Ross Chastain wins the NASCAR Cup Collection Spherical of 12 Playoff Opener at Kansas Speedway on Sunday afternoon within the Hollywood On line casino 400.
KANSAS CITY, Kansas — Enter the Nice Disrupter.
Ross Chastain’s No 1. Trackhouse Chevrolet got here to life within the second half of Sunday’s Hollywood On line casino 400 and beat William Byron’s Chevrolet to the end line in a hotly contested Spherical of 12 opener within the NASCAR Cup Collection Playoffs.
Ross Chastain Wins the NASCAR Cup Collection Spherical of 12 Playoff Opener at Kansas
Chastain grabbed the lead from Martin Truex Jr. moments after the ultimate restart on lap 248 at Kansas Speedway and held off a charging Byron by 0.388 seconds to thwart the Playoff driver’s bid for automated development into the Spherical of 8.
Having didn’t qualify for the postseason this 12 months, Chastain reveled in his first victory of the season, his first at Kansas and the fifth of his profession.
“For us on this 1 staff, it’s what Cup racing is all about,” stated Chastain, who led 52 laps. “It’s what (staff co-owner) Justin Marks purchased into Trackhouse with Pitbull, purchased into NASCAR with Trackhouse to do stuff like this—to disrupt.
“Look, there’s been instances this 12 months the place we couldn’t have disrupted the minnow pond outdoors of Darlington, not to mention a Cup race. It’s laborious. It’s actually robust.
“To come back and do that, there are occasions the place I didn’t suppose after practising and qualifying we had what it took. I believed we now have been means stronger right here previously. It didn’t really feel nice all day, however our Kubota Chevy, it was higher because the rubber went down, and the changes had been nice.”
William Byron Settles for Second Place
Byron led 24 laps however couldn’t overcome Chastain’s aerodynamic benefit over the closing laps.
“Yeah, simply clear air,” Byron stated ruefully. “I really feel like he received the restart he wanted to, and I used to be within the second row simply making an attempt to clear these guys. As soon as I received away from them, my stability was OK. Just a bit bit tight, however simply type of inching up on him. I wanted most likely, you already know, for it to be an extended run being in second.
“Rattling it, I needed that one actually dangerous. It simply sucks, man. You’re so shut, and you already know going to Talladega you already know what that’s. So simply sucks, however pleased with the trouble.”
Truex completed third after restarting within the high lane and surrendering the primary two positions to Chastain and Byron. Playoff driver and defending sequence champion Ryan Blaney rallied to complete fourth after an unscheduled pit cease for a unfastened wheel.
Ty Gibbs, eradicated from the Playoffs at Bristol within the ultimate Spherical of 16 race, got here residence fifth, adopted by Playoff drivers Alex Bowman, Christopher Bell (the pole winner), Denny Hamlin, and Chase Elliott, who began from the rear of the sector after an engine change in his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
Byron heads to Talladega Superspeedway because the sequence chief. He has a six-point edge over Bell and Blaney and a 34-point margin over ninth-place Tyler Reddick. Reddick is the primary driver under the reduce line for the subsequent spherical.
Hamlin and Bowman are fifth and sixth within the standings, 11 and eight factors above the cutoff, respectively.
Deja Vu for Kyle Larson
For Kyle Larson, as the highest seed within the Playoffs coming into the Spherical of 12, Sunday’s race was an unwelcome occasion of déjà vu. Paying homage to his early exit after slamming the wall within the second flip within the first Spherical of 16 race at Atlanta, Larson reduce a proper rear tire and bounced off the second flip wall on Sunday at Kansas simply 19 laps into the race.
Through the subsequent 56-lap green-flag run to the tip of Stage 1, Larson complained of a vibration in his No. 5 Chevrolet. He fell one lap down and completed the stage in thirty fifth place.
Larson received his lap again because the beneficiary automobile beneath warning for Daniel Hemric’s spin on lap 143. He mitigated some harm to his factors place with a Twenty sixth-place end. Larson leaves Kansas fourth within the standings, 18 factors above the present reduce line for the Spherical of 8.
Spherical of 12 Drivers Under the Spherical of 8 Cutline
Reddick, Daniel Suarez, Chase Briscoe, and Austin Cindric weren’t as lucky.
Reddick, the defending race winner, might solely handle a Twenty fifth-place end result and is now 4 factors under the cutoff. Suarez completed 14th and trials Elliott and Joey Logano (tied for eighth) by 14 factors.
Briscoe fought an ill-handling automobile and completed twenty fourth, falling 25 factors to eighth place. Cindric sustained harm throughout a spin on the backstretch on lap 157, completed 4 laps down in thirty fourth and trails Logano and Elliott by 29 factors.
Kyle Busch Nearly Breaks His Winless Streak
Kyle Busch maintain a document 19-year streak of successful no less than one race per season. In search of his first victory of the season, Kyle Busch held the lead on lap 26, with Chastain in pursuit. Busch tried to place Briscoe a lap down via a slim hole on the high of the observe. However, his automobile broke unfastened and spun off the second flip, inflicting the ninth warning.
“I’m positive he was racing to remain on the lead lap with whoever was in entrance of him there,” stated Busch, who completed nineteenth. “Granted, they’ve a race to run, however again within the outdated days once you had been beneath 30 (laps) to go or no matter it was, lapped visitors would type of lay over and provide you with a lane and let the leaders race.
“I simply wasn’t getting that, so I attempted to power my hand into getting that and get to his outdoors, and for no matter cause, it simply gave all of the air in all of the incorrect locations, and I spun out.”
Breaking Information
The race featured 30 lead adjustments amongst 15 drivers, the latter a observe document. Bell led a race-high 122 laps. Hendrick Motorsports teammates Byron and Bowman gained phases 1 and a couple of, respectively.
Subsequent Up
The NASCAR Cup Collection heads to Talladega Superspeedway for the second race within the Spherical of 12 Playoff on Sunday, October sixth. The YellaWood 500 begins at 2 pm ET on NBC, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Stay streaming is obtainable on the NBC Sports activities app. Final 12 months the eventual NASCAR Cup Collection champion, Ryan Blaney gained this race.
