Second non-Playoff qualifier to win in as many weeks makes points a premium before first Playoff cut.
- Bubba Wallace became the NASCAR Cup Series’ 18th different winner this year with his win at Kansas Speedway on Sunday.
- The win was the second of Wallace’s NASCAR Cup career.
- While Wallace was enjoying nothing but success, some of NASCAR’s best were digging themselves even deeper in the Championship Playoff hole.
There wasn’t a single drop of rain on Sunday afternoon at Kansas Speedway. The Hollywood Casino 400 went its full 267-lap, 400-mile distance. There was no weather delay, no mid-race red flag, and no carping about pulling the plug early like at Talladega last fall.
And yet there was Bubba Wallace in victory lane, being regaled after his second career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his first this year, and the series’ 18th this year.
Make no mistake about it. The young Toyota Camry driver for 23XI Racing earned it. He started sixth and stayed near the front all afternoon. He took the lead from Alex Bowman at lap 200 and stayed there until pitting under green at lap 214. He regained the point for good at lap 225, built a 5-plus-second lead, and won by less than a second over Denny Hamlin, his fast-closing team co-owner.
No rain, no problems, no asterisks for Bubba Wallace at Kansas.
Meg OliphantGetty Images
Behind Wallace and Hamlin at the finish were Christopher Bell, Bowman, Martin Truex Jr., William Byron, Ross Chastain, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, and Daniel Suarez.
Wallace joined with Hamlin and co-owner Michael Jordan when they formed their team in 2021. As the only Black driver on the tour – one with the very nerve to occasionally win –he has endured ugly and frequent vitriol from fans. His Talladega victory last fall was widely ridiculed as cheap and meaningless because it was rain-shortened. His only worry on Sunday was whether Hamlin would run him down toward the end.
“I knew Denny was going to be strong,” the Alabama native said. “That’s the things I look at: he wasn’t that good at the beginning, but he came up and finished P-2. That’s what I want to start doing. When we don’t have the best days, capitalize on moments like that. It’s cool to beat the boss. Man, we were lights out today when we got the lead. It was a lot of fun.”
Wallace is among several dozen NASCAR drivers with Cup, Xfinity, and Camping World victories. This, without question, is the biggest moment of his career, even better than his two Daytona 500 runner-up finishes.
“Yeah, I was nervous toward the end,” he acknowledged. “I’ve been doing this a really long time, but I haven’t won a race like that in a really long time. Just knowing that getting excited is going to mess you up, I was cool, calm, and collected … and here we are. It’s been a tough road.”
While Wallace was enjoying nothing but success and becoming the second non-Playoff driver (Erik Jones) in as many weeks to win a Playoff race, some of NASCAR’s best were digging themselves even deeper in the Championship Playoff hole. Former champion Harvick is last among the 16 contenders, 91 points behind leader Bell and in an almost must-win situation going to Bristol next weekend.
Chase Briscoe, Austin Dillon, and Kyle Busch are also below the 12-driver cut line to advance to Round 2 at Texas, Talladega, and Charlotte the three weekends after Bristol. The four lowest-ranked in points after Bristol will be eliminated from moving forward.
Hamlin, Bell, Bowman, Byron, Chastain, Larson, and Suarez are among those drivers still in the championship hunt. Chase Elliott, Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe, and Austin Dillon (11th-14th on Sunday) also are still in it, along with Joey Logano (17th), Kyle Busch (26th), Tyler Reddick (35th), and Kevin Harvick, 36th and last for the second consecutive week.
“I’ll be in a Hail Mary situation next weekend at Bristol,” said Harvick, 16th in points. “It is what it is. We were racing to win anyway today, so that’s what we’ll do again next week.”
NASCAR Playoff Standings
Field of 16 will be cut to 12 after next week’s race at Bristol on Sept. 17. Any Playoff driver that wins at Bristol will automatically advance.
- Christopher Bell 2,108 points
- William Byron 2,098
- Denny Hamlin 2,097
- Joey Logano 2,090
- Ryan Blaney 2,086
- Alex Bowman 2,080
- Chase Elliott 2,078
- Kyle Larson 2,077
- Ross Chastain 2,076
- Daniel Suarez 2,056
- Tyler Reddick 2,052
- Austin Cindric 2,052
- Kyle Busch 2,050
- Austin Dillon 2,049
- Chase Briscoe 2,043
- Kevin Harvick 2,017
Mike Pryson Mike Pryson covered auto racing for the Jackson (Mich.) Citizen Patriot and MLive Media Group from 1991 until joining Autoweek in 2011.
Keyword: Bubba Wallace's Second NASCAR Cup Win Puts Added Heat on Playoff Drivers