KANSAS CITY, Kan. – While Kyle Busch walked away with his ninth NASCAR XFINITY Series win of the season, some NASCAR XFINITY Series Chase drivers didn’t hit the jackpot in Saturday afternoon’s Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway.
Justin Allgaier, Brendan Gaughan, Erik Jones, Ryan Reed and Darrell Wallace Jr. all suffered setbacks during the 200-lap race, but it was the Roush Fenway Racing driver of Wallace who finds himself in a deep hole and at the bottom of the Round of 8.
Running respectively on the track, Wallace found himself a victim of former Chaser Brandon Jones making contact with Allgaier’s No. 7 Chevrolet igniting a six-car wreck which also included Cole Custer and Reed on Lap 165.
The damage to his No. 6 Leidos Ford Mustang was catastrophic leaving him with a 33rd place finish.
“I am alright. It was just a hard hit,” said Wallace. “It was a really hard hit for us, the whole team really. This 6 Leitos Ford team was working hard to get a good finish. I think we could have picked off a couple spots for a top-10 to set us up for a really good day.
“It is just unfortunate. I hate it for our guys. We worked really hard overnight to get this thing where it needed to be. We were still off in some areas but it was good to start figuring out a rhythm and knowing some key points going into Texas in a couple weeks. We will move on. It is alright. We aren’t knocked out. It is just motivation to go to Texas.”
Fellow Roush Fenway teammate Ryan Reed battled back to a 16th place finish after falling to a race low 28th after a plug wire came loose on his No. 16 Lilly Diabetes / American Diabetes Association Ford Mustang. Despite an uphill battle and being involved in the eighth caution of the race, Reed heads to Texas Motor Speedway 30 points below the cutoff of the final four.
“That plug wire really put us behind from the start. I think we had about a 13th place car before everyone had troubles,” said Reed. “With everyone having problems if we could have just been running where we needed to it would have been an easy top-10 day. It is frustrating to have a mechanical issue in the Chase. We definitely can’t have that happen but we battled back and to finish 16th after being three laps down at one point isn’t the end of the world. Overall, we just didn’t unload that well this weekend. Aside from all the troubles we just have to get better to have an opportunity to move on.”
Allgaier despite heavy damage to his No. 7 Brandt Chevrolet finished 14th, one lap down. The finish was a blessing for the JR Motorsports driver as his car suffered extensive damage to the front and rear. Allgaier heads into a welcomed two-week break fourth in the Round of 8, tied with fellow XFINITY Series driver Erik Jones.
“We talked about it before this Chase started that the good days are going to have to be good, but the bad days are going to have to be the ones that you make up the most points on,” said Allgaier. “I feel like Jason Burdett (crew chief) and the guys did a good job of getting our BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevy fixed and getting us back on the race track.
“We very easily could have been in the garage and not been able to keep finishing the race, so we got very lucky on that, but it’s just a shame that they didn’t get the finish that they deserved today. We lived to fight another day. We’re tied for fourth, not too far out of third or second, so we’re still in the Chase by all means, but we’ll just have to go to these next two and do the best we can.”
Just when you think Chasers had endured enough heartache at Kansas Speedway, Chaser Brendan Gaughan went around on the frontstretch on Lap 177 after contact in traffic. The Las Vegas, Nevada native initially thought his race was over, but his Richard Childress Racing team repaired his No. 62 South Point Hotel & Casino Chevrolet allowing him to return to the track and finish 31st.
The damage, however, had already been done as the XFINITY veteran finds himself seventh in points, 29 markers behind Suarez two races before elimination. Unless something disastrous happens for the leader XFINITY Series Chasers, Gaughan will likely need a win at Texas or Phoenix to advance to Homestead.
“It wasn’t the points day that we had hoped for at Kansas Speedway,” Gaughan mentioned. “We just didn’t have the South Point Chevrolet we needed today. We battled a tight car and track position throughout the race. My guys were excellent on pit road, especially with all the changes that my crew chief, Shane Wilson, called for today. I’m bummed we got spun off Turn 4 with less than 30 laps to go. Everyone started checking up and I got pinned by the No. 4 car (Ross Chastain).
“I drove it hard but once the air was off the car I couldn’t save it. We have to get better going forward. We had a good shot at coming out of here with a good day in the championship standings until that late race incident. Shane and I know how to make it work and keep moving forward. This won’t be any different. We also know how to win at Texas Motor Speedway. The task now is to bring some speed and get it done.”
Lastly, Erik Jones after contending for the lead late at Kansas had to pit on a restart after contact from Kyle Larson threw his No. 20 Reser’s Toyota Camry into Ty Dillon’s Chevrolet cutting down his tire and sending the Joe Gibbs Racing rookie to pit road for service.
Luckily, a caution waved while he was on pit road which spared the team of any more loss of track position.
“He (Kyle Larson) said it was his fault,” said Jones. “He owned up to it, got me ran over. It is what it is. It’s the same situation to the 3 (Austin Dillon) and 78 (Martin Truex Jr.) last week in the Cup race. He just said he got a good start and there was no hole there, nowhere to go with the run he had just got into my left rear and turned us. It’s a shame, we both had fast cars.
I had a fast Reser’s Camry and he was fast too and I’m sure we could have gotten up front and raced for it. We just needed laps to get a charge. Just unnecessary aggression, I’ve got a lot to lose and he’s got nothing to lose and that’s what’s tough in these races. It’s tough for him to be in that spot – I’ve been there. You still just have to use your head a little bit and can’t make those kind of mistakes.”
After a grueling stretch of 17 consecutive races, the XFINITY Series teams will embrace a much needed two week break before returning at Texas Motor Speedway for the penultimate mile and a half track of the year on Nov. 5.
With Saturday’s Kansas Lottery 300 looking like a repeat of last month’s Chase opener at Kentucky Speedway, it’s clear the XFINITY Series teams, especially those earning for a slot in the Round of 4 are feeling a pressure they’ve never experienced before and that isn’t a bad thing for NASCAR nation.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
