2021 Buschy McBusch Race 400

The 2021 Buschy McBusch Race 400 was a NASCAR Cup Series race was held on May 2, 2021, at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas. Contested over 267 laps, on the 1.5 mile (2.4 km) asphalt speedway, it was the 11th race of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Background
Kansas Speedway is a 1.5 mi tri-oval race track in Kansas City, Kansas. It was built in 2001 and hosts two annual NASCAR race weekends. The NTT IndyCar Series also raced there until 2011. The speedway is owned and operated by the International Speedway Corporation.

Entry list

 * (R) denotes rookie driver.
 * (i) denotes driver who are ineligible for series driver points.

Qualifying
Brad Keselowski was awarded the pole for the race as determined by competition-based formula.

Stage 1
With a push from fellow Ford Mustang driver Michael McDowell, Brad Keselowski drove to the lead in the first turn. But, he could not pull away from Byron who ran in his tire tracks until the competition caution waved after Lap 25.

Keselowski maintained the lead exiting pit road first followed by William Byron, Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick, and Kevin Harvick. This time Byron drove side-by-side Keselowski for a lap and a half until Brad moved out in front again.

Ryan Newman was black flagged and forced to return to pit road. During their pit stop, the jack-man pulled out a body panel behind the right front tire. This created a flare that improves the handling dynamics of the car. They had to come back to the pits for the crew to flatten out the panel. It cost Newman a lap on the track as he returned to the race in 33rd place.

Late in the Stage, Kyle Larson drove to the rear bumper of the leader. He passed Brad Keselowski on Lap 64, Keselowski trapped him behind a lapped car and regained the lead on the backstretch.

Larson moved to the lead with six laps to go. The lead changed again as Kyle Busch took over with three laps to go. The birthday boy held on to take the green and white checkered flag as drivers scrambled for Stage points behind him.

Stage 2
Kyle Busch led the race off pit road, he will have Tyler Reddick, Brad Keselowski, William Byron, and Ryan Blaney following the #18 car to the Stage 2 restart. But it was Larson who jumped to the lead in Turn 1 and began to pull away from the drivers battling two & three wide behind him.

Green flag pit stops began at the halfway point of the stage. Several drivers stayed out hoping for a caution that would improve their track position. Larson was back out front when everyone finally made their service stop, Kyle Busch remained 2nd, but he lost time to the leader in the process.

Kyle Larson gets the Stage win, followed by Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin.

Final Stage
On the restart, Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch swapped the top spot for a lap before Larson pulled away. Denny Hamlin, after starting in 20th, finally worked his way into the Top 5. He passed Busch for the second position. Does Hamlin have anything for Larson? As it appears the #5 car may become the 2nd repeat winner in 2021.

Most of the leaders pitted with 56 to 54 laps to go. Again, Larson maintained the lead over Hamlin with Kyle Busch in 3rd, Harvick in 4th, and Blaney in 5th. NASCAR displayed the caution with 37 laps to go to retrieve a tire from Tyler Reddick’s car that had rolled across pit road during the last series of pit stops. Reddick was penalized for the error with a drive down pit road under green.

All of the leaders came to pit road for fresh tires and to top off fuel for the sprint to the finish. Harvick had an uncontrolled tire during his stop and will have to start at the end of the lead lap cars.

Joey Logano only took two tires during his stop and improved his track position to 4th. Behind Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, and Kyle Busch. The race restarted with 32 laps to go. Hamlin was able to capture the lead after fighting Larson for two laps. Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, and Brad Keselowski followed.

Denny Hamlin, driving with his eyes in his mirror, blocked every run Larson tried to make. Then, with 24 laps to go Hamlin pushed too hard coming off Turn 4 and scrapped the wall. Damage to the right side of the #11 car caused tires to go down, the yellow flag waved again as Hamlin worked his damaged car to pit road.

The leaders stayed out but most everyone from Keselowski back chose to pit for fresh tires. The race comes down to a battle between track position and new rubber. The restart with 18 laps to go had Larson on the high side with Busch on the bottom, Blaney, and Logano behind them respectively.

Larson won the sprint to Turn 1, Kyle Busch tucked in behind the leader. However, it was Keselowski with new tires moving up to 3rd.

With 15 laps to go, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spun down the backstretch and the caution came out again. With Keselowski on fresh Goodyears starting in 3rd, will he be able to make a move on the top past Larson and Kyle Busch when the race restarts with 10 laps to go?

The Finish
Kyle Busch got the jump this time, but they could not even complete a lap until Christopher Bell lost it Turn 3 taking out Ricky Stenhouse Jr. during his spin. The incident scrambled the front of the field with Kyle Busch out front, Ryan Blaney in 2nd, Kyle Larson dropped to 3rd, with Martin Truex Jr. and Keselowski rounding out the Top 5.

Back to green with 2 laps to go and overtime looming. Kyle Busch took the lead with a push from teammate Truex. Larson was pushing Blaney and both cars got sideways, somehow they each made a spectacular save and the race stayed green. Both lost considerable track position.

On his 36th birthday, Kyle Busch gets his first win of the year becoming the 10th winner in 11 races of the 2021 season.

The Ford Mustangs of Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Matt DiBenedetto finished 2nd through 4th. Chase Elliott grabbed the 5th finishing position. Kyle Larson finished 19th and Ryan Blaney 21st.

Playoff Standings
With recent strong runs, Matt DiBenedetto has moved into a playoff position. If there are any left to go in on points. Names like Kurt Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Aric Almirola are on the outside looking to somehow climb into contention.

Stage Results
Stage One Laps: 80

Stage Two Laps: 80

Final Stage Results
Stage Three Laps: 107

Race statistics

 * Lead changes: 18 among 6 different drivers
 * Cautions/Laps: 7 for 36
 * Red flags: 0
 * Time of race: 3 hours, 5 minutes and 21 seconds
 * Average speed: 129.647 mph

Television
Fox Sports covered their 10th race at the Kansas Speedway. Mike Joy, three-time Kansas winner Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer called the race from the broadcast booth. Jamie Little and Regan Smith handled pit road for the television side. Larry McReynolds provided insight from the Fox Sports studio in Charlotte.

Radio
MRN had the radio call for the race which was also simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Alex Hayden and Jeff Striegle called the race in the booth when the field raced through the tri-oval. Dave Moody covered the race from the Sunoco spotters stand outside turn 2 when the field was racing through turns 1 and 2. Mike Bagley called the race from a platform outside turn 4. Steve Post and Pete Pistone worked pit road for the radio side.

Standings after the race

 * Drivers' Championship standings


 * Manufacturers' Championship standings


 * Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.
 * . – Driver has clinched a position in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.