Nascar

NASCAR at Kansas results: Kurt Busch drives 23XI Racing into victory lane at the AdventHealth 400

by
Sports News
May 16, 2022

For the longest time, Air Jordans have been among the most iconic shoes to come out of the NBA and the brand of basketball icon Michael Jordan. Today, the Air Jordan colors came to NASCAR. And with checkered flag in hand, you can now the No. 45 driver Air Kurt.After dominating the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas, Kurt Busch had to take the victory by force from Kyle Larson, squeezing him into the wall in a side-by-side battle during the closing laps and then driving away to take his first victory of the 2022 season. Busch’s victory is the 34th of his Cup career, his first with 23XI Racing and is the second victory in 23XI team history.After dropping from first to third in the final cycle of pit stops, Busch made his way back around brother Kyle and then around Kyle Larson, who he roughed up a bit in Turns 1 and 2 with eight laps to go. As the two navigated around the lapped car of J.J. Yeley, Busch ran Larson tight to the outside wall, and then drove away after Larson brushed it.
AdventHealth 400 unofficial results#45 – Kurt Busch#5 – Kyle Larson#18 – Kyle Busch#11 – Denny Hamlin#20 – Christopher Bell#19 – Martin Truex Jr.#1 – Ross Chastain#47 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.#48 – Alex Bowman#23 – Bubba WallaceBusch’s first win of the year came behind the wheel of an Air Jordan paint scheme modeled after the Air Jordan 3 sneakers. Busch led a race-high 116 laps in Sunday’s race before having to come through at the end in the sort of way MJ had to many times in his own legendary career.”I felt like I had to play like the GOAT, race like the GOAT, and I had to beat the Kyles. I had to beat both. This was like the Kyle and Kyle Show,” Busch told Fox Sports. “… If I could get one Kyle, and I’m like ‘I could get both.’ I just had the confidence to know that our setup would do things on short run and long run.”Here are some more takeaways from Busch’s victory, which marked 11 different winners in 13 races so far this year.Triumphant ToyotaSunday’s race was the sort that has long been characteristic of Toyota teams on mile and a half racetracks. Busch led the way for Toyota and TRD, which placed all six of its cars in the top 10 at race’s end. Kyle Busch led the Joe Gibbs Racing quartet in third followed by Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, and Martin Truex Jr. fourth through sixth. Bubba Wallace recovered from a late pit road penalty to finish 10th, earning his first top 10 since the Daytona 500 in February.The strength demonstrated by both 23XI cars was very personally satisfying for Hamlin, the team’s co-owner. After several weeks of both of the team’s drivers having good runs spoiled by misfortune, Kansas offered a glimpse at what the team has been building towards in its second season.”We as an organization have kind of let these guys down … with so many mistakes on pit road and whatnot,” Hamlin told Fox Sports. “… Just can’t thank Kurt enough. Jordan Brand’s first race, so jealous he gets to drive that car. And then to have that thing so fast, I’ve never had certainly this kind of feeling even for a win for me. Much less when I didn’t win. It’s just different.”Left rear issuesIn the week leading up to Kansas, Goodyear sent a notice to NASCAR teams about increased loads in the left rear tire thanks to the Next Gen car. Goodyear advised teams that the amount of air pressure in the tire “should directly correlate to the amount of load on that corner of the car,” and the weekend as whole showed exactly why.A trend of left rear tire failures on Saturday continued Sunday, as teams running tire pressures below what Goodyear recommended experienced trouble throughout the day. Several drivers who ran at the front had their days ruined by tire problems, including Daniel Suarez, Chase Elliott, and Tyler Reddick. Others like William Byron, Martin Truex, and Christopher Bell were set back by tires going down, but would eventually recover.Bring out the heavy equipment!The most spectacular tire issue of the race ended up belonging to Erik Jones, but it was a completely different sort of failure. Midway through the race, the lug nut on the right rear tire of Jones’ car ended up being bolted on so tightly that the Petty GMS crew could not get it off. During a caution for a spin by Kevin Harvick, that led to a bizarre pit road spectacle unlike anything seen in recent memory, as Jones’ crew used whatever massive power tools they could find in an attempt to get the lug nut off so the wheel could be removed.
Eventually, the crew was able to finally remove the stubborn wheel by cutting it off with a sawzall blade, giving them a bizarre highlight that earned them their money’s worth.”We knew on that last pit stop that something was wrong. We knew it was gonna be awhile to get off,” James Houk, Jones’ tire carrier, told Fox Sports. “We contemplated going back and cutting the wheel completely, which is actually what we ended up doing on pit road with a sawzall. And then it finally came off. Never seen it.”Unfortunately, the wheel issue ended up ruining Jones’ day, as he lost many laps during the sequence and went on to finish 32nd.A special footnoteKurt Busch’s win coming in car No. 45 carries with it an added significance given the weekend the victory falls on: The No. 45 was last used in NASCAR by the Petty family, as it had been the number that Adam Petty had used on his way up the ranks on his way to what was planned to be a full-time Cup career starting in 2001. Tragically, on May 12, 2000 — 22 years ago last Thursday — the fourth-generation Petty was killed in a practice crash for a Busch Series race at New Hampshire. Kyle Petty drove the number for the rest of his Cup career in his son’s memory.Last year, 23XI Racing sought and was granted permission by the Petty family to use the No. 45. 22 years and three days after Adam Petty’s untimely death, the number won a Cup race for the first time since LeeRoy Yarbrough drove it to the winner’s circle at Greenville-Pickens in 1964.
From the finishing orderIn the category of factual oddities, four out of the last five times Kurt Busch has won a Cup race, someone named Kyle has finished second. In 2019 at Kentucky and last year at Atlanta, Kyle Busch was the runner-up, and Kyle Larson was second at Bristol in 2018 and again today. The lone interruption came from Matt DiBenedetto, who ran second to Kurt at Las Vegas in 2020.Three weeks have completely altered the course of Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s season. With his third-straight top 10 finish, Stenhouse has now doubled the amount of top 10s he had in all of 2021 and matched his total from 2020, his first season with JTG Daugherty Racing.Bubba Wallace’s 10th-place finish marked his first top 10 since Daytona, but he and his race team aren’t likely to be pleased with it. On the second-to-last round of pit stops, Wallace’s struggling pit crew lost control of a tire that bounced down pit road, sending Wallace from fifth all the way to the rear of the field. Don’t be surprised if changes are made to that crew.Austin Cindric was the highest-finishing rookie in 11th, just missing out on a top 10 in one of his strongest runs of the season. Cindric ran as high as up into the top five after starting fourth, but just missed out on his first top 10 on an oval since winning the Daytona 500.While Kansas offered no new installment in the brewing feud between William Byron and Joey Logano, the racing gods played something of a trick on both — they finished right together in mid-pack, with Byron coming home 16th and Logano 17th in a backup car.In his fifth career Cup start, NASCAR Xfinity Series star Noah Gragson finished a career-best 18th driving for Kaulig Racing.Next raceNext Sunday will mark NASCAR’s All-Star night, as Texas Motor Speedway will serve as the site of the annual NASCAR All-Star Race in primetime at 8 p.m. ET on FS1.

Pinned

In dominating fashion, Kurt Busch takes his first win of the 2022 season and his first for 23XI Racing. 34th win of his Cup career and he does it for the Jumpman.1 – #45 – Kurt Busch2 – #5 – Kyle Larson3 – #18 – Kyle Busch4 – #11 – Denny Hamlin5 – #20 – Christopher Bell6 – #19 – Martin Truex Jr.7 – #1 – Ross Chastain8 – #47 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.9 – #48 – Alex Bowman10 – #23 – Bubba Wallace

See New Posts

Pinned

No pressure from behind for Kurt Busch. White flag.

Pinned

Kurt Busch’s lead is now over a second and growing. Two to go this time by.

Pinned

Kurt Busch is now driving away from Kyle Larson. Busch’s lead is seven tenths of a second with five laps to go.

Pinned

Kurt Busch was almost able to use J.J. Yeley as a pick, but Yeley wisely went to the inside to give the leaders room. Kurt Busch tried to clear Larson, but he wasn’t! Larson gets squeezed into the wall and Busch now takes the lead and will try to drive away!

Pinned

Kurt Busch has caught Kyle Larson again. He’s only about a carlength back. Now he gets to the inside and they’ll go side-by-side!

Pinned

Lapped traffic is starting to become a factor. Kyle Larson and Kurt Busch both get through cleanly, but there’s more to come with 10 laps to go.

Pinned

Kurt Busch has begun to stall out in Kyle Larson’s wake. That’s allowed Larson to extend his gap to four tenths of a second, but Busch isn’t going away at all coming to 12 to go.

Pinned

Kurt Busch is making his gains on Larson in the middle of the corner, but the momentum from the outside line is allowing Larson to hold the lead. 15 laps to go.

Pinned