The NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) Kansas Lottery 300 was a caution filled 200 lap race that ended with Matt Kenseth in victory lane.
This victory makes Kenseth sixth on the all time series win list. This was also his first victory in seven races at Kansas Speedway.
“When we got here yesterday we had a lot of speed right off the truck and I told Matt I thought it was the best car we had had all year. We had a fast car all the way through the race. We lost a lot of track position but it all worked out in the end.”
Paul Menard finished second, capturing his fifth top-10 finish in eight races at Kansas and his third top-10 finish in 2013.
Regan Smith finished third and captured his first top-10 at Kansas.
The drivers struggled with the new tires with everything from excessive wear to lack of grip. Austin Dillon reported tires giving up and blistering. Despite his tire issues, Dillon was able to finish sixth and take over the series points lead by eight points over Sam Hornish Jr.
After leading most of the race, Regan Smith would lose the lead on a late round of pit stops and come back to finish third.
A late race altercation between Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski while both were racing for the runner up spot, led Keselowski to issue a warning to Busch regarding tomorrow’s Sprint Cup race. Keselowski stated, “I got wrecked by a dirty driver. There is no other way of putting it. He is cool with that. I have raced him really cool over the last year to be respectful to him and try to repair our relationship. He has a lot more to lose than we do. That is one of the advantages to not being in the chase.”
Busch also had a run in with Trevor Bayne which cost Bayne numerous spots in the running order. Bayne remarked, “It was really crazy out there. We had a super fast car and I think we ran out of fuel there. I messed up on pit road and sped the last segment and got a penalty and Mike made great strategy to get up back up there then we went in one and two and got wrecked by the 54. He sent me up the race track. I think he got loose and slid up. It almost happened with me and the 18 when we were leading. It is unfortunate for our team to have this fast of a race car and not be able to capitalize. I am sure he was probably frustrated by that but I think it was just hard racing.”
Final Finishing order:
1) Matt Kenseth 2) Paul Menard 3) Regan Smith 4) Kyle Busch 5) Justin Allgaier 6) Austin Dillon 7) Parker Kligerman 8) Brad Sweet 9) Trevor Bayne 10) Elliott Sadler 11) Alex Bowman 12) Michael Annett 13) Mike Bliss 14) Travis Pastrana 15) James Buescher 16) Chris Buescher 17) Sam Hornish Jr 18) Brian Scott 19) Dakoda Armstrong 20) Nelson Piquet Jr 21) Ryan Sieg 22) Landon Cassill 23) Bryan Silas 24) Johanna Long 25) Joe Nemechek 26) Jennifer Jo Cobb 27) Eric McClure 28) Brad Keselowski 29) Brian Vickers 30) Kyle Larson 31) Mike Wallace 32) Ken Butler 33) TJ Bell 34) Carl Long 35) Hal Martin 37) Blake Koch 38) J.J. Yeley 39) Josh Wise 40) Jeff Green
At least the cup drivers are mainly wrecking each other but the race was still a benefit race for the Cup drivers, as it has been all year.