Tag: Kansas Speedway

Joe Gibbs Racing celebrates 400th NASCAR win at Kansas Speedway

Joe Gibbs Racing hit a milestone Sunday afternoon, crossing the 400-win mark in NASCAR with Denny Hamlin’s victory at Kansas Speedway. Hamlin earned his 49th career win in the NASCAR Cup Series after last-lap contact and a pass on Kyle Larson. All …

Joe Gibbs Racing hit a milestone Sunday afternoon, crossing the 400-win mark in NASCAR with Denny Hamlin’s victory at Kansas Speedway.

Hamlin earned his 49th career win in the NASCAR Cup Series after last-lap contact and a pass on Kyle Larson. All of Hamlin’s wins have come driving for Gibbs.

Joe Gibbs now has 203 wins in the Cup Series. The other wins to make up the 400 are from the Xfinity Series, where the organization has won 197 times.

“It’s a thrill,” team owner Joe Gibbs said. “When we started in racing, our very first year in ’91, we had 17 people and raced one car. We just kept building and building and building. I didn’t dream that it would be anything like where we are today.

“I’m just thrilled for all of our people that helped build our race team. That’s the people back in town. I appreciate, obviously, all of our sponsors; it meant so much to me today to be able to call Fred Smith and talk to him. As we know, in our sport, the thing that’s really different is our sponsor partners, and I call them partners.”

Fred Smith founded FedEx, the winning sponsor at Kansas Speedway on Sunday. FedEx is a longtime Gibbs partner and has been with Hamlin since he joined the Cup Series with JGR in late 2005.

“The other wild thing that I’m not sure…has been done before, but I called Norm Miller at Interstate Batteries. He’s been here for all 400,” said Gibbs. “Can you imagine that? I just thanked Norm so much for getting us started. If it hadn’t been for him, we may not be in racing. We love it, and just really appreciate everything today and appreciate the crowd here and everybody.”

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Interstate Batteries is in its 32nd season of partnership with Joe Gibbs, appearing on all four cars this year. It was the organization’s founding sponsor.

Drivers who have won Cup Series races for Gibbs include Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Christopher Bell, Erik Jones, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Joey Logano, Tony Stewart, Bobby Labonte and Dale Jarrett.

In the Xfinity Series, the organization has won with Ryan Truex, Sammy Smith, John Hunter Nemechek, Brandon Jones, Ty Gibbs, Daniel Hemric, Busch, Bell, Harrison Burton, Ryan Preece, Jones, Hamlin, Daniel Suarez, Sam Hornish Jr., Elliott Sadler, Kenseth, Logano, Stewart, Aric Almirola, Mike Bliss, Mike McLaughlin and Labonte.

“I grew up in football on that side (in the NFL) and I was the technical guy, helped design stuff, called plays,” said Gibbs. “That’s a thrill. Over here, I’m not the technical person, so I try and focus on the people and the sponsors, and the great thing about over here, too, is my family.

“I think back to J.D. J.D. spent his entire professional life building our race team and then Coy, when his brother got sick, stepped over. And Coy and his son Ty, everything that’s taken place. Heather’s (Coy’s widow) now stepping into our ownership role. It’s family.

“So, on this side, it’s a thrill for me because I missed so much of both boys when I was coaching and (being) after it so much, and I got a chance to relive some of that time with them. Obviously I miss them, but they were a big part of building this, too.”

Gragson, Chastain come to blows in Kansas

Ross Chastain and Noah Gragson came to blows Sunday on pit road at Kansas Speedway after a frustrated Gragson confronted Chastain for an incident earlier in the afternoon. The two were having a conversation next to Chastain’s car following the …

Ross Chastain and Noah Gragson came to blows Sunday on pit road at Kansas Speedway after a frustrated Gragson confronted Chastain for an incident earlier in the afternoon.

The two were having a conversation next to Chastain’s car following the AdventHealth 400 because Gragson took exception to the Trackhouse driver crowding him off Turn 4. Although the two did not make contact coming off the corner, Gragson brushed the wall with his Legacy Motor Club Chevrolet. He then came down the track and made contact with the right side of Chastain’s car.

On pit road, Gragson grabbed a fist full of Chastain’s firesuit, which led to Chastain throwing a bunch. The two had to be separated by NASCAR security.

“I got tight off of (Turn 4), for sure,” Chastain said. “Noah and I have a very similar attitude on the racetrack and we train together, we prepare together, we know every little bit about each other. I definitely crowded him up off of (Turn) 4, and he took a swipe at us in (Turn) 3, and then came down and grabbed a hold of me. A very big man once told me we have a no push policy here at Trackhouse.”

Chastain finished fifth. The Trackhouse Racing driver continues to lead the point standings.

Gragson finished five laps down in 29th position.

“Just got fenced by the No. 1,” said Gragson. “He took care of us at Talladega – we’re Chevrolet teammates and he didn’t work with us there – and then fenced us here and I’m just over it. Nobody else has the balls to at least confront him, so if you don’t at least just grab him and do something, he’s just going to keep doing it, and I’m over it. It’s the second time.

“I have respect for Justin Marks and the rest of the Trackhouse team, and that’s why I’m not wrecking him on the racetrack, but we’re ready to fight him. I didn’t even get a shot in because the security guards got in the middle of it, but nobody confronts the guy. He just keeps doing it, and I’m sick and tired of it.”

Hamlin battles by Larson in last-lap pass for Kansas victory

Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson put on a masterclass of NASCAR Cup Series racing Sunday at Kansas Speedway, with the Joe Gibbs Racing driver coming out the victor after contact on the last lap. Larson was hounded by the Toyota over the final 14 laps …

Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson put on a masterclass of NASCAR Cup Series racing Sunday at Kansas Speedway, with the Joe Gibbs Racing driver coming out the victor after contact on the last lap.

Larson was hounded by the Toyota over the final 14 laps and tried to fend off the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet getting underneath him multiple times. Never able to complete the pass, Hamlin kept working Larson over as the No. 5 got looser as the run continued.

On the final lap, Hamlin entered Turns 1 and 2 slightly lower than Larson but close enough to apply pressure as the two exited the corner. Larson brushed the wall and with Hamlin side drafting, the two came together off the corner.

The JGR car made contact with Larson in the left rear, which turned the Chevrolet into the outside wall. Hamlin drove to victory and Larson salvaged a second-place finish.

“So proud of this whole FedEx team,” Hamlin said after his first win of the season and the 49th of his Cup Series career. “I got position on him there, and I was trying to side draft him but clipped his left rear. But glad he was able to at least finish.

“Proud of my FedEx team, though. Four hundred wins now for Joe Gibbs Racing — just such a great accomplishment for them.”

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The victory is Hamlin’s fourth at Kansas Speedway. He led 34 laps and won the first stage.

Larson led a race-high 85 laps. It was also a rebound day for the 2021 champ, who was spun off Turn 4 from the race lead by Tyler Reddick on lap five. The two were racing in close quarters off the corner and Reddick got into the back of Larson as they exited.

“I was really loose; I was trying to do what I could to manage it but was really loose at that end (Turn 2),” Larson said of his battle with Hamlin. “He was a little bit better than me at the end. I haven’t seen a replay either, but obviously he was side drafting really aggressively like you would, but he was like touching me, it felt like, and it had me out of control.”

William Byron finished third after starting from the pole and going two laps down early in the day. He struggled with his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, and contact with the wall put him behind on track position.

Bubba Wallace finished fourth and Ross Chastain finished fifth. On pit road after the race, Chastain was confronted by Noah Gragson, whom Chastain admitted he crowded into the fence early in the race when he got tight. Gragson grabbed Chastain’s firesuit, and Chastain connected with a punch before the two were separated by NASCAR security.

Joey Logano finished sixth after winning the second stage. Chase Elliott finished seventh, Martin Truex Jr. eighth, Tyler Reddick ninth and Austin Dillon 10th.

It was an eventful afternoon at Kansas, the first intermediate race for the Cup Series since March. Ty Gibbs, Kyle Busch, and Christopher Bell were the three drivers who failed to finish the race after being involved in crashes, and there were 10 cautions for spins.

There were 11 cautions in the AdventHealth 400 and 37 lead changes among 12 drivers — a record for Kansas Speedway. .

RESULTS

Enfinger motors away from Truck field to win in Kansas

Grant Enfinger stayed ahead of trouble in a race that produced seven cautions for 40 of 134 laps and forged a decisive victory in Saturday night’s Heart of America 200 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway. Enfinger crossed the …

Grant Enfinger stayed ahead of trouble in a race that produced seven cautions for 40 of 134 laps and forged a decisive victory in Saturday night’s Heart of America 200 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway.

Enfinger crossed the finish line 4.358 seconds ahead of Corey Heim to post his first victory of the season.

Enfinger’s eighth career win was his first at Kansas and his first since winning at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis in the 17th race of 2022.

“It was a huge night for us,” said Enfinger, who led a race-high 65 laps. “From the drop of the green flag, we had a really really good Chevy Silverado. Just started out really tight. Once (crew chief) Jeff (Hensley) made one adjustment on it, I felt like from that point forward, we were potentially the best truck out there.”

Heim won a close battle for second over Zane Smith. Stewart Friesen was fourth, followed by Ross Chastain. Nick Sanchez, Kyle Busch, Jake Garcia, Taylor Gray and Tyler Ankrum completed the top 10.

The final caution dimmed Heim’s chances.

“I think that last caution (for Wright’s second spin) put a hole in our strategy a little bit,” Heim said. “If we had that last run go green and we had the same tires as the No. 23 (Enfinger), I thought we could beat him straight up.

“As soon as we got that last caution and we were on uneven tires, I knew it was going to be all track position. I got hung up trying to block the No. 38 (Smith) and kind of took a step back from there and lost track position.”

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Two of the fastest trucks in the race saw their winning chances end in a shunt on lap 72, when Rajah Caruth spun across the bumper of Ty Majeski’s No. 98 Toyota into the outside wall on the frontstretch.

Caruth’s truck was too heavily damaged to continue, and Majeski’s too heavily damaged to contend.

“It was really close, and we had a long way to go,” Caruth said after exiting the infield care center. “I was trying to cover the top, and he just kind of hooked me there. Good to know.

“I didn’t double-move or anything. I picked the top there, and he just took me.”

From appearances, though, Caruth was late in an attempt to block Majeski’s progress, to the detriment of both trucks. Majeski finished 25th.

Pole winner Christian Eckes likewise was involved in a terminal wreck after the subsequent restart on lap 79. Aggression got the best of drivers at the front of the field, and the trucks of Eckes, Matt DiBenedetto, Carson Hocevar and Chase Purdy all were KO’d in Turn 1.

“Just aggression I guess, Eckes said. “He (DiBenedetto) blocked a little late and got loose, and I tried to go high, and I might have caught his rear quarter panel. Yeah, it sucks.”

Busch won the first stage before tangling with Ben Rhodes after the Stage 2 restart. Enfinger powered past Busch into the lead on lap 40 but came to pit road under the third caution for Kris Wright’s spin through the infield grass.

Enfinger gave up the lead with the stop but charged back to second by the end of the stage, which Majeski won.

RESULTS

Byron on Kansas pole

William Byron and Kyle Larson earned Hendrick Motorsports the front row for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway with a strong final round of qualifying. Byron scored the pole with a lap of 179.206 mph (30.133 seconds). It is the first pole …

William Byron and Kyle Larson earned Hendrick Motorsports the front row for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway with a strong final round of qualifying.

Byron scored the pole with a lap of 179.206 mph (30.133 seconds). It is the first pole win for Byron at Kansas and the 10th of his career. Larson qualified second at 179.170 mph.

Championship point leader Ross Chastain qualified third at 179.134 mph and Martin Truex Jr. qualified fourth at 178.921 mph. Tyler Reddick completed the top five qualifiers at 178.749 mph.

Joey Logano qualified sixth at 178.483 mph and Ty Gibbs qualified seventh at 178.400 mph. Denny Hamlin qualified eighth at 178.212 mph and Daniel Suarez qualified ninth at 177.725 mph.

Ryan Blaney rounded out the top 10 in qualifying at 177.480 mph.

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Bubba Wallace qualified 17th. Wallace is the most recent winner at Kansas Speedway and missed advancing to the final round of qualifying by one spot from the first group of drivers.

Chase Elliott qualified 21st and Josh Berry, still substituting for Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman, qualified 29th.

UP NEXT: AdventHealth 400 at 3 p.m. ET, Sunday.

RESULTS

Bubba Wallace had the perfect message for his haters after 2nd NASCAR win, and fans loved it

Shhhhhhhh.

Bubba Wallace won his second career NASCAR Cup Series race Sunday at Kansas Speedway after leading 58 total laps, including the final 43, with one of the best cars on the 1.5-mile track.

And, he had to hold off his hard-charging boss, runner-up Denny Hamlin — who, in addition to driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, co-owns 23XI Racing with Michael Jordan — to take the checkered flag.

When the race ended, Wallace had a message for his haters as he collected his checkered flag. Simply, Shhhhh, as he exited his car on the track and raised his index finger to his lips. It was perfect and reminiscent of other athletes, Jordan included, addressing their critics.

This win is a big deal for Wallace and 23XI for several reasons. It was Wallace’s second career victory, it was 23XI’s second Kansas win in 2022 and it gave the No. 45 Toyota a big boost in the owner’s championship standings.

Wallace normally pilots the No. 23 Toyota but switched to the 45 for the playoffs, as the car is eligible for the owner’s title. Teammate Kurt Busch is typically in the No. 45 car, but he hasn’t been medically cleared to return to racing after experiencing “concussion-like symptoms” after a crash at Pocono Raceway in July. Busch won the spring Kansas race, setting Wallace and 23XI up for the season sweep.

As Wallace hinted at with his shhhh, it was also another opportunity to silence his critics and trolls, whose hate against him is often rooted in thinly veiled (and sometimes blatant) racism.

The only Black full-time NASCAR driver at the sport’s highest level, Wallace has been on the receiving end of an abundance of hate, particularly since the 2020 season when he successfully led the charge to get NASCAR to ban the Confederate flag from its events and later was thought to be the victim of a possible hate crime (the FBI investigated and said he was not).

And after he won his first Cup race last October at Talladega Superspeedway, many of his haters used the weather-shortened race as a means to delegitimize his victory, despite countless drivers throughout NASCAR history earning wins that way and seldom receiving the same criticism. Never mind that Wallace continues to build his reputation as a skilled superspeedway racer.

His second victory, however, was a little bit different, and after leading more than 20 percent of the laps at Kansas on Sunday, there’s little for his petty critics to reach for.

Speaking with NBC Sports after his win, Wallace said:

“Man, just so proud of this team, so proud of the effort that they put in each and every week. Just thankful for the opportunity, right? Took this jump from an idea two years ago from a text from Denny before it all even happened. He was ready to get the deal done. Appreciate him. Appreciate MJ, … everybody on that side of things, everybody at 23XI. Men and women there, they work their tails off.

“Just so proud. Pit crew was awesome today. We had one loose wheel, and just thankful. Thanks for the opportunity, and thankful to shut the hell up for a lot of people.”

“It’s cool to beat the boss,” he added, praising Hamlin’s ability to earn a second-place finish after a challenging start.

Wallace also proved to be the second spoiler in the Cup Series’ 10-race playoffs. Only 16 drivers are currently competing in the playoffs, and Wallace isn’t one of them (the owner’s championship is separate from the driver’s championship). And after non-playoff driver Erik Jones won the playoff opener at Darlington Raceway, Wallace stole the second race, making it that much more challenging for title contenders to advance to the next round.

Why Sunday’s NASCAR race at Kansas Speedway is called the ‘Buschy McBusch Race 400’

Yes, you read that correctly.

There is nothing — and I mean truly, absolutely nothing — on the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series schedule that can compete with the race name for this weekend at Kansas Speedway. And it’s so clearly the best, most ridiculously comical race name on the 2021 Cup schedule, and it’s not even close.

Sunday’s event at Kansas is called: The Buschy McBusch Race 400.

And we’d expect nothing less after race sponsor Busch let fans pick the official race name. (Remember Boaty McBoatface or the attempt to name a soccer team Footy McFoot Face? This is what the internet does.)

Looking at this year’s NASCAR Cup Series schedule, the race names are actually kind of simple, like the upcoming Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway, or traditional, like Sunday’s GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. So when you see the Buschy McBusch Race 400 sandwiched between those two races on the schedule, it blatantly stands out for so many reasons, including the inevitable chuckle you’ll have trying to say it out loud with a straight face.

(Courtesy of Busch Beer)

At the beginning of the NASCAR season in February, we celebrated the absurdity of the overly punctuated mouthful: The Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. 300. And that’s definitely still on the list as one of the best/worst NASCAR race names ever, along with similarly awkward ones like the 1000Bulbs.com 500 or the Axalta Faster. Tougher. Brighter. 200.

And, of course, there’s the infamously preposterous Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard Powered by Florida Georgia Line — which, as it turns out, is again the name of this year’s Cup race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where drivers will race on the road course rather than the iconic oval.

But the Buschy McBusch Race 400 deserves its special place among goofy race names too.

Earlier this year through its promotion looking for a race name, Busch challenged fans to donate a minimum of $1 to the nonprofit Farm Rescue — and the beer company said it matched the donations — which would allow them to then submit a race-name nomination.

Eventually, the list of possible race names was narrowed down to four: The Busch Latte 400, the Nectar of the Cobs 400, the For the Farmers 400 and, obviously, the Buschy McBusch Race 400.

Unquestionably, there is only one correct answer here. And fans clearly knew that and acted accordingly, inundating the replies with Buschy McBusch Race.

And now, throughout the week and weekend, people in the NASCAR world can enjoy a good laugh every time they read it or hear someone say, “the Buschy McBusch Race 400.”

The Buschy McBusch Race 400 is at Kansas Speedway on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on FS1.

New episodes of The Sneak: The Disappearance of Mario Rossi are out now

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Super Start Batteries 400 at Kansas odds, picks and best bets

Previewing Thursday’s Super Start Batteries 400 Presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts at Kansas Speedway sports betting odds and lines, with NASCAR analysis, picks and tips.

The NASCAR Cup Series moves to the Kansas Speedway for the Super Start Batteries 400 Presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts. The green flag drops Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET with the race televised on NBCSN. Below, we analyze the Super Start Batteries 400 odds and betting lines, with NASCAR picks and tips with odds from BetMGM sportsbook.

Super Start Batteries 400: What you need to know

Odds courtesy of BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Wednesday at 8:20 a.m. ET.

Thursday’s race at Kansas Speedway will be the 29th installment since its NASCAR Cup Series debut race back in 2001 – won by Jeff Gordon.

  • Denny Hamlin took checkers in the last Kansas Cup race (Oct. 20, 2019), while Brad Keselowski raced to a win in the spring run (May 11, 2019).
  • All three manufacturers have had success at Kansas Speedway in recent seasons, with Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota each posting a win across the past three races. In the past six races, though, Toyota has three checkered flags, while Chevrolet has raced to wins in 12 of the 28 Cup races at the track.
  • Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon was an upset winner last Sunday at Texas. He has an impressive 13.8 Average-Finish Position (AFP) across his past eight Kansas starts. Fellow RCR driver Tyler Reddick ended up second in Texas, and was ninth in his Kansas Cup debut last season.
  • Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott was the last driver to steer a Chevy to Victory Lane at this track and has a sparkling 2.33 AFP across his past three Kansas starts.

Who is going to win the Super Start Batteries 400?

ELLIOTT (+650 for Thursday’s race) has one win in his past three Kansas Cup starts along with three consecutive top-5 showings. While there has been a couple of upset winners the past two weekends with Cole Custer at Kentucky and Dillon winning in Texas, look for one of the favorites to come through in this one.

Elliott started 13th in his winning run at Kansas in the Fall of 2018, and the average starting position of the past three winners is 13.3.

KEVIN HARVICK (+450), of course, is among the favorites Thursday night. He leads all drivers with a 9.79 AFP (min. two Cup starts) in 28 Cup races in Kansas, picking up three victories with eight top-5 showings and 15 top-10 runs. He also leads the way among all drivers with 855 laps led.

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MARTIN TRUEX JR. (+650) went off the rails at Texas, clipping teammate Kyle Busch in the middle of the run and was never able to recover, ending up 29th. Look for MTJ to return with a vengeance at Kansas, a track where he has won twice, posting eight top-5 finishes and led 759 laps in 23 Cup starts, good for a 13.87 AFP.

Kansas Speedway long-shot bets

JIMMIE JOHNSON (+3500) has three wins in 27 career Cup starts while posting a 10.33 AFP. Of course, all of that success came with crew chief Chad Knaus at the top of JJ’s pit box. Meanwhile, the seven-time Cup champion Johnson hasn’t won since June 2017. Will he never win a Cup race again? Don’t bet on it. He’s a GREAT SMALL-UNIT PLAY at this price.

Knaus, by the way, will be away from William Byron’s team for the birth of his second child. Keith Rodden will take over crew chief duties for the No. 24.

TYLER REDDICK (+3500) had his best career Cup finish last Sunday, rolling to a second-place finish. Is it Reddick’s turn this week? This will be only his second Kansas Cup race – as mentioned above, he finished ninth last year.

Lastly, don’t forget Kansas native CLINT BOWYER (+4000) at his home track. While he has never won in 23 career starts here, he has three top-5 showings, eight top-10 runs, 63 laps led and a 15.7 AFP. One of these days he is going to win in his native Sunflower State.

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