(Motorsport-Total.com) – About an hour following the 2022 IndyCar finale ended at Laguna Seca Raceway, the Kansas Speedway saw the finish line for the second playoff race of the 2022 NASCAR Cup season. And for the second time since the playoff opener in Darlington, a driver who is not in the 2022 playoffs has won the race.
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First win of the season for Bubba Wallace (23XI-Toyota) and second of his career
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At the Hollywood Casino 400 on the Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Bubba Wallace (23XI-Toyota) prevailed and celebrated his second victory in the NASCAR premier league. He had scored the first in the playoff race in Talladega last year. He wasn’t in the playoffs then either.
In the fight for victory, Wallace kept Denny Hamlin (Gibbs-Toyota) behind him. Hamlin is in the playoffs, driving for Joe Gibbs’ team. However, he is one of the two owners of the 23XI Racing team that Wallace drives for. The second, even more prominent owner is NBA legend Michael Jordan. (Photos: NASCAR at the Kansas Speedway)
“When I got the message from Denny two years ago that it was clear, that was the beginning,” said Wallace at the finish, alluding to how his cup career picked up speed. The victory in October 2021 came regarding for 23XI Racing. It was the first for the team back then.
Kurt Busch achieved the second victory for 23XI Racing in May of this year at the spring race on the Kansas Speedway. In his car with starting number 45, Wallace has now added his third victory.
When it became clear that Kurt Busch would not be in the playoffs due to his concussion, even though he had qualified for the playoffs, Wallace was moved from the #23 23XI Toyota to the #45 Toyota due to better prospects in the owner standings set. (Result: NASCAR at the Kansas Speedway)
Stage wins for Christopher Bell and Alex Bowman
In qualifying on Saturday, playoff participant Tyler Reddick (Childress-Chevrolet) clinched the third pole of his cup career, but his first on an oval. It was not Reddick who took the lead on the first lap, but Joey Logano (Penske-Ford), who in turn was overrun by Alex Bowman (Hendrick-Chevrolet) shortly followingwards.
After the first pit stop, Reddick was leading, but while in the lead, he hit the wall on lap 66 and was out. Nevertheless, Reddick is still just in the plus area of the playoff table following the race. Meanwhile, following 80 laps of the race, Stage 1 victory went to Christopher Bell (Gibbs-Toyota) ahead of Ryan Blaney (Penske-Ford) and non-playoff player Martin Truex Jr. (Gibbs-Toyota).
With four caution phases, stage 2 was even more rugged than stage 1 (three caution phases). When the green and white checkered stage flag was shown for the second time following a total of 165 laps, Alex Bowman was in the lead, followed by Christopher Bell and William Byron (Hendrick-Chevrolet).
Bubba Wallace WINS – Christopher Bell continues on the points
In the decisive last segment of the race, on the other hand, there was no caution phase at all. Around 50 laps before the end, the last routine pit stop went green. After that, Bubba Wallace, who was not represented in the playoffs, led ahead of the Gibbs duo of Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin.
With 16 laps to go Bell was overtaken by Hamlin in the battle for second position. Both Gibbs Pilots are in the playoffs, but only Bell would qualify for the second stage of the playoff with a top-3 finish directly via points. So from his very personal point of view, Hamlin had to win.
With 15 laps to go, leader Bubba Wallace was two seconds ahead of new pursuer Hamlin. With ten laps to go, Wallace and Hamlin were less than two seconds apart. When the white flag was shown for the final lap, it was 1.2 seconds. At the finish it was exactly 1,000 seconds.
In the end, however, the non-playoff 23XI pilot prevailed once morest the playoff co-owner 23XI Gibbs pilot. Third place went to Christopher Bell, making him the first driver to qualify early for the second stage of the playoffs – the “Round of 12” beginning in two weeks.
Playoffs: Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Co. in the red
After the second of three races of the “Round of 16”, the following four drivers are in the minus area of the playoff table: Kyle Busch (Gibbs-Toyota), Austin Dillon (Childress-Chevrolet) as well as Chase Briscoe and Kevin Harvick (both Stewart /Haas-Ford).
While Tyler Reddick, despite his crash and failure in Stage 1, just regarding stayed in the plus area of the playoff table, this does not apply to Kyle Busch. In stage 2, the Gibbs driver spun at the start/finish area and then only finished the race in P26.
Austin Dillon P14 in the race wasn’t enough to pull himself out of the minus area of the playoff table. The same goes for Chase Briscoe, who finished P13 right in front of Dillon.
And Kevin Harvick, who traveled to Kansas City last in the playoff table, is still in the red. Harvick had hit the wall right in Stage 1 and was noted as the first retirement of the race ahead of Reddick. Harvick is now 35 points short of the cut.
The “Round of 16” comes to an end as the first of four playoff stages next Saturday evening under floodlights at Bristol Motor Speedway. There four of the currently 16 playoff participants from this year’s title fight will say goodbye.
