Kurt Busch Passes Kyle Larson to Win at Kansas Speedway

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KANSAS CITY, KS – RIS – Kurt Busch got by Kyle Larson with eight laps to go and went on to win the NASCAR Cup race at Kansas Speedway on Sunday.   Busch was near the top of the leaderbolard all day and in the end it was Larson or Busch to win.  Larson took his usual high one and Busch passed him as the No. 5 Chevy brushed the wall.  After that it was all Kurt Busch, as he never surrendered the lead.

It was the second win for the fairly new 23XI Racing team owned by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin, who followed the two leaders and Kyle Busch across in fourth place. Bubba Wallace won the team's first race last year at Talladega.

Busch pulled his No. 45 car — one of the numbers that Jordan wore during his NBA career — to a stop at the start-finish line after his first win at Kansas Speedway. He climbed out the window and threw his arms up in triumph, the familiar Jump-man logo splashed across his fire suit as he celebrated his first win since last year's race at Atlanta.

The race was not flawless.  Just like during practice and today’s race, left year tires were a problem all day.  William Byron, who was bumped out of the way by Logano in last week's contentious finish at Darlington, was running near the front when his tire went away. Just as Byron limped down pit road, outside pole sitter Tyler Reddick had a rear go down and touched the wall. Martin Truex Jr. had the same tire problem on the stage's final lap.

Goodyear was aware of the problem, but short of a solution, they chose to warn the drivers of what might happen.

“Our engineers were out talking to everyone who had issues in practice,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear's director of racing, who had advised teams prior to the weekend to increase rear air pressures to account for the loads.

“We wanted to make sure everyone was aware of the situation."

Erik Jones had a different tire problem entirely: His team couldn't get a rear lug nut off. It tried all manner of saws, torches and wrenches to no avail, a tough blow for a Petty GMS Motorsports team hanging outside the playoff fringe.

The same tire problem caught up to Chase Elliott, whose rear went down and sent him spinning across the track with 70 laps to go. Elliott was fortunate to keep his No. 9 out of the wall before coming to rest in the muddy infield.  That set up the race to the finish.

Larson’s custom of riding the high line around the track may have been his un-doing.  Larson was going in his unusual line, occasionally brushing the wall.  Kurt Busch was able to put his Toyota just about anywhere he wanted. That paid off when the two were running side-by-side with eight laps to go and Busch squeezed Larson, who brushed the wall and lost just enough momentum to surrender the lead — and the win.

Unofficial Results: 3rd Annual AdventHealth 400, May 15, 2022, Kansas Speedway

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, Stage 1 Pos, Stage 2 Pos, Tms, Laps, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 5, Kurt Busch, No. 45 Jordan Brand Toyota, 267, , 5, 116, 6, 1, 50, Running
2) 3, Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, 267, , 3, 29, , 6, 40, Running
3) 6, Kyle Busch, No. 18 M&M's Crunchy Cookie Toyota, 267, 1, 2, 18, 1, 2, 53, Running
4) 18, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota, 267, , , , , 8, 36, Running
5) 1, Christopher Bell, No. 20 Rheem Toyota, 267, , 2, 37, , , 32, Running
6) 9, Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota, 267, 6, , , , , 36, Running
7) 11, Ross Chastain, No. 1 Advent Health Chevrolet, 267, 2, 1, 4, , 7, 43, Running
8) 36, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Dillons/Louisiana Hot Sauce Chevrolet, 267, , 1, 3, , , 29, Running
9) 8, Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 267, 10, , , , , 29, Running
10) 24, Bubba Wallace, No. 23 McDonald's Toyota, 267, 7, , , , 10, 32, Running
11) 4, Austin Cindric #, No. 2 Menards/Monster Ford, 267, , , , , 4, 33, Running
12) 10, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Wabash Ford, 267, 9, 1, 1, , 3, 35, Running
13) 21, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road Chevrolet, 267, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 30, Brad Keselowski, No. 6 King's Hawaiian Ford, 267, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 23, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Busch Light #ForTheFarmers Ford, 267, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 13, William Byron, No. 24 RaptorTough.com Chevrolet, 267, 5, 1, 25, , , 27, Running
17) 34, Joey Logano, No. 22 Verizon 5G Ford, 267, , , , , 9, 22, Running
18) 28, Noah Gragson(i), No. 16 Chevrolet Chevrolet, 267, , , , , , 0, Running
19) 20, Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Garner Trucking Inc. Chevrolet, 267, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 17, Ty Dillon, No. 42 Chevyliners.com Chevrolet, 267, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 26, Harrison Burton #, No. 21 DEX Imaging Ford, 267, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 16, Cole Custer, No. 41 HaasTooling.com/PAG Ford, 267, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 25, Michael McDowell, No. 34 Love's Travel Stops Ford, 267, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 12, Chase Briscoe, No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Ford, 266, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 31, Todd Gilliland #, No. 38 First Phase Credit Card Ford, 266, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 7, Aric Almirola, No. 10 Smithfield Ford, 266, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 35, Chris Buescher, No. 17 Castrol GTX Full Synthetic Ford, 265, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 33, Josh Bilicki(i), No. 77 UACC/Support Ukraine Chevrolet, 265, , , , , , 0, Running
29) 14, Chase Elliott, No. 9 UniFirst Chevrolet, 264, 3, 2, 10, , 5, 22, Running
30) 2, Tyler Reddick, No. 8 BetMGM Chevrolet, 263, 4, 1, 24, , , 14, Running
31) 27, JJ Yeley(i), No. 15 Diagnostic Imaging Centers Ford, 263, , , , , , 0, Running
32) 22, Erik Jones, No. 43 FOCUSfactor Chevrolet, 261, 8, , , , , 8, Running
33) 19, Daniel Suarez, No. 99 CommScope Chevrolet, 256, , , , , , 4, Running
34) 29, Cody Ware, No. 51 Nurtec ODT Ford, 255, , , , , , 3, Running
35) 15, Justin Haley, No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, 64, , , , , , 2, Electrical
36) 32, BJ McLeod, No. 78 General Formulations Ford, 32, , , , , , 1, Chassis
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Race Length: 267 Laps, 400.5 Miles
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 13 Mins, 3 Secs.
Average Speed: 124.476 MPH
Margin of Victory: 1.413 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 18, 1, 9, 8, 24, 19, 23, 43, 12, 48
Stage 2 Top 10: 45, 18, 12, 2, 9, 5, 1, 11, 22, 23

Comments: Kurt Busch won the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway, his 34th NASCAR Cup Series victory.

Prior to the start, the following cars dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reason indicated: No. 11, No. 38, No. 47 (unapproved adjustments), No. 22, No. 17 (backup car).

Cautions: 8 for 47 laps;
Laps: 7-9 (No. 14 Spin Frontstretch [None]);
35-40 (No. 78 Spin Frontstretch [38]);
63-67 (No. 99 Incident Turn 4 [31]);
82-87 (Stage 1 Conclusion [77]);
127-136 (No. 4 Spin Turn 1 [48]);
167-173 (Stage 2 Conclusion [38]);
197-201 (No. 9 Spin Turn 3 [19]);
230-234 (Fluid on track [7]).

Lead Changes: 18 among 10 drivers;
C. Bell 1-9;
T. Reddick 10-33;
K. Larson 34-36;
C. Bell 37-64;
R. Stenhouse Jr. 65-67;
K. Busch 68-82;
C. Elliott 83;
R. Chastain 84-87;
W. Byron 88-112;
K. Busch 113-124;
C. Elliott 125-133;
K. Busch 134-136;
R. Blaney 137;
K. Busch 138-201;
K. Larson 202-203;
K. Busch 204-231;
K. Busch 232-234;
K. Larson 235-258;
K. Busch 259-267.

Busch Light Pole Award:  Christopher Bell, No. 20 179.575 mph
Sunoco Rookie of the Race:  Austin Cindric, No. 2

Unofficial Points: 3rd Annual AdventHealth 400, Kansas Speedway
Rank, Driver, Car, Starts, GL, Points, Ldr, Nxt, Race Wins, Stage Wins, Playoff Pts
1)         Chase Elliott, 9, 13, 0, 475, 0, 0, 1, 2, 7
2)         Ryan Blaney, 12, 13, 1, 423, -52, 52, 0, 4, 4
3)         Kyle Busch, 18, 13, 3, 417, -58, 6, 1, 1, 6
4)         William Byron, 24, 13, -2, 415, -60, 2, 2, 3, 13
5)         Ross Chastain, 1, 13, 0, 407, -68, 8, 2, 2, 12
6)         Martin Truex Jr., 19, 13, 1, 400, -75, 7, 0, 3, 3
7)         Joey Logano, 22, 13, -3, 396, -79, 4, 1, 1, 6
8)         Alex Bowman, 48, 13, 0, 386, -89, 10, 1, 1, 6
9)         Kyle Larson, 5, 13, 0, 376, -99, 10, 1, 1, 6
10)       Christopher Bell, 20, 13, 0, 359, -116, 17, 0, 0, 0
11)       Kevin Harvick, 4, 13, 0, 335, -140, 24, 0, 0, 0
12)       Aric Almirola, 10, 13, 0, 322, -153, 13, 0, 0, 0
13)       Austin Dillon, 3, 13, 1, 311, -164, 11, 0, 0, 0
14)       Chase Briscoe, 14, 13, -1, 300, -175, 11, 1, 1, 6
15)       Tyler Reddick, 8, 13, 0, 300, -175, 0, 0, 2, 2
16)       Austin Cindric #, 2, 13, 2, 291, -184, 9, 1, 0, 5
17)       Erik Jones, 43, 13, -1, 290, -185, 1, 0, 0, 0
18)       Kurt Busch, 45, 13, 3, 283, -192, 7, 1, 1, 6
19)       Daniel Suarez, 99, 13, -2, 273, -202, 10, 0, 1, 1
20)       Denny Hamlin, 11, 13, 2, 267, -208, 6, 1, 2, 7
21)       Chris Buescher, 17, 13, -2, 261, -214, 6, 0, 0, 0
22)       Bubba Wallace, 23, 13, 2, 257, -218, 4, 0, 1, 1
23)       Justin Haley, 31, 13, -3, 245, -230, 12, 0, 0, 0
24)       Michael McDowell, 34, 13, -1, 245, -230, 0, 0, 0, 0
25)       Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 47, 13, 2, 227, -248, 18, 0, 0, 0
26)       Ty Dillon, 42, 13, -1, 222, -253, 5, 0, 0, 0
27)       Cole Custer, 41, 13, -1, 215, -260, 7, 0, 0, 0
28)       Harrison Burton #, 21, 13, 1, 185, -290, 30, 0, 0, 0
29)       Todd Gilliland #, 38, 13, -1, 185, -290, 0, 0, 0, 0
30)       Corey LaJoie, 7, 13, 0, 179, -296, 6, 0, 0, 0
31)       Brad Keselowski, 6, 13, 0, 176, -299, 3, 0, 0, -10
32)       Cody Ware, 51, 13, 0, 112, -363, 64, 0, 0, 0
33)       BJ McLeod, 78, 11, 0, 79, -396, 33, 0, 0, 0
34)       David Ragan, , 3, 0, 61, -414, 18, 0, 0, 0
35)       Garrett Smithley, , 3, 0, 28, -447, 33, 0, 0, 0
36)       Greg Biffle, , 5, 0, 24, -451, 4, 0, 0, 0
37)       Jacques Villeneuve, , 1, 0, 15, -460, 9, 0, 0, 0
38)       Boris Said, , 1, 0, 11, -464, 4, 0, 0, 0
39)       Joey Hand, , 1, 0, 2, -473, 9, 0, 0, 0
40)       Daniel Hemric(i), , 5, 0, 0, -475, 2, 0, 0, 0
41)       Landon Cassill(i), , 5, 0, 0, -475, 0, 0, 0, 0
42)       Josh Bilicki(i), 77, 7, 0, 0, -475, 0, 0, 0, 0
43)       Noah Gragson(i), 16, 5, 1, 0, -475, 0, 0, 0, 0
44)       A J Allmendinger(i), , 5, -1, 0, -475, 0, 0, 0, 0
45)       JJ Yeley(i), 15, 6, 0, 0, -475, 0, 0, 0, 0
46)       Kaz Grala(i), , 2, 0, 0, -475, 0, 0, 0, 0
47)       Josh Williams(i), , 1, 0, 0, -475, 0, 0, 0, 0
48)       Ryan Preece(i), , 1, 0, 0, -475, 0, 0, 0, 0
49)       Loris Hezemans(i), , 1, 0, 0, -475, 0, 0, 0, 0
50)       Justin Allgaier(i), , 1, 0, 0, -475, 0, 0, 0, 0
51)       Andy Lally(i), , 1, 0, 0, -475, 0, 0, 0, 0
52)       Timmy Hill(i), , 0, 0, 0, -475, 0, 0, 0, 0

Ron Fleshman with John Davison

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2022, Issue 5, Posted 7:29 PM, 05.15.2022