In less than three years, Trackhouse Racing and its drivers have earned a reputation as disruptors in the NASCAR Cup Series, and on Sunday at Kansas Speedway, Ross Chastain threw a monkey wrench into the second round of the playoffs.
Chastain missed the playoffs this season, but at the Hollywood Casino 400, where the round of 12 kicked off, he beat post-season title contender William Byron by 0.388 of a second. It was a duel between ECR Engine and Hendrick Engine, with Chastain maintaining the upper hand after taking the lead with 21 laps remaining in the 267-lap race on the 2.4-mile track.
“It’s what (team co-owner) Justin Marks bought into Trackhouse with (team co-owner) Pitbull, and bought NASCAR along with Trackhouse to do these kinds of things, to disrupt,” said a jubilant Chastain after his first win this season and fifth place. of his cup career.
“Look, there have been times this year where we couldn’t have upset the roach pond outside Darlington (Raceway), let alone a cup race. To come and do this, there were times when I didn’t think we had what it took after practice and qualifying. It didn’t feel great all day, but… it got better as the rubber went down, and the adjustments were great. No one slowed us down but us, and today we were the fastest car.”
Although Byron left Kansas with the lead in the drivers’ standings, he was not happy with his second-place finish. When the race resumed after the 10th and final caution period, leader Martin Truex Jr. the outside track and Chastain the inside. Byron finished fourth behind Hendrick teammate Alex Bowman. Chastain took the lead when Bowman tried to get between Chastain and Truex as they entered the first turn. This left Byron stranded behind them.
“I feel like he (Chastain) got the restart he needed, and I was in the second row trying to clear those guys,” Byron said. “Once I got off it, my balance was fine. Just a little tight, but it just came up a little bit. I probably…needed it to be a longer run.
“Damn! I really wanted that. It’s just stupid! You’re so close and when you go to Talladega, you know what that is. So it just sucks.”
Disappointment follows Busch
In the final stages of the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway, Kyle Busch appeared to be on his way to his first victory this season. He dueled for the lead with eventual winner Ross Chastain and took over the No. 1 position after the final green flag stops in the 267-lap race.
Then disaster struck on lap 236. With Chastain in second place and gaining ground, Busch moved to the outside of Chase Briscoe. It appeared Briscoe had gone low to give Busch the outside lane, but then Briscoe’s Ford moved up, leaving Busch with a narrow opening. Busch swept the wall and turned inside. He remained in the lead and restarted in seventh, but his hopes of victory were gone.
“I’m sure he (Briscoe) was racing to stay in the lead with whoever was in front of him,” said Busch, who led five times through 26 laps. “Granted, they have a race to run, but back in the day, when you weren’t even 30 or whatever it was, the lap traffic would stop and give you a lane and let the leaders race. I just didn’t get that, so I tried to force my hand to grab that and go to his outside. For whatever reason, it just gave all the air in the wrong places, and I spun away.
When Busch was asked if he thought Briscoe should have given him a break, the 19th-ranked player replied, “It doesn’t matter what I expect.” I don’t think anyone gives anyone anything anymore. It’s all take, take, take.”
Briscoe said he tried to give Busch a car width, plus an inch or two, but he saw Busch get loose as soon as he got to the right rear of his Ford.
“It didn’t feel like I was trying to do anything,” Briscoe said. “I literally left him in the top row. As soon as you get out on the right, especially here when you drive over the wall, these cars really go wild. I hate that we’re part of the conversation.
Elliott goes from last to top-10 finish
During practice and qualifying for the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway on Sunday, Chase Elliott thought he had a cylinder problem in his Hendrick Motorsports engine.
After Elliot qualified 38th, his team changed the car’s engine. He escaped a five-car wreck on the first lap with minimal damage and worked his way through the field for the remainder of the 267-lap race.
“We had a tough battle all day,” said Elliott, who finished ninth and was four points above the cutoff with Joey Logano.
“Since we had a bad pit choice, you end up being in a bad position to lose spots on pit road. It looked like we were going to gain some spots on the track and then lose some spots on pit road. We were trying to work our way back into the top ten, so it was nice to at least get that far.”
Xfinity Series Starts Playoffs
Part-time driver Aric Almirola started NASCAR’s
Almirola defeated regular-season champion Cole Custer by 0.660 of a second in Saturday’s Kansas Lottery 300. However, Custer took a five-point lead over Chandler Smith in the playoff standings. A wreck on lap 70 involving Justin Allgaier, who entered the race as No. 1, and Sheldon Creed left Allgaier 36th in the rundown and minus one below the cut line. Other drivers below the cutline are AJ Allmendinger minus 13, Parker Kligerman minus 18 and Sammy Smith minus 23.
Next weekend is the second race in the playoffs in Talladega.
Rhodes will not defend the Truck Series title
Two-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Ben Rhodes’ bid for a third consecutive title ended at Kansas Speedway. Rhodes’ 22nd-place finish in Friday night’s Kubota Tractor 200 left him under the cutoff as the first round of the playoffs ended.
Also eliminated from the playoffs was Daniel Dye, who finished 27th.
Corey Heim, Christian Eckes, Ty Majeski, Nick Sanchez, Rajah Caruth, Tyler Ankrum, Grant Enfinger and Taylor Gray advance to the round of 8, which starts next weekend in Talladega.
Heim won the final event in the three-race round and was the only playoff driver to emerge victorious in a post-season event. Layne Riggs, who won the other two races, will likely be remembered for dislocating a shoulder during his victory celebration at the Milwaukee Mile in late August instead of dominating the first round of the playoffs.
Results
NASCAR Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400
Kansas Speedway
1. (20) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 267.
2. (6) William Byron (P), Chevrolet, 267.
3. (19) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 267.
4. (7) Ryan Blaney (P), Ford, 267.
5. (2) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 267.
6. (12) Alex Bowman (P), Chevrolet, 267.
7. (1) Christopher Bell (P), Toyota, 267.
8. (8) Denny Hamlin (P), Toyota, 267.
9. (38) Chase Elliott (P), Chevrolet, 267.
10. (15) Zane Smith #, Chevrolet, 267.
11. (25) Chris Buescher, Ford, 267.
12. (22) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 267.
13. (10) Daniel Suarez (P), Chevrolet, 267.
14. (5) Joey Logano (P), Ford, 267.
15. (27) Corey LaJoie, Ford, 267.
16. (37) Ryan Preece, Ford, 267.
17. (13) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 267.
18. (24) Noah Gragson, Ford, 267.
19. (3) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 267.
20. (30) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 267.
21. (32) Ty Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 267.
22. (26) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 267.
23. (28) Harrison Burton, Ford, 267.
24. (9) Chase Briscoe (P), Ford, 267.
25. (4) Tyler Reddick (P), Toyota, 267.
26. (11) Kyle Larson (P), Chevrolet, 267.
27. (33) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 267.
28. (18) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 267.
29. (21) Michael McDowell, Ford, 267.
30. (31) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 267.
31. (34) Kaz Grala #, Ford, 267.
32. (14) Carson Hocevar #, Chevrolet, 267.
33. (23) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 266.
34. (17) Austin Cindric (P), Ford, 263.
35. (16) Erik Jones, Toyota, 263.
36. (35) Jimmie Johnson, Toyota, 257.
37. (36) JJ Yeley(i), Chevrolet, electric, 118.
38. (29) Josh Berry #, Ford, Accident, 0.
Average speed of race winner: 123.294 km/h.
Time of the race: 3 hours, 14 minutes, 54 seconds. Margin of victory: .388 seconds.
Warning flags: 10 for 47 laps.
Lead changes: 30 out of 15 drivers.
Tour leaders: C. Call (P) 1-21;*. Yeley(i) 22;C. Call (P) 23-72;W. Byron (P) 73-82; D. Hamlin (P) 83;J. Logano (P) 84-86;W. Byron (P) 87-100;T. Gibbs 101; K. Busch 102-105;C. Call (P) 106-141;R. Blaney (P) 142-144;C. Call (P) 145;Z. Smith # 146-148;C. Call (P) 149-161;A. Boogman (P) 162-167;T. Gibbs 168-171;C. Hocevar # 172-176;R. Chastain 177-202;K. Busch 203;R. Chastain 204;K. Busch 205-210;T. Reddick (P) 211-217;C. Call (P) 218;B. Keselowski 219;K. Busch 220-224;R. Chastain 225; K. Busch 226-235;R. Chastain 236-238;B. Keselowski 239-241;M. Truex Jr. 242-246;R. Chastain 247-267.
Leader overview (driver, lead times, laps led): Christopher Bell (P) 6 times for 122 laps; Ross Chastain 5 times for 52 laps; Kyle Busch 5 times for 26 laps; William Byron (P) 2 times for 24 laps; Tyler Reddick (P) 1 time for 7 laps; Alex Bowman (P) 1 time for 6 laps; Ty Gibbs 2 times for 5 rounds; Carson Hocevar #1 time for 5 laps; Martin Truex Jr. 1 time for 5 rounds; Brad Keselowski 2 times for 4 rounds; Zane Smith #1 time for 3 laps; Ryan Blaney (P) 1 time for 3 laps; Joey Logano (P) 1 time for 3 laps; * JJ Yeley(i) 1 time for 1 round; Denny Hamlin (P) 1 time for 1 round.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 24,22,12,11,20,54,2,19,48,77
Stage #2, top ten: 48,54,12,24,6,77,8,19,9,14
Updated Playoff Standings
After one of the three round of 12 races:
William Byron 3,074
Ryan Blaney 3,068
Christopher Bell 3,068
Kyle Larson 3,058
Denny Hamlin 3,051
Alex Bowman 3,048
Chase Elliott 3,044
Joey Logano 3,044
Tyler Reddick 3,040
Daniel Suarez 3,030
Chase Briscoe 3,019
Austin Cindric 3,015
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