NASCAR Cup Review: Birthday Boy Busch wins Buschy McBusch Race 400

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch claimed his first win of the season in a chaotic climax at Kansas Speedway.

Busch doubled up this weekend, also winning yesterday’s Camping World Truck Series race before taking his first Cup Series win since Texas last October. The 'Buschy McBusch Race 400' came to be following a naming contest created by race sponsor Busch Beer, and their could be no more fitting winner then the Las Vegas native.

After starting on pole, Brad Keselowski stayed out front through the first 50 laps, but his early pace would fade after some setup adjustments threw the #2’s pace off. He would come back strong late in the race, battling for the win despite getting sideways on the penultimate lap, bringing the car home third.

This would give Busch the chance to pick up the stage one win, however it would be the other Kyle, Hendrick’s #5 Larson, who would dominate through the middle of the race. Larson led 132 or the 267 laps, picking up the stage two win. He would once again fail to capitalise though, as he tangled with Ryan Blaney and hit the wall at the final restart to take them both out of contention.

Blaney had run a clean, consistent race to that point, finding himself on the front row at that restart. Despite an incredible save after the push from Larson, he ended up outside the top 20.

Denny Hamlin was there and thereabouts, as has so often been the case, but he would hit trouble quite literally as he hit the wall from the lead with 25 laps to go. He would recover to 12th.

Matt DiBennedetto deserves a shout out, as the Wood Brothers’ driver went about his business quietly to pick up a fourth place finish, a second top five in two weeks.

It was a similar story for ‘The Closer’ Kevin Harvick, who did what he does best. After dropping to the rear for an uncontrolled tyre on pit road, he rallied back to seventh for the final restart before running down Martin Truex Jr. and took advantage of the Larson, Blaney moment on his fresh tyres to claim second.

However, it was two-time champion Busch who claimed the win on his 36th birthday. He held off the hard charging Harvick and Keselowski despite not taking a late pit stop of tyres, the margin 0.366 seconds at the line. Busch now has a Cup Series win in 17 consecutive seasons and at least one win in all three national series for nine straight seasons as well as joining Cale Yarborough as the only driver to win multiple races on their birthday.

Hamlin’s impressive points lead holds strong, he head’s Joe Gibbs Racing team-mate Truex Jr. by 78 points. Kyle Busch jumps to 10th, as he and Austin Dillon leapfrog JGR’s other driver, Christopher Bell who had a late race run in with JTR Daugherty pair Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ryan Preece.

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Race 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

Points Standings: 1. Denny Hamlin, 481 points 2. Martin Truex Jr., 394 3. William Byron, 385 4. Joey Logano, 373 5. Ryan Blaney, 370 6. Brad Keselowski, 366 7. Chase Elliott, 349 8. Kevin Harvick, 348 9. Kyle Larson, 337 10. Kyle Busch, 330 11. Austin Dillon, 295 12. Christopher Bell, 292 13. Michael McDowell, 268 14. Alex Bowman, 260 15. Chris Buescher, 258 16. Matt DiBenedetto, 250 17. Kurt Busch, 238 18. Tyler Reddick, 232 18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 232 20. Ryan Newman, 219