It was the Martin Truex Jr. show early in the Go Bowling 400 at Kansas Speedway, as he dominated most of the race. His downfall was a loose wheel on the final pit stop that put him a lap down, a deficit that he was unable to recover from.
Truex starts from the pole
Truex Jr. led the field to the green flag, and after racing with Matt Kenseth for the lead, solidified the lead, and by Lap 10 had opened up a 1.6-second lead over Kenseth. Truex was leading the race, and had opened up a three second lead on Lap 26, when the first caution of the race came out, for debris in Turn 4.
Under the caution, most of the teams made their first pit stops of the race, and while most of the teams had uneventful pit stops, Jamie McMurray was black flagged shortly after the restart for an unapproved body adjustment. He made the mandatory pit stop to fix it, but not before losing two laps.
Kyle Busch leads field back to green
Kyle Busch won the race off pit road, thanks to just taking two tires. He led the field to the green, and quickly was joined up front by his brother Kurt Busch. They rode around in first and second until Lap 57 when Matt Dibendetto brushed the wall in Turn 4.
(Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
This caution again saw most of the teams hit pit road, with this trip not resulting in any black flags, and nobody received any penalties, which resulted in Truex Jr. regaining his lead, as he led the field back to the green flag on Lap 60.
Trouble for Roush-Fenway Racing
Lap 70 was interesting for the Roush-Fenway teams, as both Trevor Bayne and Greg Biffle had tire issues that required them to make unscheduled pit stops under the green flag. 10 laps later, Carl Edwards also had to pit due to a tire issue.
The next caution came on Lap 102 when Paul Menard spun out. That accident would force him out of the remainder of the race, as he was unable to get his car repaired. The green flag than came back out, and stayed out until Lap 157 when debris was spotted, resulting in a caution. Truex won the race off pit road, and led the field back to green.
Final pit stop dooms Truex
Truex was leading when he came to pit road with 55 to go to make his final stop, but after leaving the pits, he discovered that he had a loose tire, forcing him to come back down pit road, and sending him all the way back to the 21st position, one lap down.
(Sean Gardner/NASCAR Via Getty Images)
Truex was a lap down with 44 to go when the caution came out, this one after Ricky Stenhouse Jr. hit the wall. Truex initially thought that he had the free pass, but Tony Stewart had gone a lap down just before the yellow, giving him the free pass.
It also set up an interesting predicament, as the field was inside the fuel window, but barley. The question was who would make a pit stop, and would they take two tires or four. In the end, most of the field did stop, although the top two did not. Jimmie Johnson was hit with a speeding penalty during the stops, forcing him to drop to the back of the field for the restart.
The field went back to green on Lap 241, but before they got back to the line, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, and Denny Hamlin all spun in Turn 4, bringing out another caution. This time, nobody came down put road, which put Ky. Busch in the lead. Unlike the last caution, Truex did get the free pass this time, although it would end up being too little too late.
The restart came with under 20 to go, and when it did, Ky. Busch wasted no time, as he jumped in front and held onto the lead for his third win of the season. Truex finished in 14th position, while Kevin harvick took home second.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will next be in action next Sunday when they take to the track at Dover International Raceway for the AAA 400 Drive for Autism.