Kyle Busch win Kansas for the first time
Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 M&M’S Red Nose Day Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), won Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Go Bowling 400 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City.
Starting from the sixth position, Busch worked his way into the lead early in the race and held the top spot for 32 laps. He maintained his position among the leaders for the vast majority of the race before taking the lead for good with 37 laps to go. He totaled 69 laps led.
Crew chief Adam Stevens elected to have Busch stay on the track while most of the rest of the field opted to pit for two or four tires prior to a restart on lap 240 of the 267-lap race. Busch held off a hard charging Kevin Harvick over the final run of the way and pulled away for his third victory this season.
The victory was Busch’s third of the season and ninth top-10 finish in 11 races. It also was his 37th career victory in 401 career Sprint Cup starts and his first victory and fifth top-10 finish in 17 races at Kansas Speedway.
With tonight’s victory, Busch has now won Sprint Cup races at 21 of the 23 tracks at which the series competes. He crossed Martinsville (Va.) Speedway off the list last month and during his 2015 Sprint Cup championship season crossed off Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway. His last four Sprint Cup wins have been his first at each track. The only two tracks where Busch has failed to reach victory lane in the Sprint Cup Series are Pocono (Pa.) Raceway and Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.
Tonight’s victory was also the 33rd for Busch while racing for JGR, tying Tony Stewart for most Sprint Cup wins for JGR.