Bluegrass Sports Nation

Rowdy Gets Birthday Win at Kansas

Brendon Miller

Kyle Busch - Kansas 5-2-21 - USA Today

Kyle Busch celebrated his first NASCAR Cup Series win of 2021 Season on his Birthday at Kansas.

Kansas City, KS – May 2, 2021 – Anthony Holbrook

The NASCAR Cup Series 11th point’s race of the season traveled to Kansas Speedway for the BUSHY MCBUSH RACE 400  Sunday May 2nd 2021.

BUSHY MCBUSH RACE 400  – Stage 1 recap:

Leading 20 laps of Stage 1, Kyle Busch surfaced to the top with a late surge to win his first Stage of 2021. The only caution of the Stage flew on the mandated competition yellow flag on lap 25.

BUSHY MCBUSH RACE 400  – Stage 1 results:

  1. Kyle Busch
  2. Kyle Larson
  3. Tyler Reddick
  4. Brad Keselowski
  5. William Byron
  6. Chase Elliott
  7. Kevin Harvick
  8. Ryan Blaney
  9. Denny Hamlin
  10. Christopher Bell

BUSHY MCBUSH RACE 400  – Stage 2 recap:

Countless drivers attempt and only few succeed driving the top groove around the variable banking at the 1.5 mile oval at Kansas Speedway.  Then along came Kyle Larson from 32nd positon to navigate the top line for the lead. Larson captures the Stage signifying him a top competitor to contest with for Sunday’s Bushy McBusch Race 400.

BUSHY MCBUSH RACE 400  – Stage 2 results:

  1. Kyle Larson
  2. Kyle Busch
  3. Denny Hamlin
  4. Brad Keselowski
  5. Chase Elliott
  6. Ryan Blaney
  7. Martin Truex Jr.
  8. Tyler Reddick
  9. Christopher Bell
  10. Kevin Harvick

BUSHY MCBUSH RACE 400  – Final Stage recap:

Kyle Busch regains the lead off a restart bump by Ryan Blaney on a lap 257.  Meanwhile, Christopher Bell spin out in Turn 3 brought out the final caution to decide the victor. The late-lap restart would light the candles in the No. 18 team’s flavor.

Final restart, Kyle Bush selects inside lane while Ryan Blaney occupies the outside position for the two-lap shootout.

As the green flag waved, Larson hooks up with Ryan and a little too much bumper sends both cars out of control as the leaders advance. Blaney would pilot his car from mayhem as he crossed the checkers in 21st.  Kyle Bush maintains his lines and watches the field shrink in his rear view mirror.

Kyle Busch earned his 58th career win Sunday on his 36th birthday and is tied with Kevin Harvick on the all-time Cup wins list. Remarkably, Kyle Busch has won at least one race each season for the past 17 years. The King holds the record at 18.

Leading 132 of the 267 scheduled laps, Kyle Larson’s shoot-out lap aggression bought him stripe from the barrier wall and a disappointing 19th place finish.   Veteran Kevin Harvick takes advantage of skirmish only to drive quickly out of time and real-estate finishing second to Kyle Busch. Last week race winner Brad Keselowski finished a close 3rd with Matt DiBenedetto 4th and Chase Elliott rounding out the top five.

NASCAR Series point’s leader Denny Hamlin led only seven laps in the final stage, until contact with Kyle Larson and the barrier wall took him from contention with 25 laps to go. Denny Hamlin salvages a 12th finishing spot. 

BUSHY MCBUSH RACE 400 – Final Stage results:

1. (9) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 267 laps, 59 points.

2. (4) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 267, 40.

3. (1) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 267, 48.

4. (5) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 267, 33.

5. (17) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 267, 43.

6. (15) Martin Truex Jr, Toyota, 267, 35.

7. (11) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, 267, 41.

8. (16) Chris Buescher, Ford, 267, 29.

9. (2) William Byron, Chevrolet, 267, 34.

10. (6) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 267, 27.

11. (21) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 267, 26.

12. (20) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 267, 35.

13. (3) Michael McDowell, Ford, 267, 24.

14. (24) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 267, 23.

15. (28) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 267, 22.

16. (14) Ryan Newman, Ford, 267, 21.

17. (29) Joey Logano, Ford, 267, 20.

18. (25) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 267, 19.

19. (32) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 267, 37.

20. (19) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 267, 17.

21. (7) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 267, 24.

22. (38) Austin Cindric, Ford, 267, 0.

23. (22) Anthony Alfredo, Ford, 266, 14.

24. (10) Cole Custer, Ford, 266, 13.

25. (27) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 266, 12.

26. (13) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 266, 11.

27. (26) Corey Lajoie, Chevrolet, 265, 10.

28. (8) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 265, 12.

29. (18) Aric Almirola, Ford, 264, 8.

30. (31) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 263, 0.

31. (30) BJ McLeod, Ford, 260, 0.

32. (12) Ryan Preece, Chevrolet, accident, 259, 5.

33. (36) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 259, 0.

34. (23) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Chevrolet, accident, 258, 3.

35. (35) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 258, 0.

36. (33) Cody Ware, Chevrolet, 257, 0.

37. (34) Quin Houff, Chevrolet, 256, 1.

38. (39) Matt Mills, Ford, 255, 0.

39. (37) Josh Bilicki, Ford, 250, 1.

The NASCAR Cup Series travels to Darlington Raceway for the Goodyear 400, scheduled Sunday, May 9 (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM/NASCAR).  NASCAR’s representation of a Throwback weekend.

Exit mobile version