KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Ross Chastain captured his first win of the season, albeit a month later than he wished, but a win nonetheless that played spoiler in the opening race of the NASCAR quarterfinal playoff round.
Chastain failed to make the playoffs as only two winless drivers made NASCAR’s 16-driver championship-eligible field, but he created a good 2024 memory by capturing the Cup race Sunday at Kansas Speedway.
Taking the lead on a restart with 21 laps to go, the Trackhouse Racing driver kept William Byron at bay for his fifth career victory. Chastain and Kyle Busch had traded the lead over about 20 laps late in the race, but Busch spun and hit the wall with 32 laps remaining.
It was Chastain’s first victory since the season finale at Phoenix last year.
“We haven’t left,” Chastain said. “We haven’t went away. Nobody has slowed us down other than ourselves, and today we were the fastest car.”
Byron settled for second and leads the standings in NASCAR’s “Round of 12” with races at Talladega Superspeedway and the Charlotte road course remaining. He was one of the few playoff drivers not to have trouble in the event.
Takeaways from Kansas where two drivers eliminated the previous week from championship contention finished third (Martin Truex Jr.) and fifth (Ty Gibbs) while playoff driver Ryan Blaney was fourth.
Kyle Busch Thwarted
Busch appeared to be on pace to snap a 50-race winless streak as he was pulling away from Chastain but got loose when trying to squeeze between Chase Briscoe and the wall when trying to put Briscoe a lap down.
Some drivers might have given Busch a little more room — it appeared he had a very tight lane to make the pass.
“I wasn’t going to just pull over and give it to him — we’re still racing for staying on the lead lap,” Briscoe said. “I felt like we left him a car width and a couple of inches. These cars are so sensitive.
“If you’re off of somebody’s right rear, you get so loose and it looked like that is what happened. He throttled up to pin me so where I couldn’t get up [in front of him]. And as soon as he got there, … it sucked him around.”
Busch knew it was going to be tough to pass Briscoe. He said in past years, drivers might be a little more forgiving.
“I tried to force my hand … to get to his outside, and when I did, for some reason whatever happened, it just gave all the air in all the wrong place and I spun out,” Busch said.
Briscoe is still in the playoffs, a spot he earned when he and Busch had a clean battle in the regular-season finale earlier this month at Darlington where Briscoe won an automatic playoff berth. Should that have resulted in Briscoe maybe giving Busch more room?
“It doesn’t matter what I expect,” Busch said. “I don’t think anybody gives anybody anything anymore. It’s just take, take, take.”
Denny Hamlin Pit Woes
Hamlin had two slow pit stops — and once had to pit twice because of a loose wheel — that he had to rally from over the second half of the race.
So an eighth-place finish was not a good result for Hamlin, who called it a “horrible day.”
“We should have won the race,” Hamlin said. “We had the fastest car but every time we get to the top-three, the caution comes out and we restart 15th-20th.
“You can’t show how fast your car is when you’re in the back of the pack. … Eventually you run out of laps and somebody else wins.”
Hamlin is still 11 points above the current playoff cutoff.
“I’m not in it mentally, I can tell you that,” Hamlin said. “There are lots of wires crossed and bolts loose at the moment. But what can you do? I’ll just do the best I can to drive the car.”
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Playoff Driver Adversity
Several playoff drivers battled adversity at Kansas.
Kyle Larson punctured a tire early and he drove his wounded car to a 26th-place finish. Austin Cindric spun during the race and finished 34th.
“I thought we would be OK [after the repairs], but I just had no speed,” Larson said. “Overall, I’m proud of our effort. We got everything somewhat repaired. … I just didn’t have any speed, so restarts were incredibly tough for me.”
But there were others who battled adversity and still had OK days. Chase Elliott blew an engine in practice, so he started at the rear and finished ninth. Christopher Bell scraped the wall twice and finished seventh. And Ryan Blaney had to pit under green with a loose wheel, but the Busch wreck brought out a caution that allowed him to pit under caution instead of green for his final fuel stop, and he finished fourth.
Elliott said having a pit stall where he often had to drive around someone to get in (and often out) was tough — those who qualify well get first choice of pit stalls and they often have openings either on the way in or out and/or are pitted by a driver who will be running worse so they have clear entry into their pit.
“Our car was plenty solid enough, but we were just fighting an uphill battle all day,” Elliott said. “With the bad pit pick, it just kills you. … Those are the little things that just destroy you when you have a bad Saturday.”
Bell had started on the pole for the third consecutive Kansas race but still seeks his first victory at the track.
“Just obviously wish I had a couple corners back because there were a couple of them where I made mistakes and let a lot of track position go,” Bell said. “To come back and finish seventh after getting mired back in the back is something that is good but definitely left what could’ve been.”
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
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