I know I marketed that Kansas Speedway puts on some of the best NASCAR races the association has, but man. I did not expect the closest finish in recorded NASCAR history. Kyle Larson and Chris Buescher put on an absolute clinic on Sunday Night after several hours of rain delay. The race looked like a Denny Hamlin vs Martin Truex Jr battle until the final restart on a Kyle Busch spin with seven laps to go. Kyle Larson started behind Chris Buescher and Denny Hamlin on the front row. As they approached the line, Larson dropped to the bottom to make it three wide and battle Buescher until the final turn. They doored each other and bumped each other right to the finish to create a finish that was decided by .001 seconds.
But, it wasn’t just Larson and Buescher who delivered in Kansas this weekend. Let’s talk about what happened at the Advent Health 400. Who stepped up, and who went down? Here is this week’s edition of NASCAR Three Up, Three Down!
Three Up
#1 Ross Chastain
Embed from Getty ImagesI know finishing P19 after starting P2 isn’t what anybody wants. But Ross Chastain put together a quality weekend at Kansas. From battling with Kyle Larson throughout the first stage and hanging with the most talented driver in NASCAR, to collecting P6 in both stages. This isn’t the race finish you want, after a third stage cautions came out it kept him behind the eight-ball. But there are some positives to take from this weekend and they’ll be a contender in Darlington surely.
#17 Chris Buescher
Embed from Getty ImagesYou cannot come any closer to a win than what Chris Buescher did on Sunday night. It was so close, that his team thought they had the victory for several minutes until NASCAR informed the teams that the #5 crossed the line first. But this was a great race from Buescher. P5 and P1 in the first two stages. His first top-five since Phoenix, and his first top-10 in a month. Ford has been .003, .002, and .001 seconds away from victory this season. The consistency just hasn’t been there. We’ll see if anybody can pull it off in Darlington next weekend.
#20 Christopher Bell
Embed from Getty ImagesThe trend of Kaleb fading guys being good luck continues. Christopher Bell kicked off the weekend hot with a pole victory, then brought home P6 at the end of the race. He collected P4 stage points in the first stage. We don’t need to rehash how brutal April was to the #20 team, and it seems like they’re moving on rather quickly. They’ll head to Darlington next week and hope to carry this momentum!
Three Down
#22 Joey Logano
Embed from Getty ImagesJoey Logano’s 2024 struggles continue after a tough spin-out with 70 to go. He had been on a freefall since his back-to-back top-10 finishes since Martinsville but this is where he hits the bottom of the barrel, bringing home P34 and no stage points. We’ve talked about Ford having a tough year all season long. But Logano is a two-time champ, one in this next-gen car. His teammate Ryan Blaney has last year’s title and has been arguably the manufacturer’s best driver. There are no excuses for him, and he’ll have to be better as the season continues if he wants to be a serious contender.
#23 Bubba Wallace
Embed from Getty ImagesI had high hopes for the 23-car to find its way to victory lane for the first time this year. Unfortunately, Bubba Wallace and company couldn’t get it done. He was involved in an accident with Harrison Burton, and while he finished the race, he never saw the front lines, nor did he collect stage points with a P17 finish. Wallace all-in-all has had a good year. Maybe his best, but a trip to victory lane would do wonders for his confidence and his status in NASCAR. I don’t think it’s unlikely he’ll get there this year. But Kansas was one of his best tracks and best opportunities to get there.
#24 William Byron
Embed from Getty ImagesJust an uncharacteristically bad day for the #24 car. William Byron can afford days like these, he’s got three wins on the year. It looks like he’ll continue his dominance from 2023 and compete for wins week in and week out. But this was a breach of the norm for this year. He spun out in qualifying, so he had to start from the back. Then, despite his best efforts to drive through the field, he couldn’t quite bring it home. He finished P23, collecting no stage points. Next week he’ll return to the site of one of his several wins last year in Darlington. He’ll surely be a favorite. But check us out later this week when Chris and I put out our picks for that race.
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