Denny Hamlin passes Truex, takes Stage 2 win at Kansas

Hamlin and his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate traded the lead twice late in the stage before Hamlin went on to hold off Ryan Blaney for the stage victory.

Martin Truex Jr. was third, William Byron was fourth and Chase Elliott completed the top-five.

Rounding out the top-10 and collecting stage points were Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, Paul Menard, Clint Bowyer and Kyle Busch.

Following the break between Stages 1 and 2, most of the lead-lap cars remained on the track with Elliott among those who stayed out and took over the lead.

On the restart on Lap 87, Elliott was followed by Suarez, Truex, Brad Keselowski and Hamlin.

Suarez quickly powered to the lead shortly after the restart as Truex moved up to second.

Truex was able to get around Suarez on the inside off Turn 4 on Lap 19 to grab the lead for the first time in the race.

With 60 laps remaining in the second stage, Truex maintained about a half-second lead over Suarez while Elliott ran third. Hamlin was fourth and Erik Jones fifth.

On Lap 105, Elliott passed Suarez to move into the second position.

Joey Gase spun off Turn 4 on Lap 115 after contact from Larson to bring out a caution. All of the lead-lap cars elected to pit with Truex the first off pit road.

During the stops, Larson was penalized for an uncontrolled tire and had to restart the race from the rear of the field. Kyle Busch was penalized for having too many pit crew members over the wall during his second stop and had to restart from the rear.

On the restart on Lap 121, Truex led the way followed by Elliott, Hamlin, Jones and Suarez.

Hamlin went to the inside of Truex on the restart only to see the two drivers swap the lead again before Hamlin established a solid advantage on Lap 127.

With 20 laps to go in Stage 2, Hamlin held about a 1.7-second lead over Blaney while Truex ran third. 

Hamlin’s lead over Blaney remained at about 1.5 seconds after 75 of the 80 laps in the stage.