Birthday-Boy Busch Wins in Kansas

It’s pretty rare that drivers win on their birthdays, it’s even rarer to accomplish the feat more than once. However, on Sunday, Kyle Busch joined elite company with Cale Yarborough as the only 2 drivers in NASCAR history to score victories on their birthdays twice. 

LAP 1: Last week’s winner, Brad Keselowski, led the field to green after securing pole position thanks to NASCAR’s starting grid formula since there was no qualifying. As soon as the flag dropped, Keselowski easily pulled away from the pack and began setting an impressive pace. 

CAUTION – LAP 25: The yellow waved for the competition caution so teams could check tire wear and make adjustments. Keselowski won the race off pit road and remained in 1st place. On the restart, he was challenged by the #24 of William Byron for the top spot, though the battle did not last and Keselowski pulled away again.

STAGE 1 END- LAP 80: In the closing laps of the stage, Brad Keselowski fell to 4th position while Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch traded the top spot back and forth. In the end, it was Busch who claimed the stage victory and the playoff point. Behind him, Larson, Tyler Reddick, Keselowski, and Byron rounded out the top 5 and also picked up points. Kyle Larson won the race off pit road and set sail when the race restarted. 

LAP 120: Green flag pit stops began with Ryan Blaney and Kevin Harvick coming to pit road for service. Within 20 laps, all cars had made their stops and Larson cycled back to the lead with a 4+ second lead over second place. 

STAGE 2 END – LAP 160: Larson crossed the line to win the stage after dominating the caution-free segment. Completing the top 5 were Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, and Chase Elliott. Larson held onto the lead on pit road and pulled away from the field for the majority of the final stage. 

CAUTION – LAP 231: While making his pit stop under green, Tyler Reddick’s team lost control of the used right-rear tire, which rolled across pit road and came to a stop several feet into the infield grass. Reddick was penalized but the tire was not retrieved and remained in the infield for over 20 laps before NASCAR finally put out the caution flag for “debris”. The caution seemed somewhat unnecessary given that the tire did not pose a safety concern. 

CAUTION – LAP 246: While racing Kyle Larson for first place, Denny Hamlin overshot Turn 3 and made contact with the wall. The collision cut the right-side tires, causing steering issues and putting Hamlin in the wall again in Turn 1 with heavy damage on the entire right side of his #11 Toyota. The caution came out as Hamlin limped to the pits for repairs. 

CAUTION – LAP 254: The yellow flag waved again when the #47 of Ricky Stenhosue Jr got loose in Turn 2 and slid up the track. He made contact with the #33 of Austin Cindric, which spun Stenhouse sideways. Neither car sustained much damage and both were able to continue racing. 

LAP 257: On the restart, Kyle Larson lost the lead after being overtaken by both Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney.

CAUTION – LAP 259: The final caution of the day came out when the #20 of Christopher Bell got loose and spun on the front stretch, where he collected Ricky Stenhouse Jr and the #37 of Ryan Preece. Stenhouse took a major hit on the nose of his Chevrolet, which badly damaged the radiator and caused his #47 to erupt in a cloud of smoke. He was out of the race while Bell and Preece pitted for repairs that cost them multiple laps. This caution triggered a green-white-checkered finish. 

LAP 265: When the race restarted for a 2-lap shootout to the end of the race Kyle Larson got overly aggressive while trying to retake the lead and pushed Ryan Blaney offside in Turn 2, which put both drivers into the wall. 

CHECKERED FLAG – LAP 267: Kyle Busch crossed the line to take his first win of the 2021 season. 

RESULTS:

1. Kyle Busch
2. Kevin Harvick
3. Brad Keselowski
4. Matt DiBenedetto
5. Chase Elliott
6. Martin Truex Jr
7. Tyler Reddick
8. Chris Buescher
9. William Byron
10. Austin Dillon
11. Daniel Suarez
12. Denny Hamlin
13. Michael McDowell
14. Ross Chastain
15. Kurt Busch
16. Ryan Newman
17. Joey Logano
18. Alex Bowman 
19. Kyle Larson
20. Chase Briscoe 
21. Ryan Blaney
22. Austin Cindric
23. Anthony Alfredo
24. Cole Custer
25. Erik Jones
26. Bubba Wallace
27. Corey LaJoie
28. Christopher Bell
29. Aric Almirola
30. Justin Haley
31. BJ McLeod
32. Ryan Preece 
33. Garrett Smithley
34. Ricky Stenhouse Jr
35. Joey Gase
36. Cody Ware 
37. Quin Houff
38. Matt Mills
39. Josh Bilicki