almost surely have to beat the Braves without a start from Wheeler.
The Phillies' rotation has been a strength this season, and Jesús Luzardo and Cristopher Sánchez are in play for Games 1 and 2. Andrew Painter or Aaron Nola could make a Game 3 start, if necessary.
Mattingly had goggles wrapped around his backward cap and laughed when he said it was "too early” to announce a Game 1 starter.
NL East champion Atlanta won the season series 9-4 and finished six games ahead of second-place Philadelphia.
The Phillies were 9-19 when they fired popular manager Rob Thomson in April after he led the Phillies to four straight playoff appearances, including the 2022 World Series, and consecutive NL East titles.
Mattingly, hired in the offseason as bench coach, is back in the playoffs a season after he was on the staff of a Toronto team that lost the World Series in seven games to the Los Angeles Dodgers. He's tasked with leading the franchise to its first championship since 2008, the second year of a five-year playoff stretch for the Phillies.
That was a record, until this year's team matched it.
“You wouldn't think that, right, with everybody's opinion of us,” Harper said. “I think as a team, as a group, pretty cool. The job's not done, the job's not finished. We've never finished the job before.”
The Phillies did all they could to try and blow their lead.
Philadelphia had a 6 1/2-game lead over Arizona for the third NL wild card on Sept. 1 before going into a tailspin that spurred painful memories of the 1964 season. Those Phillies lost 10 straight games to blow a 6 1/2-game lead and the NL pennant with 12 games left.
This year's team will be able to raise a playoff flag on opening day (whenever that is in 2027).
The Phillies also must try and prove their late-September meltdown was nothing but a blip in a long and successful October.
That's a problem to start to solve on Monday.
On Sunday, it was hugs and high-fives and a collective exhale that more playoffs were on the horizon.
“We know our team,” Schwarber said. “We know that we have a lot of experience. We’ve got talent. When we’re playing our game, and we’re executing what we need to do, we’re a really hard team to beat.”
See AP’s full MLB coverage here
Philadelphia Phillies celebrate in the clubhouse during a celebration after the team clinched a Wild Card slot in the postseason by defeating the Tampa Bay Rays in a baseball game Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)
Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jhoan Duran reacts after the last pitch of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays, clinching a Wild Card slot in the postseason, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)
The Philadelphia Phillies pose after they defeated the Tampa Bay Rays, clinching a Wild Card slot in post season baseball play, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)
Philadelphia Phillies catcher Garrett Stubbs, left, is doused by teammates during a celebration in the clubhouse after the team clinched a Wild Card slot in the postseason by defeating the Tampa Bay Rays in a baseball game Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)
Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper, left, is doused by Garret Stubbs, right, during a celebration in the clubhouse after the team clinched a Wild Card slot in the postseason by defeating the Tampa Bay Rays in a baseball game Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)
Philadelphia Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber, left, reacts after hitting an RBI double while Tampa Bay Rays second baseman Richie Palacios, right, looks on during the second inning of a baseball game, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)
Tampa Bay Rays' Cedric Mullins, left, is safe at second before Philadelphia Phillies second baseman Bryson Stott (5) can tag him out in the fifth inning of a baseball game Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)
Tampa Bay Rays' Junior Caminero dodges an inside pitch during the first inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)
Philadelphia Phillies' Trea Turner hits an RBI single during the second inning of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)
Philadelphia Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber, right, is cheered by Alec Bohm, left, after scoring on an RBI double by Bryson Stott during the first inning of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)
