The 2024 AdventHealth 400 was a NASCAR Cup Series race that was held on May 5, 2024, at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas. Contested over 268 laps—extended from 267 laps due to an overtime finish, on the asphalt speedway, it was the 12th race of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season and played host to the closest finish in NASCAR Cup Series history at 0.001 seconds between the winner, Kyle Larson, and Chris Buescher, who finished 2nd.
Report
Background
Kansas Speedway is a tri-oval race track in Kansas City, Kansas. It was built in 2001 and hosts two annual NASCAR race weekends. The NTT IndyCar Series also raced there until 2011. The speedway is owned and operated by the International Speedway Corporation.
Entry list (R) denotes rookie driver. (i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.
Driver Team Manufacturer 1 Ross Chastain Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 2 Austin Cindric Team Penske Ford 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 4 Josh Berry (R) Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 5 Kyle Larson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 6 Brad Keselowski RFK Racing Ford 7 Corey LaJoie Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 8 Kyle Busch Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 9 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 10 Noah Gragson Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 12 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 14 Chase Briscoe Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 15 Riley Herbst (i) Rick Ware Racing Ford 16 Derek Kraus Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 17 Chris Buescher RFK Racing Ford 19 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 20 Christopher Bell Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 21 Harrison Burton Wood Brothers Racing Ford 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 23 Bubba Wallace 23XI Racing Toyota 24 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 31 Daniel Hemric Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 33 Austin Hill (i) Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 34 Michael McDowell Front Row Motorsports Ford 38 Todd Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 41 Ryan Preece Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 42 John Hunter Nemechek Legacy Motor Club Toyota 43 Corey Heim (i) Legacy Motor Club Toyota 45 Tyler Reddick 23XI Racing Toyota 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 48 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 51 Justin Haley Rick Ware Racing Ford 54 Ty Gibbs Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 71 Zane Smith (R) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 77 Carson Hocevar (R) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 84 Jimmie Johnson Legacy Motor Club Toyota 99 Daniel Suárez Trackhouse Racing ChevroletOfficial entry list
Practice Tyler Reddick was the fastest in the practice session with a time of 29.834 seconds and a speed of .
Practice results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 45 Tyler Reddick 23XI Racing Toyota 29.834 181.002 2 24 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 29.963 180.222 3 23 Bubba Wallace 23XI Racing Toyota 30.044 179.736 Official practice results
Qualifying Christopher Bell scored the pole for the race with a time of 29.491 and a speed of .
Qualifying results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer 1 20 Christopher Bell Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 29.667 29.491 2 1 Ross Chastain Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 29.567 29.556 3 10 Noah Gragson Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 29.905 29.597 4 5 Kyle Larson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 29.460 29.608 5 8 Kyle Busch Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 29.644 29.659 6 54 Ty Gibbs Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 29.508 29.712 7 2 Austin Cindric Team Penske Ford 29.860 29.782 8 34 Michael McDowell Front Row Motorsports Ford 29.944 29.841 9 9 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 29.653 29.998 10 14 Chase Briscoe Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 29.831 30.696 11 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 29.677 — 12 17 Chris Buescher RFK Racing Ford 29.946 — 13 19 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 29.686 — 14 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 29.972 — 15 45 Tyler Reddick 23XI Racing Toyota 29.695 — 16 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 30.024 — 17 4 Josh Berry (R) Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 29.714 — 18 48 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 30.051 — 19 84 Jimmie Johnson Legacy Motor Club Toyota 29.810 — 20 43 Corey Heim (i) Legacy Motor Club Toyota 30.079 — 21 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 29.846 — 22 77 Carson Hocevar (R) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 30.105 — 23 23 Bubba Wallace 23XI Racing Toyota 29.888 — 24 71 Zane Smith (R) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 30.226 — 25 38 Todd Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 29.892 — 26 12 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 30.265 — 27 99 Daniel Suárez Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 29.913 — 28 7 Corey LaJoie Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 30.266 — 29 42 John Hunter Nemechek Legacy Motor Club Toyota 29.947 — 30 6 Brad Keselowski RFK Racing Ford 30.369 — 31 21 Harrison Burton Wood Brothers Racing Ford 29.964 — 32 41 Ryan Preece Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 30.376 — 33 31 Daniel Hemric Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 30.163 — 34 33 Austin Hill (i) Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 30.392 — 35 51 Justin Haley Rick Ware Racing Ford 30.164 — 36 24 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 31.043 — 37 15 Riley Herbst (i) Rick Ware Racing Ford 30.179 — 38 16 Derek Kraus Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 31.266 —Official qualifying results
Race Stage 1 The race was scheduled to start at 2 pm Central time but rain fell which caused a nearly 4 hour delay and the green flag fell at around 5:43 Central. Pole sitter Christopher Bell and outside pole sitter Ross Chastain battled for the lead and Bell beat Chastain to lead lap 1. Chastain led lap 2 before he got in front of Bell on lap 3 and held on to it. At around lap 31, green flag pit stops would begin. Chastain would come in on lap 33 giving the lead back to Christopher Bell. Bell would pit on lap 35 giving the lead to Derek Kraus. On lap 42, Ross Chastain took the lead from Kraus. On lap 44, Kyle Larson took the lead but Chastain immediately took it back. On lap 49, Larson took the lead again but Chastain immeadietly passed him and Chastain took the lead back. Larson got in front again on lap 50 but couldn't hold the lead and was immeadietly passed by Chastain. Larson led lap 51 before he got in front of Chastain and held on to it. On lap 63, Denny Hamlin went to take the lead and led that lap and the following lap but could not get in front of Larson and Larson took it back on lap 65. On lap 66, Hamlin went to take the lead and led that lap and the following two laps before he got in front of Larson on lap 69. Hamlin would hold off Ross Chastain and win stage 1.
Stage 2 Ross Chastain won the race off of pit road and he led the field to the restart on lap 89. On the restart, Chastain and Christopher Bell fought hard for the lead but Kyle Larson made a 3 wide pass on the both of them and Larson took the lead. Behind Larson, Chastain, Bell, Martin Truex Jr., Chris Buescher, and Ty Gibbs went 5 wide for second place at the start-finish line in which they were all the keep their cars under control to not cause a wreck. At around lap 117, green flag pit stops began once again. Larson would pit on lap 119 giving the lead to Tyler Reddick. Reddick would pit on lap 125 and after everything cycled through, Chris Buescher was the new leader. Buescher was looking to give Ford their first win in all of NASCAR of the season as the manufacturer had none of their teams win in the Truck Series, Xfinity Series, and Cup Series at this point in the season. Buescher would hold on and win stage 2.
Final stage Kyle Larson won the race off of pit road with Buescher in second. Unfortunetly for Buescher, he was penalized for his crew going over the wall too soon and had to start from the rear. To make matters worse, a piece of his windshield tear off landed on the rear part of his roof which could possibly affect his aerodynamics but Buescher elected not to pit. The race would restart on lap 174 and Buescher's tear off would get blown off the car once he picked up speed and out of the way. On lap 176, the first caution for incident and the third of the day would occur when Jimmie Johnson got bumped by Corey LaJoie in turn 1 which caused Johnson to spin to the apron, come up the track, and hit the outside wall. The wreck also collected LaJoie and Austin Hill after LaJoie spun and hit the outside wall along with Hill. Unhappy, Johnson had gotten into the AMR Safety team pickup to drive him to the infield care center but decided to come back out and stared down LaJoie as LaJoie went by Johnson to show him how mad he was. The race would restart on lap 184. On the restart, Kyle Busch took the lead from Kyle Larson. On the next lap, the fourth caution would fly when Austin Cindric spun down the backstretch and collected Bubba Wallace and Michael McDowell that almost had McDowell flip. The race would restart on lap 191. On the next lap, the 5th caution would fly once again when Harrison Burton spun off of turn 2. The race would restart on lap 198. On the restart, Kyle Larson would take the lead from Kyle Busch. At the same time, the 6th caution flew when Joey Logano spun off of turn 4 after he got checked up by Chase Briscoe. Kyle Busch won the race off of pit road but Todd Gilliland, Denny Hamlin, Chris Buescher, Justin Haley, Bubba Wallace, and Michael McDowell did not pit and Gilliland led the field to the restart on lap 206. On the restart, Denny Hamlin took the lead. On lap 208, Chris Buescher went to battle with Hamlin for the lead and led that lap before he got in front of Hamlin on the next lap. On lap 215, Hamlin took the lead back from Buescher. With 40 laps to go, Buescher went to take the lead on Hamlin and led that lap but could not get in front of Hamlin. Hamlin held on to the lead and began to pull away from Buescher. Depending if Hamlin could save enough fuel, it looked like it was going to be Hamlin to win it. But, Martin Truex Jr. came and took 2nd from Buescher with 8 laps to go and began to close in quickly to Hamlin after Truex had recently made a pit stop. It looked like it was going to be a finish between Hamlin and Truex. But with 7 laps to go, the 7th and final caution flew when Kyle Busch spun in turn 2. This would eventually have cars make pitstops and force the race into overtime.