Kyle Busch Sweeps Kansas with Cup Win

KANSAS CITY, KS – RIS – Kyle Busch did the sweep at Kansas Speedway this weekend.  After winning the NASCAR Camping World truck race on Saturday, He came back on Sunday with a stage win and a victory in the NASCAR Cup Series race on Sunday in a wild finish that saw Kyle Larson make a mistake and finish out of the top ten finishers.  Maybe it was the fact that it was Busch’s birthday. 

Busch won the Buschy McBusch 400 Race following a late-race restart as Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney made contact at the front of the pack to send each other backwards. Kevin Harvick finished in second and Brad Keselowski finished in third.

“You talk about ups and downs of racing, it’s been a lot of downs of life for us,” Busch said on FS1 after his first win of the season. He mentioned his family’s recent and public battle with infertility, and gave a shoutout to his wife, Samantha, and son, Brexton, as well at the No. 18 Toyota team’s sponsors.

“It’s cool to get everybody back in Victory Lane again this early in the season,” Busch said. “To be able to get some of those points going our way now.”

It was Busch’s 58th Cup victory.  That’s quite a birthday weekend for the 36-year-old driver of the No. 18 Toyota.

Harvick, who hasn’t won a race yet this season, said his No. 4 Ford was “on and off” throughout the 267-lap event, but the team made the right strategy call at the end to have better tires.

“Got pretty aggressive there at the end and were able to come up with a good finish,” Harvick said. “There is a good reason why I don’t do strategy during the race, but it worked out perfectly.”

With the win, Busch — who led only four times for a total of 20 laps in the race — becomes the 10th different winner in 11 races this season. And, if that weren't serendipitous enough ... he won on his 36th birthday, joining Cale Yarborough as the only drivers in NASCAR history to win on their birthday more than once.

Busch's victory marked the close to an action-packed ending at Kansas. A total of 220 laps went by with no cautions for cause; the only yellows were a competition caution after 25 laps and pauses after Stages 1 and 2 (won by Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson, respectively). The first caution for cause was for an uncontrolled tire from Tyler Reddick's pit crew, which NASCAR didn't call until eight minutes after the fact. Then came a series of crashes in the final 47 laps. It got to the point where Kyle Busch was forced to win in a two-lap shootout, which mercifully took place without issue.

Kevin Harvick placed a season-best second. Brad Keselowski was third and followed by Matt DiBenedetto and Chase Elliott. William Byron‘s ninth-place finish is his ninth consecutive top-10 result. The 23-year-old is the youngest driver in series history to score nine top 10s in a row.

Kyle Larson led 132 of 267 laps and won the second stage but bounced off the wall as he pushed Ryan Blaney on the final restart and Blaney got out of shape. Larson finished 19t“Hate that I screwed that up and cost us a good finish,” Larson said.

Larson’s race was lost on the next-to-last restart. He led on the outside line and had Keselowski behind to push him. On the restart, Chase Elliott, lined up behind Keselowski, went high to make a move. Keselowski moved to block and that prevented him from pushing Larson. Meanwhile, Blaney pushed Kyle Busch into the lead.

When the caution came out soon after, Busch was in the lead and had control of the race. Larson was stuck restarting in the second row for the final restart behind Blaney.

Unofficial Results: 2nd Annual Buschy McBusch Race 400, May 2, 2021, Kansas Speedway

Fin, St, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status

1) 9, Kyle Busch, 18, M&M's Mix Toyota, 267, 1, 2, 4, 20, 6, 59, Running

2) 4, Kevin Harvick, 4, Busch Light For The Farmers Ford, 267, 7, 10, , , , 40, Running

3) 1, Brad Keselowski, 2, Verizon 5G Ford, 267, 4, 4, 2, 72, , 48, Running

4) 5, Matt DiBenedetto, 21, Dickies/Menards Ford, 267, , , , , , 33, Running

5) 17, Chase Elliott, 9, UniFirst Chevrolet, 267, 6, 5, , , , 43, Running

6) 15, Martin Truex Jr., 19, Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota, 267, , 7, , , , 35, Running

7) 11, Tyler Reddick, 8, Childress Vineyards Chevrolet, 267, 3, 8, , , , 41, Running

8) 16, Chris Buescher, 17, autoTempest Ford, 267, , , 1, 13, , 29, Running

9) 2, William Byron, 24, Axalta Chevrolet, 267, 5, , , , , 34, Running

10) 6, Austin Dillon, 3, Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Off Road Chevrolet, 267, , , , , , 27, Running

11) 21, Daniel Suarez, 99, Camping World Chevrolet, 267, , , , , , 26, Running

12) 20, Denny Hamlin, 11, FedEx Freight Toyota, 267, 9, 3, 2, 7, , 35, Running

13) 3, Michael McDowell, 34, CarParts.com Ford, 267, , , , , , 24, Running

14) 24, Ross Chastain, 42, Clover Chevrolet, 267, , , , , , 23, Running

15) 28, Kurt Busch, 1, Monster Energy Chevrolet, 267, , , , , , 22, Running

16) 14, Ryan Newman, 6, Hy-Vee Ford, 267, , , , , , 21, Running

17) 29, Joey Logano, 22, AAA Insurance Ford, 267, , , , , , 20, Running

18) 25, Alex Bowman, 48, Ally Chevrolet, 267, , , , , , 19, Running

19) 32, Kyle Larson, 5, HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, 267, 2, 1, 9, 132, 1, 37, Running

20) 19, Chase Briscoe #, 14, HighPoint.com Ford, 267, , , , , , 17, Running

21) 7, Ryan Blaney, 12, Menards/Moen Ford, 267, 8, 6, , , , 24, Running

22) 38, * Austin Cindric(i), 33, MoneyLion Ford, 267, , , , , , 0, Running

23) 22, Anthony Alfredo #, 38, Dude Wipes Ford, 266, , , , , , 14, Running

24) 10, Cole Custer, 41, HaasTooling.com Ford, 266, , , , , , 13, Running

25) 27, Erik Jones, 43, Black Entrepreneur Initiative Chevrolet, 266, , , , , , 12, Running

26) 13, Bubba Wallace, 23, Dr. Pepper Zero Sugar Toyota, 266, , , , , , 11, Running

27) 26, Corey LaJoie, 7, Nations Guard Chevrolet, 265, , , , , , 10, Running

28) 8, Christopher Bell, 20, Rheem Toyota, 265, 10, 9, , , , 12, Running

29) 18, Aric Almirola, 10, Smithfield/Price Chopper Ford, 264, , , , , , 8, Running

30) 31, Justin Haley(i), 77, NASCAR TRUCKS AT KNOXVILLE Chevrolet, 263, , , , , , 0, Running

31) 30, BJ McLeod(i), 78, Celsius Ford, 260, , , , , , 0, Running

32) 12, * Ryan Preece, 37, Nature Valley Chevrolet, 259, , , , , , 5, Accident

33) 36, Garrett Smithley(i), 53, Smart Sanitizer Chevrolet, 259, , , , , , 0, Running

34) 23, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 47, Kroger/Energizer Chevrolet, 258, , , 1, 23, , 3, Accident

35) 35, Joey Gase(i), 15, Explore Branson Chevrolet, 258, , , , , , 0, Running

36) 33, Cody Ware(i), 51, Nurtec ODT Chevrolet, 257, , , , , , 0, Running

37) 34, Quin Houff, 00, 8 Ball Chocolate Whiskey Chevrolet, 256, , , , , , 1, Running

38) 39, * Matt Mills(i), 55, Siebert Electric/J.F. Electric Ford, 255, , , , , , 0, Running

39) 37, Josh Bilicki, 52, RBR Aviation Ford, 250, , , , , , 1, Running

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 5 Mins, 21 Secs

Race Length: 267 Laps, 400.5 Miles

Average Speed: 129.647 MPH

Margin of Victory: .336 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 18, 5, 8, 2, 24, 9, 4, 12, 11, 20

Stage 2 Top 10: 5, 18, 11, 2, 9, 12, 19, 8, 20, 4

Comments: Kyle Busch has won the Buschy McBusch Race 400 at Kansas Speedway, his 58th victory in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Prior to the start, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty: Nos. 42, 43 (two inspection failures), No. 38 (unapproved adjustments).

Caution Flags: 7 for 36 laps;

Laps: 27-30 (Competition [78]);

82-87 (Stage 1 Conclusion [37]);

162-167 (Stage 2 Conclusion [17]);

231-235 (Debris Frontstretch [99]);

246-249 (No. 11 Incident Turn 1 [48]);

254-257 (No. 33, 47 Incident Backstretch [6]);

259-265 (No. 20, 37, 47 Incident Turn 4 [14]).

Lead Changes: 18 among 6 drivers;

B. Keselowski 1-63;

K. Larson 64;

B. Keselowski 65-73;

K. Larson 74-76;

K. Busch 77-83;

K. Larson 84-121;

R. Stenhouse Jr. 122-144;

K. Larson 145-162;

K. Busch 163;

K. Larson 164-167;

K. Busch 168;

K. Larson 169-212;

C. Buescher 213-225;

K. Larson 226-230;

D. Hamlin 231;

K. Larson 232-236;

D. Hamlin 237-242;

K. Larson 243-256;

K. Busch 257-267.

Sunoco Rookie of the Race:  Chase Briscoe, No. 14