NASCAR Cup Kansas: Chastain beats Byron to win, playoffs remain wide open

Ross Chastain may have missed out on the NASCAR Cup playoffs, but earned some consolation with his first victory of the 2024 season at Kansas by holding off William Byron.

The Trackhouse Chevrolet driver's fifth victory of his Cup career, all with the #1 on his door, makes him the most successful Cup driver in the number's history. 

In ending a dry spell dating back to the final race of last season, he became the 17th different race winner in the Cup Series this year.

"It's a huge deal," said Chastain while taking a bite out of a freshly smashed watermelon. "For us on this #1 team, this is what Cup racing is all about.

"It's what Justin Marks bought into Trackhouse with Pitbull - to do stuff like this. To disrupt.

"There's been times this year when we couldn't have disrupted [a] minnow pond outside of Darlington, let alone a Cup race."

Behind Byron's Hendrick Chevrolet which won the opening Stage, Martin Truex Jr. (Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota) finished third ahead of Ryan Blaney (Penske Ford) and Ty Gibbs (JGR).

Byron's team-mate Alex Bowman beat JGR team-mates Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin into sixth, while Chase Elliott (Hendrick), and Zane Smith (Spire Chevrolet) rounded out the top 10.

Ross Chastain, Trackhouse Racing, Kubota Chevrolet Camaro (Photo by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images)

A caution near the end of Stage 2 jumbled the running order around, as several cars chose to pit early while many playoff drivers stayed out to earn some extra stage points - with Bowman ending up on top. Once they had pitted, a new group of drivers emerged out front for the start of the final stage.

Carson Hocevar (Spire) led briefly, until Chastain charged from fifth to first, but Kyle Busch (Richard Childress Chevrolet) eventually clawed the lead away after an intense battle and held the advantage through the final round of green-flag pit stops.

Busch was trying to extend his streak of consecutive years with a Cup win to 20 but, while fending off Chastain, tagged the wall at the exit of Turn 2 trying to lap the Stewart Haas Ford of playoff contender Chase Briscoe and spun out. He eventually finished 19th.

Seeking his first win of the year, Truex managed to snatch the lead on pit road as Brad Keselowski stayed out, but the RFK Ford driver quickly faded as another wreck broke out in the middle of the pack.

The final restart came with 20 laps remaining. Chastain powered around Truex on the restart and never looked back, taking the checkered flag 0.388s clear of Byron.

The playoff picture is tight entering next week's race at Talladega, the second of three in the Round of 12 which concludes at the Charlotte roval.

Kyle Larson (Hendrick) cut a tyre and crashed early, struggling home to a 26th place finish. He remains fourth in the standings, but only 18 points above the cut-line. Joey Logano (Penske) is on the bubble, four points above Tyler Reddick (23XI Toyota). Chastain's team-mate Daniel Suarez is 14 points out, Briscoe 25 points out, and Austin Cindric (Penske) 29 points out.

NASCAR Cup Kansas Race Results

Cla	Driver	#		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Points
1	R. ChastainTrackHouse Racing	1		Chevrolet	267	3:14'53.982		9	40
2	W. ByronHendrick Motorsports	24		Chevrolet	267	+0.388 3:14'54.370	0.388	10	52
3	M. Truex JrJoe Gibbs Racing	19		Toyota	267	+0.868 3:14'54.850	0.480	10	40
4	R. BlaneyTeam Penske	12		Ford	267	+2.551 3:14'56.533	1.683	10	49
5	T. GibbsJoe Gibbs Racing	54		Toyota	267	+4.437 3:14'58.419	1.886	9	46
6	A. BowmanHendrick Motorsports	48		Chevrolet	267	+5.618 3:14'59.600	1.181	10	43
7	C. BellJoe Gibbs Racing	20		Toyota	267	+6.442 3:15'00.424	0.824	10	36
8	D. HamlinJoe Gibbs Racing	11		Toyota	267	+6.833 3:15'00.815	0.391	11	36
9	C. ElliottHendrick Motorsports	9		Chevrolet	267	+9.557 3:15'03.539	2.724	10	30
10	Z. SmithSpire Motorsports	71		Chevrolet	267	+10.131 3:15'04.113	0.574	10	27
11	C. BuescherRFK Racing	17		Ford	267	+10.840 3:15'04.822	0.709	10	26
12	A. DillonRichard Childress Racing	3		Chevrolet	267	+11.407 3:15'05.389	0.567	11	25
13	D. SuarezTrackHouse Racing	99		Chevrolet	267	+11.786 3:15'05.768	0.379	10	24
14	J. LoganoTeam Penske	22		Ford	267	+12.909 3:15'06.891	1.123	11	32
15	C. LajoieRick Ware Racing	51		Ford	267	+13.796 3:15'07.778	0.887	11	22
16	R. PreeceStewart-Haas Racing	41		Ford	267	+13.861 3:15'07.843	0.065	10	21
17	B. Wallace23XI Racing	23		Toyota	267	+15.325 3:15'09.307	1.464	10	20
18	N. GragsonStewart-Haas Racing	10		Ford	267	+15.523 3:15'09.505	0.198	10	19
19	K. BuschRichard Childress Racing	8		Chevrolet	267	+16.206 3:15'10.188	0.683	10	22
20	D. HemricKaulig Racing	31		Chevrolet	267	+17.082 3:15'11.064	0.876	10	17
21	T. DillonKaulig Racing	16		Chevrolet	267	+17.718 3:15'11.700	0.636	12
22	B. KeselowskiRFK Racing	6		Ford	267	+18.272 3:15'12.254	0.554	10	21
23	H. BurtonWood Brothers Racing	21		Ford	267	+18.288 3:15'12.270	0.016	12	14
24	C. BriscoeStewart-Haas Racing	14		Ford	267	+18.569 3:15'12.551	0.281	10	14
25	T. Reddick23XI Racing	45		Toyota	267	+19.190 3:15'13.172	0.621	10	12
26	K. LarsonHendrick Motorsports	5		Chevrolet	267	+20.041 3:15'14.023	0.851	16	11
27	T. GillilandFront Row Motorsports	38		Ford	267	+20.632 3:15'14.614	0.591	10	10
28	R. Stenhouse JrJTG Daugherty Racing	47		Chevrolet	267	+21.468 3:15'15.450	0.836	10	9
29	M. McDowellFront Row Motorsports	34		Ford	267	+21.651 3:15'15.633	0.183	10	8
30	J. NemechekLegacy Motor Club	42		Toyota	267	+22.902 3:15'16.884	1.251	13	7
31	K. GralaRick Ware Racing	15		Ford	267	+23.243 3:15'17.225	0.341	9	6
32	C. HocevarSpire Motorsports	77		Chevrolet	267	+29.967 3:15'23.949	6.724	10	11
33	J. HaleySpire Motorsports	7		Chevrolet	266	+1 Lap 3:15'17.149	1 Lap	11	4
34	A. CindricTeam Penske	2		Ford	263	+4 Laps 3:15'17.496	3 Laps	12	7
35	E. JonesLegacy Motor Club	43		Toyota	263	+4 Laps 3:15'24.587	7.091	12	2
36	J. JohnsonLegacy Motor Club	84		Toyota	257	+10 Laps 3:14'58.327	6 Laps	12	1
37	J. YeleyNY Racing Team	44		Chevrolet	118	+149 Laps 1:26'45.285	139 Laps	6
38	J. BerryStewart-Haas Racing	4		Ford	0	+267 Laps 2.043	118 Laps	2	1