Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Full race results

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Kyle Busch didn’t do a celebratory burnout when he won Friday night’s Toyota Tundra 250 at Kansas Speedway.

He didn’t do his customary bow after notching his 47th victory in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

 Heartbreak for Ben Rhodes, who was leading by more than a second when his engine expired with eight laps left, provided the stroke of serendipity that launched Busch into Victory Lane.

 And Busch knew it.

 “That’s one of the worst ones to swallow right there, for sure,” Busch said of Rhodes’ misfortune. “I didn’t do a burnout or nothing like that. I just got the checkered flag for our group of guys at Kyle Busch Motorsports.

“Ben Rhodes had that race won. That one was his. I tried everything I could to try to chase him back down. I just didn’t have enough speed in our Tundra tonight—it was fast, but his was a little bit faster than ours.”

Busch won for the second time at Kansas, having also triumphed in his most recent previous start at the speedway in 2014. His win gave him a sweep of tonight’s stages, as he also won Stage 1 and 2 of the 250-mile race.

Three laps after a restart on Lap 139 of 167, Rhodes won a sustained side-by-side battle against Busch and pulled ahead. Rhodes stretched the advantage to as much as 1.4 seconds before a piece of debris shot through the grille of his No. 27 Toyota and torpedoed the engine.

 Rhodes, who was driving a chassis built by Kyle Busch’s Rowdy Manufacturing with a body made by KBM, took his truck to the garage and retired in 23rd place.

“We ran with the best tonight,” a chagrined Rhodes said after the race. “Our Safelite Tundra had speed all night long. We did everything right, but Ben Rhodes has a curse on his back or something, because something always goes wrong.

“A piece of debris went through the grille into the radiator and blew up the motor… It’s just crazy that something always goes wrong with our (ThorSport) team. We do everything right—we just can’t pull one off. We’ve been trying for years and years.”

WATCH: Rhodes says it was ‘really neat’ to race with Busch

Rhodes, of course, is only 20 years old and has just 31 career starts in the Truck Series.

Johnny Sauter ran second and retained the series lead by two points over polesitter Christopher Bell, who was trapped a lap down after pitting on Lap 123 when the 10th caution of the race on Lap 127 interrupted the pit sequence.

Busch had just left pit road when the yellow flag flew. The caution kept him on the lead lap, and he cycled back into the lead when the rest of the contenders came to pit road on Lap 128.

But Busch lost the top spot to Rhodes after the 11th caution for Matt Crafton’s spin through the infield grass, and Rhodes pulled away while Busch and third-place finisher John Hunter Nemechek were battling for second place.

Bell came home fourth, followed by Chase Briscoe and Brett Moffitt.

Posted on by Zack Albert

RELATED: See the races in Kansas | Full Kansas schedule

KANSAS CITY, Kansas — Eleven Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers failed to make qualifying attempts Friday after a backlog of cars scrambled to make their way through the inspection line at Kansas Speedway.

The list of drivers missing out included Jimmie Johnson, a two-time winner this year; his Hendrick Motorsports teammates Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kasey Kahne; and hometown favorite Clint Bowyer. They’ll be among those starting at the rear of the 40-car field in Saturday night’s Go Bowling 400 (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM).

Scott Miller, NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition, indicated that several teams struggled to make it through the Laser Inspection Station (LIS), the last of four stops in the inspection process.

“What we measure there is a big performance metric and everybody pushes the limit,” Miller said outside the NASCAR hauler as the opening 20-minute round of qualifying wound down. “Obviously pushed the limit a little bit too much today and a lot of cars didn’t pass.”

The drivers who missed out were more difficult to placate. Bowyer, a native Kansan, threw up his hands after his Stewart-Haas Racing No. 14 Chevrolet failed to make the time cut. Bowyer’s car owner, Tony Stewart, entered the NASCAR hauler shortly after Miller’s remarks to discuss the issue.

“This is just, wow. Super disappointing,” Bowyer said as he walked from the inspection bay. “You are off ten-thousandths of an inch. It is ridiculous. Most people can’t even understand how little that is. I get it. If you are off, you are off, but I watched my guys move the car and adjust the car accordingly for it and then actually overcompensate on it because we were worried about not making it. Then they wheel it back in and fail the exact same amount? Twice? That makes no sense. None.”

Johnson, forced to a 29th-place starting spot, will share the 15th row with 30th-starting Bowyer when the field assembles for Saturday’s 400-miler. The three-time Kansas winner sounded unconcerned about starting in the back half of the pack.

“A lot of cars didn’t get a chance to go out and a lot of cars had trouble. So, I don’t know what lies in all of that, but I’m not the best at qualifying anyway, so this takes all the pressure off of me and my job at what I do behind the wheel,” Johnson said with a laugh. “And I love passing race cars. I was really happy with our car.

“We actually had some short run speed and some (qualifying) speed today, so I’m disappointed we didn’t get a chance to go out and take my Lowe’s car for a rip, but I love passing cars and there’s a lot of them on this race track. So, we’ll be fine.”

Said Earnhardt: “I don’t know why it failed, but I’m sure that is the way everybody feels that didn’t get through it’s like they don’t understand what is going on, but it definitely would have been nice to start a little closer to the front and make it a little bit easier on us, but we will have to do our best when the race starts to try to be aggressive and get as many as we can on the early restarts.”

NASCAR developed a new procedure for its inspection schematics before the season began, mandating that teams that fail any of the four stations must repeat all four stations again before presenting their vehicles for qualifying or the race. Earlier this year at Atlanta Motor Speedway, five cars missed qualifying because of an inspection logjam.

Miller characterized Friday’s issues at Kansas as “fairly disappointing” and left the door open for examining the penalty structure for inspection failures.

“We need to assess how we’re doing all this and make sure that the right message is sent,” Miller said.

The rest of the drivers missing out on qualifying: Erik Jones, David Ragan, Landon Cassill, Reed Sorenson, Corey LaJoie, Timmy Hill and Carl Long.

Posted on by Pat DeCola

RELATED: Blaney grabs Kansas pole

 

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Blaney notched his first career Coors Light Pole Award Friday night at Kansas Speedway, logging a lap at a blazing 189.600 mph.

 

Blaney, who is in the midst of a breakout season with 150 laps led already, caught the attention of some of his fellow drivers after he put his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing on the pole position for Saturday night’s Go Bowling 400 (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1).

 

(Side note: Junior probably should lay off watching Office Space for awhile.)

 

 

Posted on by Zack Albert

RELATED: Race lineup | Kansas at a glance

KANSAS CITY, Kansas — Ryan Blaney zoomed to the Coors Light Pole Award in Friday qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series at Kansas Speedway.

Blaney clocked a lap of 189.600 mph with the Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 Ford on the 1.5-mile track. The 23-year-old driver’s first career Coors Light Pole in the Monster Energy Series was the first for the Wood Brothers’ team since April 2004, when Ricky Rudd qualified first at Talladega Superspeedway.

RELATED: Junior, Jimmie congratulate Blaney on first pole

“This year has been a big step up in qualifying,” said Blaney, in his second full season driving for the storied racing team. “Your car and track changes and you have to be on top of that. Everyone has done a great job of staying on top of that. We have been really close a couple times this year but it feels good to get it done.

“I know it is only qualifying but it feels really cool to get this first pole. It says a lot about this entire team.”

Joey Logano logged the second-fastest lap, registering a speed of 189.540 mph in the Team Penske No. 22 Ford, which shares a technical alliance with the Wood Brothers operation. Logano lamented losing ground to Blaney exiting Turns 2 and 4 on his final qualifying lap, but lauded his fellow Ford driver’s accomplishment.

“Congratulations to Blaney. That is cool,” Logano said. “Your first pole is a big deal. It is a big deal for him. I just hate being second. I have to be honest.”

RELATED: Blaney says he wants to run The Clash

Martin Truex Jr, the pole-starter here last spring, was third-fastest in the Furniture Row Racing No. 78 Toyota at 189.201 mph. He’ll start alongside fourth-fastest Ricky Stenhouse Jr., last weekend’s first-time winner at Talladega, in Row 2.

Kyle Busch, the defending race winner and the fastest driver in final practice, completed the top five in the three-round knockout qualifying session.

Issues in pre-qualifying technical inspection forced 11 drivers to miss the opening 20-minute session. The full list of those not attempting a qualifying lap: Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, Erik Jones, Dale Earnhardt Jr., David Ragan, Landon Cassill, Reed Sorenson, Corey LaJoie, Timmy Hill and Carl Long.

A 12th driver, Michael McDowell, missed qualifying because of engine trouble.

RELATED: Inspection logjam costs 11 teams

Posted on by Reid Spencer

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — In Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s case, familiarity breeds desire.

Asked which race he’d most like to win in his final season of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series racing, Earnhardt immediately thought of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the track closest to his Mooresville, North Carolina, home.

“The 600 would be awesome,” Earnhardt said on Friday at Kansas Speedway. “Charlotte is our home track, and (we) haven’t won a points race there. So I would like to win there, but there’s a long list. Any of them that we haven’t won at would be great.

“Any win this year, right, would be good. But if I had to pick, Charlotte would be … winning the 600 would mean a lot. I always went to that race as a little kid, so I like to win at the places where I spent tons of time growing up, and that was one of them.”

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Full schedule for Kansas

At a Glance 

What: Go Bowling 400
Where: Kansas Speedway, 1.5-mile oval in Kansas City, Kansas
Green flag: 7:52 p.m. ET
TV/Radio: FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Forecast: Clear with a high near 77 and a low around 57, according to the National Weather Service. South winds at 6 to 9 mph.
National anthem: Major Ellen Stephenson, 442nd Medical Squadron.
Grand Marshal: Larry the Cable Guy
Race distance: 267 laps, 400.5 miles
Pit road speed: 45 mph
Caution car speed: 55 mph
Stage lengths: Stage 1 ends on Lap 80. Stage 2 ends on Lap 160. Final stage is scheduled to end on Lap 267.

Posted on by @nascarcasm

Editor’s note: Every Friday during the season, “Tweets You Might Have Missed” presents eight of the best NASCAR-related tweets from the week.

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Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Practice 1 results

Pos Car Driver From Lap To Lap Avg Speed
1 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 1 10 182.216
2 24 Chase Elliott 6 15 181.400
3 23 Gray Gaulding # 1 10 175.470

 

RELATED: Practice 2 results

Pos Car Driver From Lap To Lap Avg Speed
1 48 Jimmie Johnson 18 27 181.513
2 4 Kevin Harvick 24 33 181.139
3 11 Denny Hamlin 29 38 181.044
4 42 Kyle Larson 15 24 180.817
5 78 Martin Truex Jr. 24 33 180.781
6 21 Ryan Blaney 28 37 180.761
7 14 Clint Bowyer 22 31 180.733
8 10 Danica Patrick 18 27 180.640
9 77 Erik Jones # 25 34 180.583
10 2 Brad Keselowski 23 32 180.516
11 22 Joey Logano 24 33 180.462
12 19 Daniel Suarez # 17 26 180.224
13 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 25 34 180.038
14 5 Kasey Kahne 28 37 179.953
15 41 Kurt Busch 19 28 179.941
16 43 Aric Almirola 9 18 179.912
17 3 Austin Dillon 17 26 179.869
18 24 Chase Elliott 16 25 179.641
19 13 Ty Dillon # 17 26 179.530
20 32 Matt DIBenedetto 1 10 177.470
Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Practice 1 results | Final practice results

Defending race winner Kyle Busch led final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Kansas Speedway on Friday, turning a lap at 187.963 mph in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

Series points leader Kyle Larson, driving in a backup car because of an incident earlier in the practice session, was second at 187.833 mph in the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.

Rounding out the top five in the final session were: first practice session leader Martin Truex Jr. at 187.305 mph in the Furniture Row Racing Toyota, Ryan Blaney at 187.182 mph in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford and Brad Keselowski at 187.130 in the No. 2 Team Penske Ford.

About five minutes into the final session, Larson hit the outside wall coming into Turn 2, damaging the right rear of his car. Larson went to his backup No. 42 car, and was able to get it back on the track for the fast lap.

“The backup, I’m sure should be just as good if not better than the primary,” Larson told FS1. “We’ll try not to crash any more today.”

WATCH: See Larson’s incident that forced backup car

About 17 minutes later, Larson’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Jamie McMurray also got loose and brushed the wall with the rear right of his No. 1 Chevrolet. His damage was not as significant, however, and he remained in his primary car. He recorded a time that was eighth-fastest at 186.561 mph.

It’s a busy Friday for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, which has a two-day show at Kansas, with Coors Light Qualifying wrapping up the events at 6:45 p.m. ET on FS1. The Go Bowling 400 is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Truex Jr. set the pace in an eventful opening Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice, setting down a fast lap of 185.065 mph. Truex was the only driver to eclipse 185 mph in the first practice at the 1.5-mile track.

Blaney was second with a speed of 184.932 mph, followed by Truex’s FRR teammate Erik Jones (184.596 mph), Joe Gibbs Racing’s Matt Kenseth (184.533 mph) and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick (184.458 mph) in the top five.

Jones sustained damage to his Toyota moments after putting down his fast lap, though. He spun around in a solo incident, careening into the infield grass and damaging his car. His No. 77 team was attempting to fix his primary car.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished sixth in the session despite nearly running up into the wall, and he wasn’t the only driver who averted disaster — both Jimmie Johnson, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, and Larson had close brushes with the outside wall early on.

There were multiple holds during the opening 55-minute session. They were:

• The No. 88 of Dale Earnhardt Jr. was docked 15 minutes of practice time and also lost its pit stall selection for failing pre-race inspection three times at Talladega.

• The Nos. 18 of Kyle Busch and 83 of Corey LaJoie were held for 15 minutes of practice in penalties that were deferred from Talladega, due to rain at the Alabama track.

• The Nos. 1 of Jamie McMurray, 37 of Chris Buescher and 42 of Kyle Larson also were held 15 minutes at the start of practice for failing pre-race inspection at Talladega.

• The No. 77 of Erik Jones was docked 15 minutes of practice time for missing the rookie meeting.