Kansas Shows A Halloween Face; Stenhouse Jr. wins the Kansas Lottery 300

[media-credit name=”Credit: John Harrelson/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]The Nationwide Series race at Kansas was a caution filled display of skills and patience. The freshly paved surface proved to be a wickedly fast, wickedly slick Halloween ghoul. The track management created a surface that after a couple of races and a winter of seasoning will be one of the best tracks in NASCAR. The trick was surviving to get there.

Brian Scott would be the first casualty with three spins, two of which were unassisted. The third he had contact with the wall removing him from the competition. Johanna Long would have an early day as would Dexter Stacey and Nur Ali.

The track provided us with visual example of aero effects. The faster the car the lighter the car is on its wheels. The air disruption as another car goes by lifts just enough to make the car literally wrecking loose.

The day would prove to be frustrating for Kyle Busch, after wrecking the primary car the back up proved to be an unpredictable monster that Busch struggled with all day. Coming back late to lead he ultimately run out of gas between 3 and 4 on the final lap.

Joey Logano would be involved with Ricky Stenhouse Jr making his day a very long one.  He got both laps back, and ended up finishing third.

Stenhouse Jr. would get back on the lead lap late in the race after the contact and come back to hold on to win as Busch ran out of fuel.

Points leader Sadler played a fuel strategy card late in the race. Sadler finished fourth and holds on to the series points lead by 6 points.

Young Ryan Blaney, was again impressive behind the wheel of the Penske Dodge. Blaney who started in the 27^th position drove his way all the way up as high as second. But he also ran out of the gas.

The most improved performance in the series today came from Danica Patrick. Patrick climbed all the way up to the third place before having to pit for fuel and claiming a 10^th place finish. Patrick’s confidence was very evident. Obviously the extra time in a car and the extra laps on the track paid off for her in a big way. It was refreshing to see her actually live up to the expectations placed on her. Hopefully she will remember to thank Greg Zipadelli and the SHR team as well as Ryan Pemberton and her JRM.

What began as a long drawn out race made a drastic turn at about halfway. The unpredictable monster that is the new Kansas showed her fickle nature. Stenhouse Jr. wins and Busch came up a ½ mile short. But in the end the winner was the fans and it is a victory that will last for years to come.

“Our Sam’s Club Mustang was fast this weekend. I didn’t see the win coming like this but we will take it. It was in front of a great crowd. I can’t say enough about the fans coming out and supporting us. It is a lot of fun to run in this series and especially to come to Kansas.” Stenhouse Jr. said.