Last year it was Joey Logano stealing the lead away from teammate Kyle Busch with just four laps remaining and driving away to Victory Lane. Would the picture perfect fall day at the Kansas Speedway end in victory for another Cup regular, or would a Nationwide regular be able to steal away the glory- and the trophy?
Logano, sitting on his sixth pole of 2010, led the field to the green alongside teammate Kyle Busch. The Joe Gibbs Racing drivers were side by side until a push from third place Kevin Harvick pushed Logano ahead of the field. On lap two Brendan Gaughan hit the wall hard but was able to continue. Making his debut for Roush Fenway, Trevor Bayne began challenging Gaughan for 25th. Reed Sorenson made it three wide on lap three, passing James Buescher, making his debut in the No. 11, and last year’s polesitter Parker Kligerman. On lap five tire rub sent smoke pouring out of the car of Steve Wallace, but he stayed on track. Busch was able to take the lead from his teammate on lap six, with Harvick on the No. 20’s bumper ready to take second, which he did the following lap. Harvick immediately put pressure on Rowdy, and took the outside line to try and take the top spot, which he did off turn four on lap 14. Sorenson moved himself up to ninth from his 15th place starting spot after passing Aric Almirola. On lap 18 Wallace brought his No. 66 down pit road with a flat tire. Busch was able to snag away the lead on lap 25. In their first and fourth Nationwide start, respectively, Ricky Carmichael and Ryan Truex, Jr. ran 17th and 18th. On lap 37, with the leaders amongst lap traffic, Harvick was once again on the bumper of Busch, but was unable to capitalize. Points leader Brad Keselowski came down pit road on lap 44 after feeling a vibration in his Penske Racing Dodge; he was running fourth, but after the stop was 28th and a lap behind the leaders. Harvick again challenged Busch for the lead and, on lap 48, finally regained the top spot. Behind them in eighth and ninth Justin Allgaier and Sorenson battled side by side for position with the driver of the No. 12 coming out on top. Green flag pit stops began on lap 54 and the leaders Harvick and Busch came down for their stops on lap 56, with third place Logano coming down the following lap. Turner Motorsports cars Sorenson and Buescher ran out of gas just as they hit pit road, with Bueshcer stalling in the middle of pit road before he could get a push from his crew. Sorenson, however, seemed to have battery issues and went to the garage on lap 62. Busch beat Harvick and retook the lead once stops cycled out. Carl Edwards, who was running fifth, brought out the first caution of the day on lap 67 after spinning and making contact with the wall. Another round of pit stops began under the yellow flag, with Busch and Logano coming out on top but a slow stop sent the No. 33 of Harvick back several spots. He would restart fifth. Busch led the field to the green on lap 72 on the outside, and was able to hold off a charging Logano to keep the lead. Sorenson spent 15 laps in the garage and re-entered the race under the last caution and ran 37th. Harvick had made his way up one spot to fourth by lap 75. The elder Truex, Martin Jr., passed Menard for the sixth spot on lap 76, and a debris caution came out the following lap. Once again the field went back to green on lap 82 with the JGR teammates side by side. Logano, though, wasn’t able to hang with his teammate and dropped back just in front of new third place man harvick. Gaughan, Stenhouse and Bayne ran three wide in the middle of the pack, with Gaughan eventually taking over 13th. On lap 85 Logano again tried to get under Busch for the lead and took the lead the following lap. The battle for seventh between Allgaier and Leffler began to heat up on lap 90 just as Busch reclaimed the lead, though it wouldn’t last long. He would spin by himself just after the ninth lead change occurred, flat spotting all four tires and bringing out yet another caution. “I want to see what the bottom felt like, and it didn’t feel too good!” Busch told his crew. The field came down pit road under the yellow flag. With several drivers not taking tires the race off was won by Menard, followed by Gaughan, Ryan Truex, Logano, Keselowski, Mike Wallace, Colin Braun, Harvick, Allgaier and Leffler. Several cars also stayed out, meaning it was the young Ryan Truex, Jr. and Aric Almirola who led the field to the green on the lap 95 restart. Busch and Harvick, meanwhile, started mid pack but immediately began working their way back to the front. By lap 97 Harvick, who restarted 14th, had moved his way to 8th while Busch, who started 18th was 11th. By lap 100, Harvick was running in the top five and Busch was just outside the top ten, but radioed his team with concerns of a tire going down. Meanwhile, at the front Almirola was hanging with Truex trying to get the top spot. Trevor Bayne came down pit road under green on lap 104 with a flat tire. And as Almirola took the lead Harvick gained ground on the two leaders. Behind them Allgaier and Leffler were racing side by side for seventh, with Leffler taking the spot. Harvick took the lead from Almirola on lap 107. Caution number four came out on lap 116 for debris from Morgan Shephard’s blown tire, which sent his No. 21 to the garage and brought the leaders down pit road once again. Michael Annett won the race off pit road, followed by Steve Wallace, Logano, Harvick and Keselowski. The top two did not take tires. The race restarted with 76 laps remained and Logano and Harvick made it three wide with leader Annett, with Harvick taking the lead. The race for fifth to thirteenth was one big cluster of cars with two and three wide racing throughout. Busch and Menard battled side by side for sixth with the No. 98 able to take the spot. A few car lengths behind them Leffler spun by himself into the infield grass, bringing out the race’s fifth caution on lap 127. Harvick and Logano led the field to the green with 69 laps remaining, with both drivers having great restarts, but Harvick was able to clear the No. 20, leaving third place Keselowski to capitalize and take second. Trouble on lap 134 for Michael Annett and Brian Scott in the No. 09 who spun separately, bringing out the sixth yellow flag of the Kansas Lottery 300. On lap 137 Harvick led the field to the green and cleared Keselowski, while behind them teammates Busch and Logano raced side by side for fourth. Special K wasn’t letting the No. 33 out of his sights and, on lap 139 took away the lead. With 57 laps to go Busch had gotten by Stenhouse and Harvick to move into second and began running down the No. 22 of Keslowski for the race lead. The field was fairly spread out with Keselowski holding a nearly one second lead over Busch with 38 laps remaining. The battle for second was heating up on lap 170 between Busch and Harvick; further in the pack Allgaier began pressuring the No. 7 of Josh Wise for 10th, but was unable to take the spot, so he came down pit road with 26 laps to go and began green flag pit stops. Carmichael, Harvick and Keselowski came down two laps later, followed by Busch, Logano, Bayne and a plethora of others. While the majority of drivers took their last set of sticker tires, Keselowski had run out and was on scuffs and Josh Wise elected to take two tires. Near disaster for leader Ricky Stenhouse with 20 laps to as he put Michael McDowell a lap down and the No. 81 got extremely loose right in front of him. Stenhouse came onto pit road with 19 laps to go, taking four tires and handing the lead to Mike Wallace who still had to pit. He, Kligerman and Ryan Truex ran in the top three and planned to stay out as long as possible, trying to save fuel for the finish. Twelve laps to go and Busch was charging back to the front, running third and just five seconds behind Wallace. That gap was erased when the No. 17 of Bayne spun around and brought out for the seventh time. When pit road opened Wallace, Kligerman, Truex and several others came down pit road, and Busch took the lead after their stops, followed by Logano and Harvick. Busch led the field to the green with just six laps remaining the Kansas Lottery 300, and the JGR teammates were side by side but Logano was able to take the lead with Harvick challenging for second. A hard crash behind them before the lap could even be completed for Aric Almirola making hard contact with the wall. It was the eighth caution of the event. Under the yellow Busch game his teammate a slight hit the back bumper, displeased with the way the No. 20 raced him on the restart. With just two laps remaining the field went to green, and receiving a push from fourth place Keselowski Logano was able to jump ahead of Busch. Behind them Martin Truex, Jr. and Harvick battled for fourth and fifth. Logano led the white flag lap, and despite Colin Braun and Kligerman spinning back in the pack Logano raced his teammate back to the checkered flag, with Keselowski taking second from Busch. The rest of the top ten: Harvick, Truex, Jr., Stenhouse, Allgaier, Menard, Gaughan and Leffler. With the win, Logano became the first driver to win the event from the pole as well as becoming the first driver to win two races at the Kansas Speedway in the Nationwide Series. The next race for the NASCAR Nationwide Series will be at Auto Club Speedway for the CampingWorld.com 300 on October ninth. Race coverage begins at four pm Eastern time on ESPN 2.
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