Kansas City, Kan. – Kyle Busch celebrated his 36th birthday on Sunday by winning a two-lap sprint to the finish at Kansas Speedway and finishing tenth in the first eleven races of the NASCAR Cup Series season.
Busch had followed Kyle Larson all day before punching him on a late restart to take the lead. After one more caution in the final laps, Busch continued his victory in the Truck Series on Saturday evening with another trip on the winning streak.
“That’s a Kyle Busch win right there,” he said.
Kevin Harvick overcame a tire problem during a late pit stop and used the chaos at the last restart to finish second. Brad Keselowski dominated the opening laps before finishing third after his victory at Talladega last weekend, and Matt DiBenedetto and Chase Elliott rounded out the top five.
Kyle Larson completed 132 laps before his day ended in 19th place – and bitter disappointment.
Even after being beaten by Busch on that late restart, he had another chance when Christopher Bell sideways at Turn 4 to bring out another warning. But restarting with two laps to go, Larson got caught behind Ryan Blaney and landed on his side while trying to give him a push, knocking them both out of the competition.
It was almost a perfect afternoon for Larson’s team owner Rick Hendrick, whose late son Ricky won his only career race in the Truck Series in Kansas in 2001. Just like in Las Vegas, Larson drove the red, white and blue paint scheme was almost identical to the one Hendrick drove 20 years ago.
Ricky Hendrick died along with nine others in a plane crash on October 24, 2004 near Martinsville, Virginia.
Denny Hamlin, who was also looking for his first win, also had a frustrating ending. He had taken the lead on a restart by 32 minutes before Larson exerted pressure from behind and hit Hamlin against the wall for caution.
O’Ward takes 1st IndyCar win in Texas after a big fall on the first lap
Fort Worth, Texas – Pato O’Ward felt calm as he enjoyed driving the final laps in Texas, taking his first IndyCar series win on the track closest to the Mexican-born driver’s hometown.
“It’s really cool to be doing it in a place that I care about, very close to my home,” said O’Ward, whose win came four days before his 22nd birthday. “It’s a great place to do it. A lot of my family was here so it’s really cool to share this moment with them. “
O’Ward overtook Josef Newgarden with 23 laps to go on Sunday and stayed the rest of the way in No. 5 for Arrow McLaren SP. The organization will now promise to have O’Ward test a Formula 1 car by the end of this year.
The race was the second in as many days in Texas and was marred by the IndyCar’s second crash on the first lap of the season.
Six cars were finished before reaching the green flag when Pietro Fittipaldi hit Sebastien Bourdais from behind and knocked the four-time open wheel champion against Alexander Rossi. Ed Jones, Dalton Kellett and Conor Daly’s cars were also destroyed in the accident as they approached the start / finish line for the first time.
Daly, who started in the back of the field with 24 cars, was turned upside down after being caught between two other cars. He slid down the front track before the car planted in the rain-saturated infield grass and flipped back onto its wheels.
The aeroscreen on Daly’s car protected him while the car was upside down. The screen likely saved Ryan Hunter-Reay’s life at the Barber season opener when he distracted a tire from his helmet in another fall on the first lap.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Daly said afterwards.
Newgarden, who started in sixth, said he noticed a “little investigation” somewhere in front of him.
“The smallest of checks can have a really big impact across the board. And I think that happened today, ”said Newgarden. “I was able to adjust somehow, but I think they probably overreacted in the back. It is unfortunate. … It can get very tricky at the back. “
The two-day show in Texas finished a grueling stretch of four races over three weekends to open the season before heading to Indianapolis for the remainder of May. The street race there takes place on May 15th, the Indianapolis 500 on May 30th.
Newgarden finished 1.2443 seconds behind O’Ward, giving Chevrolet a 2-1 finish and their first win of the season. It was the first IndyCar win for Chevy since 2016 by a non-Team Penske driver.
Graham Rahal was third ahead of Scott Dixon and Colton Herta.
Dixon led 163 out of 248 laps at the 1 1/2 mile oval on Sunday after leading the New Zealanders 206 out of 212 laps in a 2-1 result on Saturday night, with rookie Scott McLaughlin finishing second. Dixon’s fifth win in Texas was No. 51 for his entire career and was within one of Mario Andretti’s second-most for AJ Foyt’s 67.
O’Ward, who was temporarily raised in San Antonio, Texas, won his 26th IndyCar start and his second full season.
McLaren told him earlier in the season that if he won at IndyCar, he could test the F1 car this year. Shortly after the win, McLaren F1 Team Leader Zak Brown tweeted: “A deal is a deal @PatricioOWard – what a win! See you in Abu Dhabi later this year! “
O’Ward made a strong push on the last restart with 30 laps to go and was a few laps behind Newgarden before going around him on Turn 3.
“I have the feeling that we really deserved our victory today. I knew we had a very, very, very fast car. It’s just very, very difficult to pass. And then everyone agreed on the same strategy, ”said O’Ward, adding that he never felt himself in defensive mode.
Daly said he wasn’t sure what happened at the start of the race and that everyone started accelerating before the accordion effect wreaked havoc.
“It only takes one person with everyone’s nose to tail,” he said.
Fittipaldi, who competed in his first IndyCar races in Texas since 2018, said the field suddenly popped up in front of him and said, “I had nowhere to go.”
“I’m glad Conor is fine, I’m glad everyone is fine,” said Rossi as he watched a replay.
Rossi criticized IndyCar for setting the start on points rather than qualifying on speed, especially with the early Sunday night start and the teams sitting idle for most of the day. It brought cars across the field at different speeds, a factor in the crash as the cars tried to get on the green flag.
Tony Kanaan was able to continue running despite tough contact. James Hinchcliffe struggled after going through the fight and only completed 30 laps between several lengthy stops before finally parking the car.
Foyt’s team had worked late into the night to rebuild the # 14 Chevrolet for Bourdais after being hit from behind by Newgarden just 56 laps after Saturday’s race. Bourdais was sixth at the time when he spun and the car hit the outside wall hard. Both Foyt cars (the other was Kellett) were in the opening crash on Sunday.
“It’s a real shame that we get drilled and taken out of the race two days in a row,” said Bourdais. “A very expensive couple of days for AJ Foyt Racing. … The guys worked until midnight to fix the car and can’t even take the green flag. “
