September 11, 2022: Bubba Wallace Jr celebrates winning the Hollywood Casino 400 at the Kansas Speedway. (HHP/Tom Copeland)
Wallace celebrates his second career NASCAR Cup win. (HHP/Tom Copeland)
NASCAR Cup Series

Bubba Wallace Cruises To Kansas Cup Series Win

September 11, 2022

Bubba Wallace, leading a career-high 58 laps, controlled the final stage of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway and cruised to his second-career win.

The 23XI Racing driver snapped a 32-race winless streak, beating his team owner Denny Hamlin in the process. He first win came last October in a rain-shortened race at Talladega Superspeedway.

“What are they going to say now?! Let’s go!” Wallace declared over his team radio after taking the checkered flag, referencing those who tried to downplay his first win due to the circumstances of rain.

But on Sunday, Wallace won under a nearly cloudless sky.

Wallace took the lead for the final time with 43 laps to go at the end of a green flag pit cycle. Neither Hamlin or Christopher Bell, who finished third, ever got within less than a second of Wallace in order to mount a challenge.

Alex Bowman, who led a race-high 107 laps, was fourth and Martin Truex Jr. was fifth.

September 11, 2022: At Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, MO. (HHP/Harold Hinson)
Bubba Wallace takes the checkered flag in the Hollywood Casino 400.
(HHP/Harold Hinson)

Wallace first took the lead for the first time on Lap 200 with a pass of Bowman. He’d keep it until the green flag pit cycle.

Wallace completed a sweep of Kansas Speedway for 23XI Racing after his teammate, Kurt Busch, won the spring race at the 1.5-mile track. With Busch out indefinitely recovering from a concussion, Wallace is finishing out the season using Busch’s No. 45 as he competes in the owner points playoffs.

“Man, just so proud of this team. So proud of the effort they put in each and every week,” Wallace told NBC Sports on the frontstretch.

Wallace’s win came after the first half of his season was plagued by numerous mistakes on pit road, which led to a pit crew swap with Bell’s team.

Sunday saw Wallace running in the top 10 most of the race after starting sixth. Then during a mid-race caution, Wallace had to pit a second time for loose wheel. Wallace then methodically made his way back to through the field before passing Bowman for the lead.

“Pit crew was awesome today,” Wallace said. “We had one loose wheel. Just thankful. Thanks for the opportunity, and thankful to shut the hell up for a lot of people.”

Of beating his team owner, Wallace said Hamlin “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.”

The 23XI Racing driver observed that it had been a while since he had won a NASCAR race in such convincing fashion.

“Been doing this for a really long time,” Wallace said. “I haven’t won a race like that in a really long time, but just knowing getting excited is going to mess you up, so it was just cool, calm, and collected, and here we are.”

Wallace is the second non-playoff driver to win so far in the post-season, following Erik Jones’ Southern 500 victory at Darlington Raceway. This is the first time in NASCAR’s post-season era the first two races haven’t been won by a playoff driver.

Hamlin has now finished second in both playoff races, which were filled with attrition that plagued a good number of playoff drivers.

“It’s been a good overall day. Still frustrated about the first half of the race. We just aren’t executing all that well,” Hamlin said. “I nearly wrecked to catch him (Wallace) off of (Turn) 4. 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.”

Following Truex in fifth was William Byron, Ross Chastain and Kyle Larson.

The highest finishing Ford playoff driver was Ryan Blaney, who was also the highest placing Ford car overall in ninth.

“We were okay,” Blaney said. “We drove up through the field pretty decent there starting off and finished second in the first stage. I was proud of the progress we made. I had to come down pit road there after the first stage and had to kind of reset in the back. From there we just weren’t quite good enough to get back up into the top five. I was chasing it and adjusting the car after that. Overall, not a bad day. It was a good points day and we are looking pretty decent going into Bristol. We will have to just go there and have a good day.”

While Tyler Reddick started from the pole, he quickly lost the pole to Joey Logano on the first lap. But Alex Bowman would get around Logano for the lead with a pass on the outside as they entered Turn 1 on Lap 3.

The race went incident free until the competition caution on Lap 25, with Bowman leading over Reddick, Logano, Bell and Wallace. Bowman’s 25 laps led before the break were easily his most in a race this season.

Reddick recaptured the lead on pit road, getting out ahead of Bowman and Logano.

After the ensuing restart, positions three trough five spent roughly two laps essentially racing four-wide off and on. That culminated on Lap 32, when exiting Turn 3, Kevin Harvick was pinched off by Ross Chastain and Wallace as they exited Turn 4, causing Harvick to slam into the outside wall. 

The suspension damage from the incident ended Harvick’s day. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver entered the race last on the playoff grid. He now has two DNFs through two playoff races and three straight DNFs overall, a first in his NASCAR Cup Series career.

“When those two cars came up in front of me I just got super tight,” Harvick said. “When I lifted it grabbed and got loose. I just wasn’t expecting them to come up and my car getting that tight.” 

On the Lap 39 restart, Blaney shot into the second spot and spent the next five laps pressuring Reddick for the lead. 

Misfortune would strike Reddick on Lap 66. As he drove through Turn 2, his right-rear tire gave out, sending his No. 8 Chevrolet into the wall, forcing the caution. The No. 8 would change tires and send Reddick out to make a lap under the caution before returning to pit road. Unfortunately, the damage to Reddick’s right front was too much for the team to fix in time, ending his day.

“The right-rear tire just blew like we’ve had a few times,” Reddick said. “At Fontana (Auto Club Speedway), I was able to save it. But here, it snapped at the worst possible point and we just killed the wall. It broke the control arm on the right-front, so our day was over. We leave here with not a lot of points, so we’ll have to fight hard at Bristol (Motor Speedway).

During the pit stops, Austin Dillon took two tires and was first out, ahead of Bell, Chastain, Blaney and Wallace. Bowman would also take two tires, but exited in seventh after Chase Briscoe prevented him from making a clean exit.

On the restart with nine laps left in the stage, Dillon lost the lead to Bell. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver would hold off Blaney to race to the stage win.

The top 10 after 1 stage: Bell, Blaney, Truex, Stenhouse, Wallace, Elliott, Busch, Chastain, Logano and Dillon.

Under the caution, Michael McDowell only took two tires and was the frirst off pit road over Bell, Blaney, Truex and Wallace. Meanwhile, Aric Almirola stayed out and assumed the lead for the Lap 87 restart. 

Blaney and Wallace each had to make a second stop for a loose wheel, forcing them to restart from the rear.

Almirola quickly lost the lead on the restart and on Lap 88 Truex passed McDowell to take the lead. Three laps later the caution returned when Ty Gibb’s No. 23 Toyota was turned into the outside wall by Corey LaJoie as they exited Turn 2. The damage was enough to earn Gibbs his second career DNF.

On the ensuing restart, Truex would quickly grab the lead as Stenhouse moved into second. But on Lap 110, Stenhouse lost his right-rear tire and got into the outside wall, causing the caution. 

Under the caution, Truex was first off pit road. But he would quickly make a return trip to secure a wheel. That gave the lead to Byron for the restart, only for the caution to come back out before the field was clear of Turn 2. A multi-car wreck broke out involving Harrison Burton, LaJoie, Erik Jones and Almirola. Burton and LaJoie were both eliminated.

The next playoff driver to face problems was Kyle Busch. With 28 laps left in the second stage, his No. 18 Toyota snapped loose exiting high in Turn 4 and slid through the infield grass.

Busch would finish 26th.

“Just got really loose and it snapped around me,” Busch said. “Then I had damage from going through the grass. Kind of ruined the rest of our day, but it was whatever happened on that pit stop that set us backwards to get us back in traffic there. Tried to make an adjustment to the car to make it faster and it did make it faster, but definitely made it looser.”

Through two playoffs races, Busch is now the first driver below the cutoff line. He’s two points behind Austin Cindric.

The four drivers outside the top 12 are Busch, Dillon (-3), Briscoe (-9) and Harvick (-35).

Check back for more.