Ty Gibbs, Kyle Larson, Big Winners at Kansas

The NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Cup Series continue their Round of Eight in the playoffs at Kansas Speedway, as there are still plenty of opportunities to advance to race for a Championship in two weeks at Phoenix.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series ran the Kansas Lottery 300 and with John Hunter Nemechek last weekend at Texas, no one has yet to advance to the Championship Four. Daniel Hemric, still chasing his first NASCAR win, started on the pole with Austin Cindric starting next to him. Hemric led the opening laps as he and Cindric were pulling away from everyone else. Then by lap 10, Cindric took the lead. After the competition caution, it was still Cindric leading with Hemric in second. Then on lap 29, a caution came out after Jade Buford spun on the front stretch and hit the wall hard, ending his day. On lap 38, Daniel Hemric charged to the lead, getting by Cindric and Allmendinger for a moment. Coming back around, however, Allmendinger took the lead back. Hemric and Allmendinger battled side-by-side with three laps left in stage one, and it was AJ Allmendinger who would take stage one at Kansas with Hemric second, and Austin Cindric in third.

Stage Two of the race was pretty calm, as the battle came down between Austin Cindric and Ty Gibbs, Cindric would take his 11th stage win of the 2021 season. Hemric and Cindric led the field again to begin stage three. Coming off of turn two on the same lap, Hemric slid up the track in front of Noah Gragson, causing Hemric’s No. 18 to spin, collecting Gragson as well. On lap 104, the next caution came out when the No. 07 of Joe Graf Jr went spinning off of turn two. Austin Cindric continued to lead after the restart, as Ty Gibbs worked his way through the field after being hit with a pit road penalty. With 66 to go, Harrison Burton challenged Austin Cindric for the lead, as Burton has gone winless so far in 2021. As that happened, a car went into the wall in front of the leaders to bring out the next caution, that being the No. 5 of Mason Massey. Then with 46 to go, a tire carcass came off of Joe Graf Jr’s car to bring out another caution for debris. Allmendinger and Gragson led the field to the restart with 42 to go, but then going into turns one and two, Brandon Jones went for a spin after getting loose. Gragson led after the next restart, but Austin Cindric was there in second, looking for his ticket to be punched into the championship four. With 23 laps to go, Sam Mayer went to make it three-wide for third on Gragson and Harrison Burton, Mayer slid up on the front stretch, hitting Harrison Burton and sending the No. 20 into Noah Gragson right into the front stretch wall. Austin Cindric and Ty Gibbs led the field to the restart with 16 laps to go, then with 11 to go, Gibbs chased Cindric down as they both pulled away from everyone else. Ty Gibbs would go on to take the lead and run away with the win at Kansas, making that his fourth win of the season. Gibbs would also go on to clinch the ARCA Menards Series Championship later that evening.

Next, we turn our attention to the NASCAR Cup Series, as race two of the Round of Eight also took place at Kansas. Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson led the field to the green flag to begin the Hollywood Casino 400. Kyle Larson led the first ten laps until it began to rain, throwing out the caution and a red flag.

After the race resumed, Brad Keselowski challenged Kyle Larson for the lead on lap 16. Keselowski was unable to pass Larson, now giving advantage to William Byron who made his way up to third. Then on lap 22, Ryan Blaney tagged the wall, causing him to have a flat tire. Then Kyle Busch hit the wall, hitting it well enough to bring out the caution. Matt DiBenedetto, still searching for a ride in 2022, had the lead at the next restart on lap 28. Larson would take the lead just two laps later and then on lap 33, contact was made between Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr. While that went on, Chase Elliott took the lead from Kyle Larson, then William Byron took it a few laps later. Then on lap 37, Kyle Larson regained the lead and went on to win stage one.

Stage One Results:

1. Kyle Larson
2. William Byron
3. Chase Elliott
4. Kurt Busch
5. Denny Hamlin
6. Kevin Harvick
7. Alex Bowman
8. Ross Chastain
9. Kyle Busch
10. Tyler Reddick

By lap 90, Elliott and Larson were battling for the lead with Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, William Byron, and Kurt Busch all in a pack with them. Then by lap 126, Joey Logano did his best to stay out under the green flag to try and catch many leaders a lap down if a caution were to come out. Then on lap 135, Kyle Busch was on pit road after hitting the wall again, then on lap 146, Joey Logano gave up the lead. William Byron would go on to win stage two, while other playoff contenders struggled.

Stage Two Results:

1. William Byron
2. Chase Elliott
3. Kyle Larson
4. Kurt Busch
5. Kevin Harvick
6. Tyler Reddick
7. Alex Bowman
8. Denny Hamlin
9. Bubba Wallace
10. Ross Chastain

Larson and Byron led the field to the restart on lap 168 as they battled side-by-side for a few laps. Then on lap 170, Tyler Reddick went to the high line to make it three-wide for the lead, he almost had help from Kurt Busch but was unable to get by Larson and Byron. Anthony Alfredo blew a tire, hitting the wall to bring out the caution on lap 173. Reddick and Larson led the field to the next restart on lap 179 as there was no stopping Kyle Larson at the moment. However, William Byron would take the lead with 86 laps to go. Larson tapped the wall coming off of turn two with 59 laps to go. Shortly after, Ryan Newman went spinning with 50 laps to go. Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch then led at the next restart with 45 laps to go. Then Chase Elliott took the lead as they came back around, but then Ryan Blaney went into the wall coming off of turn two after Austin Dillon got loose into Blaney, making this a bad day for Team Penske. Blaney was well above the cutline before the incident. Larson took off with the lead with 39 laps to go. In the closing laps, Chase Elliott had issues with hitting the wall coming off turn two but was able to hang on for second instead of a chance for the win. Kyle Larson would win his third straight race at Kansas, on a special occasion. 17 years to the day of the tragic plane crash that took the lives of 10 people, including Ricky Hendrick, Rick Hendrick’s son. Larson becomes the first driver since Dale Earnhardt in 1987 to win three straight races, twice in a season.