Kyle Busch Gets Birthday Present with First 2021 Win in Sundays Buschy McBusch Race 400 at Kansas Speedway

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KANSAS CITY, Kan. (May 2, 2021) — Perhaps it was birthday fate. When the name of the race is the Buschy McBusch Race 400, your name is Kyle Busch and it‘s your 36th birthday – you have to figure there‘s some serious racing juju in your favor. And Busch took advantage of it.

Busch‘s No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota took the lead on a restart with two laps remaining and held off the field by .336-seconds Sunday at Kansas Speedway to give him his first NASCAR Cup Series win of the season — 58th of his career – and his new crew chief Ben Beshore the first win of his career.

It completed a weekend trophy sweep for Busch, who won Saturday night‘s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race too.

“Just a great day to be able to put this M&Ms Camry up front,” Busch said smiling, adding “Great to be able to get everyone back in Victory Lane again this early in the season and get those points going our way.

“And,” he said breaking into a grin, “I just remembered it‘s the Buschy McBusch race and a Busch won. What do you know?”

It was a dramatic ending to what had been largely a Kyle Larson show up front all day. The Hendrick Motorsports driver led a race best 132 of the 267 laps. But he got shuffled back to the second row on the last restart and had contact with Ryan Blaney‘s front-row running Ford after taking the final green flag. The two cars slid up and bounced into the wall and out of the groove, allowing Busch to take off with the help of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. pushing from behind.

Ultimately the Fords driven by Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski — on fresher tires — chased down Truex on the last lap to claim second and third place behind Busch. Keselowski, last week‘s Talladega winner, led a season-best 72 of the opening 80 laps.

Matt DiBenedetto was fourth and reigning series champion Chase Elliott finished fifth. Truex was sixth, followed by Tyler Reddick, Chris Buescher, William Byron and Austin Dillon.

Larson, looking to claim his second victory of the season was understandably disappointed after the race. He finished 19th after leading the most laps on the afternoon.

“I had the 2 [Keselowski] behind me and he didn‘t get to my bumper and I think he had to protect behind him and it just allowed the bottom [row] to get a good jump on us and the bottom two lanes cleared me,” Larson explained.

“I was back to third and planned on pushing [Ryan] Blaney as good as I could and obviously, I pushed too hard and got him loose and chased both of us back into the wall. I was just trying to help him stay side by side with the 18 [Busch] on the back to allow myself to have some sort of opportunity, but I just pushed too hard.

“That‘s really the first time I was behind somebody on a restart. I learned for next time.”

The first 167 laps of the 267-lap race were run with no major incidents — the caution flags came out only for a scheduled competition caution and the two stage breaks. Busch won Stage 1 and Larson won Stage 2.

But there were three cautions in the last 20 laps — making pit decisions and lane choice crucial in that last run to the checkered flag.

Ultimately, the two-time series champion Busch, was able to keep his car up front and make the move when he needed to — his victory obviously a huge boost in confidence for the team, which had only two previous top-five finishes in the opening 10 races of the season.

“It‘s hard sometimes when you go through the lulls, you go through the disappointment, you go through dejection and the lack of understanding if you can still do it,” Busch said. “There‘s a sense of doubt there for sure. But you just have to keep persevering, keep digging and putting your focus forward.”

The NASCAR Cup Series races next Sunday at the historic Darlington (S.C.) Raceway in the Goodyear 400 (3:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

For the latest news on everything Kansas Speedway please visit KansasSpeedway.com.

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About Kansas Speedway
Kansas Speedway is a premier motorsports facility in the Midwest. The track, which opened in 2001, hosts two NASCAR Cup Series weekends each year, along with approximately 200 other event days each year. This includes the annual American Royal World Series of Barbecue, the largest barbecue competition in the world which attracts teams both nationally and internationally. The Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway, which opened in 2012, overlooks Turn 2 of the track. Kansas Speedway‘s two NASCAR weekends in 2021 will take place May 1-2 and Oct. 23-24. Both will consist of a NASCAR Cup Series race, including the Hollywood Casino 400 on Sunday, Oct. 24, the second race in the Round of 8 of the Playoffs. Kansas Speedway is owned by NASCAR.

About NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) is the sanctioning body for the No. 1 form of motorsports in the United States and owner of 16 of the nation‘s major motorsports entertainment facilities. NASCAR consists of three national series (NASCAR Cup Seriesu2122, NASCAR Xfinity Seriesu2122, and NASCAR Camping World Truck Seriesu2122), four regional series (ARCA Menards Series, ARCA Menards Series East & West and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour), one local grassroots series (NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series) and three international series (NASCAR Pinty‘s Series, NASCAR Peak Mexico Series, NASCAR Whelen Euro Series). The International Motor Sports Associationu2122 (IMSAu00ae) governs the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championshipu2122, the premier U.S. sports car series. NASCAR also owns Motor Racing Network, Racing Electronics, and ONE DAYTONA. Based in Daytona Beach, Florida, with offices in eight cities across North America, NASCAR sanctions more than 1,200 races in more than 30 U.S. states, Canada, Mexico and Europe. For more information visit www.NASCAR.com and www.IMSA.com, and follow NASCAR on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat (‘NASCAR‘).

Kansas Speedway Media Contact:
Rodney Scearce
NASCAR Communications
623-463-5632
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