Kurt Busch Wins at Kansas for First Victory with Michael Jordan

Kurt Busch won the AdventHealth 400 from Kansas Speedway on Sunday afternoon to pick up his first win with 23XI Racing.

Busch led a race-high 116 laps and won the second stage of the race. Busch has struggled early in the season, but was finally able to put a strong race together in his Jumpman-sponsored Toyota Camry.

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Busch said his team has been working to improve from the early-season struggles.

“It’s all about teamwork,” Busch said.  “This is 23XI, this is our first win for the 45 car and with Jordan brand on the hood. I felt like I had to play like the goat, race like the goat, and I had to beat the Kyles.”

Busch was part of a trio that fought for the lead over the final run, with Kyle Larson and brother Kyle Busch fighting for the lead.

Busch said once he got past his brother, he knew he’d be able to chase down Larson.

“If I could get one Kyle, I could get both. It’s like the Kyle and Kyle Show.”

“I’ve been with a lot of teams and a lot of manufacturers. It’s the most gratifying to work from the ground up with a new car number.”

Larson had a strong car throughout the day, but said he knew he’d be able to hold off anyone other than Kurt Busch.

“It was hard to hold off Kyle, and I knew when Kurt got by him it was going to be hard to hold him off. I did my best, but came up one spot short. That was fun racing.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kurt Busch

2. Kyle Larson

3. Kyle Busch

4. Denny Hamlin

5. Christopher Bell

6. Martin Truex Jr.

7. Ross Chastain

8. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

9. Alex Bowman

10. Bubba Wallace

11. Austin Cindric

12. Ryan Blaney

13. Austin Dillon

14. Brad Keselowski

15. Kevin Harvick

16. William Byron

17. Joey Logano

18. Noah Gragson

19. Corey LaJoie

20. Ty Dillon

21. Harrison Burton

22. Cole Custer

23. Michael McDowell

24. Chase Briscoe

25. Todd Gilliland

26. Aric Almirola

27. Chris Buescher

28. Josh Bilicki

29. Chase Elliott

30. Tyler Reddick

31. JJ Yeley

32. Erik Jones

33. Daniel Suarez

34. Cody Ware

35. Justin Haley

36. BJ McLeod

 

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Logano Moves Byron to Win at Darlington

 Joey Logano won the Goodyear 400 from Darlington Raceway on Sunday afternoon to pick up his first win of the season.

Logano started on pole for Sunday’s race and ran up front for most of the day. In the closing laps, Logano started to reel in William Byron for the lead after giving up the top spot on the final restart.

Coming to the white flag, Logano made contact with Byron, moving Byron from the lead with a move reminiscent of Dale Earnhardt on NASCAR’s throwback weekend.

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Logano said the bump-and-run was payback for earlier contact from Byron.

“You’re not going to put me in the wall and not get anything back,” Logano said.  “That’s how that works.”

Logano said his team kept him up front throughout the race and helped him snap a 40-race winless streak.

“Super proud of this Shell-Pennzoil team,” Logano said.  “Great execution all day long. I never won here in a Cup race before.”

Byron fell from third to 13th on the final lap after his right-front tire went flat following the contact with Logano.

Byron said he didn’t do anything to Logano that warranted payback coming to the white flag.

“We were really close off of two and I think I spooked him and got him tight,” Byron said. “He was right against the wall and I got the lead. It was close racing at the restart, but we were faster than him. Obviously at the end the right-rear started to go away and he didn’t even make it a contest.”

“He’s just an idiot. He does this stuff all the time, I’ve seen it with other guys. He’s just a moron. He can’t win a race so he does it that way.”

Unofficial results:

1. Joey Logano

2. Tyler Reddick

3. Justin Haley

4. Kevin Harvick

5. Chase Elliott

6. Christopher Bell

7. Michael McDowell

8. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

9. Austin Dillon

10. Daniel Suarez

11. Aric Almirola

12. Ty Dillon

13. William Byron

14. Harrison Burton

15. Todd Gilliland

16. Chris Buescher

17. Ryan Blaney

18. Austin Cindric

19. Cody Ware

20. Chase Briscoe

21. Denny Hamlin

22. Landon Cassill

23. JJ Yeley

24. Martin Truex Jr.

25. Erik Jones

26. Cole Custer

27. Bubba Wallace

28. Kurt Busch

29. Alex Bowman

30. Ross Chastain

31. Daniel Hemric

32. BJ McLeod

33. Kyle Busch

34. Brad Keselowski

35. Corey LaJoie

36. Kyle Larson

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Chastain Picks Up Win in Wild Talladega Finish

 Ross Chastain won the Geico 500 from Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday afternoon to pick up his second victory of the season.

Chastain ran up front over the final run, and was third coming out of the final corner. The lead cars of Erik Jones and Kyle Larson made contact entering the trioval, and Chastain was able to get clear of everyone else as the field began wrecking behind him.

Chastain won for the second time in the past five weeks, and said he was excited to get off to such a good start with his new team Trackhouse Racing.

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“Justin Marks and what he laid out for us was ambitious,” Chastain said. “I had no idea what to expect other than that I had my group from last year. I’ve wrecked myself so many times.”

Chastain said he was committed to run the bottom on the final laps and didn’t want to take himself out of contention.

“I’m always the one going to the top too early and making the mistake,” Chastain said. “There at the end…I’m not going up there again, I did that a couple times today. They just kept moving out of the way.”

Jones finished sixth on Sunday after making contact with Larson on the final lap while defending the lead.

Jones said he didn’t realize the bottom lane had so much momentum coming to the checkered flag.

“They kind of doubled up behind us, and that top lane was getting some momentum,” Jones said.  “Looking back, I wish I would have stayed on the bottom and let [Chastain] push me. I didn’t realize they were coming with that much speed.”

“You can only see so much going on from the seat; you’re trying to make the best decision you can in the last 1500 feet.”

Unofficial results:

1. Ross Chastain

2. Austin Dillon

3. Kyle Busch

4. Kyle Larson

5. Martin Truex Jr.

6. Erik Jones

7. Chase Elliott

8. Michael McDowell

9. Alex Bowman

10. Kevin Harvick

11. Ryan Blaney

12. Justin Haley

13. Aric Almirola

14. Corey LaJoie

15. William Byron

16. Kurt Busch

17. Bubba Wallace

18. Denny Hamlin

19. Landon Cassill

20. Noah Gragson

21. Austin Cindric

22. Christopher Bell

23. Brad Keselowski

24. David Ragan

25. JJ Yeley

26. BJ McLeod

27. Todd Gilliland

28. Cody Ware

29. Cole Custer

30. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

31. Daniel Suarez

32. Joey Logano

33. Ty Dillon

34. Harrison Burton

35. Greg Biffle

36. Daniel Hemric

37. Chase Briscoe

38. Chris Buescher

39. Tyler Reddick

 

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Byron Holds Off Logano and Dillon to Win at Martinsville

William Byron won the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 from Martinsville Speedway on Saturday night.

Byron had a strong car throughout the race, but followed his teammate Chase Elliott through the first two stages. Byron finally took the lead on the pit stop at the second stage break, and the only time he gave it up over the final 200 laps was during green-flag pit stops.

Byron had to hold off Joey Logano and Austin Dillon on the final overtime restart after a late caution bunched up the field on his way to his second win of the season.

Byron said he knew he would need to be perfect over the final two laps with strong cars behind him.

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“I knew when that last caution came out...I thought everybody behind us would pit and luckily we…were aggressive,” Byron said.  “I chattered the tires in 3 and 4, and kind of left the bottom open. I was able to kind of block my exits and get a good drive off.”

Byron won Thursday night’s Camping World Truck Series race, and said he had always wanted to win one of most famous trophies on the circuit, a grandfather clock.

“Always wanted to win at Martinsville,” Byron said.  “Got two clocks this weekend, so I enjoy that.”

Logano said Byron did a good job defending the lead over the final two laps.

“William kind of messed up off of four and let me get to him,” Logano said.  “He did a really good job of brake-checking. I couldn’t accelerate off the corner and be as close as I needed to be down into 3 to execute the old bump-and-run.”

Dillon started 23rd on Saturday, and a strong long-run car allowed him to get to the front on a rare Martinsville race that went caution-free for most of the night. Dillon restarted third on the final restart, but he was forced to defend after he spun the tires heading to the green flag.

Dillon said he was disappointed he couldn’t capitalize on a car with such speed throughout the day.

“I like to pride myself on when we get in those situations as being clutch, and that was anything but on that last restart,” Dillon said.  “Once I got back in line there, I had some grip and I feel like we had good forward drive all night long. I just felt like if we got through the gears, we’d have a shot at him.”

“We’ve been working our tails off. We’ve been working really hard to make this car as good as possible. Want to get RCR a win and that’s what we’re here racing for.”

Unofficial results:

1. William Byron

2. Joey Logano

3. Austin Dillon

4. Ryan Blaney

5. Ross Chastain

6. Kurt Busch

7. Kyle Busch

8. Aric Almirola

9. Chase Briscoe

10. Chase Elliott

11. Austin Cindric

12. Alex Bowman

13. Erik Jones

14. Kevin Harvick

15. Chris Buescher

16. Bubba Wallace

17. Brad Keselowski

18. Tyler Reddick

19. Kyle Larson

20. Christopher Bell

21. Cole Custer

22. Martin Truex Jr.

23. Ty Dillon

24. AJ Allmendinger

25. Michael McDowell

26. Harrison Burton

27. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

28. Denny Hamlin

29. Daniel Suarez

30. Todd Gilliland

31. Justin Haley

32. Corey LaJoie

33. Cody Ware

34. JJ Yeley

35. Josh Bilicki

36. BJ McLeod

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Hamlin Wins at Richmond Amid Differing Strategies

Denny Hamlin won the Toyota Owners 400 from Richmond Raceway on Sunday afternoon to pick up his first win of the season.

With the race winding down, the leaders utilized different pit strategies. William Byron led and tried to stay ahead of Martin Truex Jr. as they navigated lapped traffic, while the duo of Hamlin and Kevin Harvick quickly made their way to the front.

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With Byron and Truex on older tires, Hamlin took the lead with four laps to go and was able to hold off Harvick over the final laps.

Hamlin said his team had the perfect strategy on the final pit stop.

“So proud of this FedEx team, just never giving up,” Hamlin said.  “Great strategy there; drove as hard as I could. They got the car right there towards the end.”

Hamlin has had a slow start to the season, and didn’t have a Top 10 in the first six races of the season.

Hamlin said he had hoped to have a solid run to find out where their cars stacked up.

“Before the race, we needed a data point,” Hamlin said.  “A good run to balance ourselves on other tracks, and obviously I think we got it here.”

Harvick followed Hamlin past Truex and Byron, but couldn’t get close enough to make a move for the win.

Harvick said he was happy to have a strong result after they’ve brought fast cars to the track every week.

“It’s really the first clean day we’ve had all year,” Harvick said.  “Cars have been fast…just really proud of everyone on our Mobil 1 Ford Mustang for staying in there.”

“I wanted to be close enough at the white to take a swipe at him, but the lapped cars there kind of got in the way and I lost a little bit of ground. Hopefully a little momentum in a positive direction.”

Unofficial results:

1. Denny Hamlin

2. Kevin Harvick

3. William Byron

4. Martin Truex Jr.

5. Kyle Larson

6. Christopher Bell

7. Ryan Blaney

8. Alex Bowman

9. Kyle Busch

10. Austin Dillon

11. Chase Briscoe

12. Tyler Reddick

13. Brad Keselowski

14. Chase Elliott

15. Chris Buescher

16. Daniel Suarez

17. Joey Logano

18. Harrison Burton

19. Ross Chastain

20. Austin Cindric

21. Aric Almirola

22. Cole Custer

23. Erik Jones

24. Ty Dillon

25. Todd Gilliland

26. Bubba Wallace

27. AJ Allmendinger

28. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

29. Justin Haley

30. Michael McDowell

31. Corey LaJoie

32. Landon Cassill

33. JJ Yeley

34. BJ McLeod

35. Kurt Busch

36. Cody Ware

37. Greg Biffle

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Chastain Breaks Out with COTA Victory

Ross Chastain won the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas to pick up his first career victory on Sunday afternoon.

Chastain has had a strong start to the season, with three consecutive top three finishes headed into COTA. Chastain put it all together on Sunday, and ran up front for a majority of the race.

Chastain had to hold off challenges from Tyler Reddick, AJ Allmendinger and Alex Bowman late in the race as numerous cautions forced multiple restarts. 

Allmendinger, one of the best road course racers, pressured Chastain over the final two laps. Chastain and Allmendinger made contact throughout the final lap, which ended with Allmendinger spun out in the sand trap and Chastain cruising to the checkered flag.

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Chastain said he knew Allmendinger would be upset after helping Chastain to become a better road racer.

“To go up against some of the best with AJ, I know he’s going to be upset with me,” Chastain said.  “We raced hard, both of us.  I’ve learned so much from him.”

Chastain said he knew his Trackhouse Racing team was close to getting to victory lane after strong runs for him and teammate Daniel Suarez.

“People don’t know how good this group is,” Chastain said.  “When it comes to a Cup win, I can’t let that go down without a fight.”

Allmendinger said he was proud of his team for putting together a car that could contend for the win.

“At the end of the day, we know we had a shot to win the race,” Allmendinger said.  “Proud of Kaulig Racing, the Chevy was so fast.  At the end of the day, each person’s got to make the move that they’re comfortable with.”

Bowman inserted himself into the battle for the lead on the final lap, and finished second after Allmendinger spun off track. 

Bowman said he has worked on his road course racing, which helped put him in position to battle for the win.

“I’ve really been trying to do a better job as a racecar driver at these road courses,” Bowman said.  “We had a really fast Ally Camaro. Hate that we didn’t come away with the win.”

Unofficial results:

1. Ross Chastain

2. Alex Bowman

3. Christopher Bell

4. Chase Elliott

5. Tyler Reddick

6. Ryan Blaney

7. Martin Truex Jr.

8. Austin Cindric

9. Erik Jones

10. Austin Dillon

11. Kevin Harvick

12. William Byron

13. Michael McDowell

14. Brad Keselowski

15. Justin Haley

16. Todd Gilliland

17. Harrison Burton

18. Denny Hamlin

19. Aric Almirola

20. Ty Dillon

21. Chris Buescher

22. Josh Bilicki

23. Cole Custer

24. Daniel Suarez

25. Kaz Grala

26. Boris Said

27. Cody Ware

28. Kyle Busch

29. Kyle Larson

30. Chase Briscoe

31. Joey Logano

32. Kurt Busch

33. AJ Allmendinger

34. Loris Hezemans

35. Joey Hand

36. Corey LaJoie

37. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

38. Bubba Wallace

39. Andy Lally

Dylan Buell/Getty Images

Byron Wins at New-Look Atlanta

William Byron won the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 from the newly-reconfigured Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

Byron led a race-high 111 laps on Sunday, but had to defend against big runs throughout numerous restarts in the final 10 laps.

Mike Mulholland/Getty Images

Atlanta Motor Speedway was reconfigured over the offseason, with higher banking that made the racing resemble a superspeedway.

Byron said he had to manage the closing laps as if it were Daytona or Talladega.

“It was so different,” Byron said.  “The last few laps just trying to manage the gap to Bubba [Wallace] and trying to not get too far out front. Had an intermediate style with a little bit of a speedway into it.”

Byron struggled with the car’s handling during Saturday’s practice session, but said that his team worked hard overnight to give him a car capable of winning.

“This whole team...they’ve done a great job this year,” Byron said.  “Had a pretty rough practice. Worked hard overnight…and it handled well.”

Ross Chastain ran up front early, but a flat tire caused him to hit the wall while leading midway through the race. After making repairs that kept him on track, Chastain was able to recover to finish second for the second-consecutive week.

Chastain said the team worked hard to keep him running following the accident.

“Slammed the wall and thought our day was over,” Chastain said.  “Our guys went underneath the car and got the toe closer, and we got the balance back to drive it. That’s the fight in Trackhouse.”

Unofficial results:

1. William Byron

2. Ross Chastain

3. Kurt Busch

4. Daniel Suarez

5. Corey LaJoie

6. Chase Elliott

7. Chris Buescher

8. Martin Truex Jr.

9. Joey Logano

10. Alex Bowman

11. Justin Haley

12. Brad Keselowski

13. Bubba Wallace

14. Erik Jones

15. Chase Briscoe

16. Josh Bilicki

17. Ryan Blaney

18. David Ragan

19. BJ McLeod

20. Greg Biffle

21. Kevin Harvick

22. Aric Almirola

23. Christopher Bell

24. Michael McDowell

25. Harrison Burton

26. Cody Ware

27. Todd Gilliland

28. Tyler Reddick

29. Denny Hamlin

30. Kyle Larson

31. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

32. Austin Cindric

33. Kyle Busch

34. Cole Custer

35. Austin Dillon

36. Ty Dillon

37. Noah Gragson

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