Same car different driver. Bubba Wallace became NASCAR’s 18th different winner in 2022 Sunday holding off his team owner at Kansas Speedway and wheeling the 23XI Racing Toyota to victory.
Wallace took the lead lap on 200 of 267 and regained the point after a final round of green flag stops on lap 225. From there Wallace held off first Christopher Bell, then his team owner Denny Hamlin who took second with 16 laps to go.
“Man, just so proud of this team, so proud of the effort that they put in each and every week,” Wallace said. “Just thankful for the opportunity, right? Took this jump from an idea two years ago from a text from Denny before it all even happened. He was ready to get the deal done.”
Hamlin was able to close the gap from 3.4 seconds down to 1 but came up short in the end.
“I nearly wrecked to catch him off of four,” Hamlin said. “I got loose and hit the fence. I was driving as hard as I could. Nothing will ever come free when you are driving for me. If you think I’m going to let you win, you better get another job. “
The win came in the No. 45 car which won the spring race at Kansas but with Kurt Busch behind the wheel. Busch however, dropped out of the Playoffs due to injury leaving the No. 45 car in contention for the owner’s title. The team swapped drivers putting Wallace in the seat and leading to Sunday’s win.
“I knew Denny was going to be strong,” Wallace said. “That’s the things I look at, is he wasn’t that good at the beginning of the day, and he comes up and finishes P2. And that’s what I want to start doing. When we don’t have the best days, just capitalize on moments like that. It’s cool to beat the boss, but man, we were just lights-out today once we got to the lead, and it was a lot of fun.”
Bell, who won Stage 1, held on for third and became the only Playoff driver to lock into the next round.
“I’m very happy that we’re finally getting the results that this team deserves,” Bell said. “Our speed has been there all year, and I feel like we’ve given up a couple good finishes. Last couple of weeks we’ve been building on it, and hopefully we can keep the ball rolling.”
After leading 38 laps polesitter and Playoff driver Tyler Reddick saw his race come to an end on lap 67 when a blown tire sent him into the wall and out of the race. He wasn’t the first driver out of the race, that belonged to Playoff driver Kevin Harvick who also had a brush with the wall on lap 35 that gave him a DNF for the second straight week.
Much of the second part of the race belonged to Alex Bowman who led more laps Sunday that he had all season long, a race high 107, but Wallace got the lead on lap 200 and Bowman had to settle for fourth.
“We had a great racecar,” Bowman said. “The last 15-laps of a run is where we would fall off and get beat, but I’m still proud of all of the guys. We ended up with a solid points day.”
Martin Truex Jr. was fifth. Playoff drivers, William Byron, Ross Chastain, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, and Daniel Suarez rounded out the top 10.
The rest of the Playoff field: Chase Elliott was 11th, Austin Cindric 15th, Chase Briscoe 13th, Austin Dillon 14th and Joey Logano 17th.
Kyle Busch suffered several issues: he was one of three drivers penalized for equipment interference during pit stops on lap 110 (Austin Dillon and Suarez were the others). He also smacked the wall and spun coming out of Turn 4 on lap 139. He finished 26 two laps down.
Busch joins Dillon, Briscoe, and Harvick as drivers below the cutoff line with one race to go in Round 1, next Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The win was the second of Wallace’s Cup career, his first coming in Oct. 2021 in a race shortened by rain at Talladega Superspeedway.
“Just thankful,” Wallace said. “Thanks for the opportunity, and thankful to shut the hell up for a lot of people.”
NASCAR Cup Series Race Results Casino 400 Presented by Barstool Sportsbook
Kansas Speedway
Kansas City, Kansas
Sunday, September 11, 2022
- (6) Bubba Wallace (P), Toyota, 267.
- (25) Denny Hamlin (P), Toyota, 267.
- (4) Christopher Bell (P), Toyota, 267.
- (3) Alex Bowman (P), Chevrolet, 267.
- (12) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 267.
- (9) William Byron (P), Chevrolet, 267.
- (5) Ross Chastain (P), Chevrolet, 267.
- (7) Kyle Larson (P), Chevrolet, 267.
- (17) Ryan Blaney (P), Ford, 267.
- (15) Daniel Suarez (P), Chevrolet, 267.
- (22) Chase Elliott (P), Chevrolet, 267.
- (8) Austin Cindric # (P), Ford, 267.
- (13) Chase Briscoe (P), Ford, 267.
- (11) Austin Dillon (P), Chevrolet, 267.
- (10) Chris Buescher, Ford, 267.
- (23) Michael McDowell, Ford, 267.
- (2) Joey Logano (P), Ford, 266.
- (28) Noah Gragson(i), Chevrolet, 266.
- (27) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 266.
- (21) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 266.
- (36) Aric Almirola, Ford, 266.
- (29) Cole Custer, Ford, 266.
- (32) Todd Gilliland #, Ford, 266.
- (31) Landon Cassill(i), Chevrolet, 266.
- (26) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 266.
- (20) Kyle Busch (P), Toyota, 265.
- (30) Cody Ware, Ford, 265.
- (33) JJ Yeley(i), Ford, 264.
- (24) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 264.
- (35) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 262.
- (34) BJ McLeod(i), Ford, 262.
- (18) Harrison Burton #, Ford, Accident, 115.
- (19) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, Accident, 114.
- (16) Ty Gibbs(i), Toyota, Accident, 90.
- (1) Tyler Reddick (P), Chevrolet, Accident, 67.
- (14) Kevin Harvick (P), Ford, Accident, 33.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 126.44 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 10 Mins, 3 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.000 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 9 for 43 laps.
Lead Changes: 16 among 12 drivers.
Lap Leaders: T. Reddick (P) 0;J. Logano (P) 1-2;A. Bowman (P) 3-27;T. Reddick (P) 28-65;R. Blaney (P) 66-67;A. Bowman (P) 68;A. Dillon (P) 69-71;C. Bell (P) 72-83;A. Almirola 84-86;M. McDowell 87;M. Truex Jr. 88-111;W. Byron (P) 112-120;A. Bowman (P) 121-199;B. Wallace (P) 200-214;A. Bowman (P) 215-216;D. Suarez (P) 217-224;B. Wallace (P) 225-267.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Alex Bowman (P) 4 times for 107 laps; Bubba Wallace (P) 2 times for 58 laps; Tyler Reddick (P) 1 time for 38 laps; Martin Truex Jr. 1 time for 24 laps; Christopher Bell (P) 1 time for 12 laps; William Byron (P) 1 time for 9 laps; Daniel Suarez (P) 1 time for 8 laps; Austin Dillon (P) 1 time for 3 laps; Aric Almirola 1 time for 3 laps; Ryan Blaney (P) 1 time for 2 laps; Joey Logano (P) 1 time for 2 laps; Michael McDowell 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 20,12,19,47,45,9,18,1,22,3
Stage #2 Top Ten: 48,20,24,45,9,11,5,22,12,1
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.