Kyle Busch wins Stage 1 at Kansas

He led the final 18 laps to the Lap 80 finish.

Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Kasey Kahne and Kurt Busch rounded out the top 10.

Ryan Blaney led the field to green for the Go bowling.com 400. But as the field rounded Turn 2 on the first lap, Joey Logano who started second, dropped to eighth with an ill-handling car.

“I about crashed the first lap and then I was plowing tight afterward,” Logano said, describing the feel of the car after debris went through his grille just above the splitter.

Eight laps in, Truex caught Blaney. One lap later, he passed him for the lead. By Lap 10, Truex led the pack followed by Blaney, Kyle Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch,

Kyle Busch passed Blaney on the inside for second on Lap 14. By Lap 20, Truex had lapped three cars and extended his lead over Busch by 1.9-seconds. Blaney fought off challenges by Harvick and Larson. Johnson, who started 29th after failing to qualify, had climbed to 15th.

Landon Cassill cut a tire and careened into Turn 1 to trigger the first caution on Lap 29. Truex held a 1.4-second advantage over Kyle Busch. Blaney, Harvick, Larson, Elliott, Stenhouse, Kurt Busch, Logano and Hamlin rounded out the top 10 with 32 cars remaining on the lead lap.

The second caution came on Lap 50, again with issues for Cassill. Truex led Blaney by 0.838-seconds followed by Larson, Elliott, Harvick, Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Johnson, Kurt Busch and McMurray.

Harvick and Ty Dillon remained on the track while the other leaders came down pit road. The No. 24 team elected to take two tires, but as Elliott exited his pit stall, he was clipped by Michael McDowell and spun around. Elliott announced to the team, “There goes our night.” The crew continued to repair the No. 24, however, Elliott’s car was junk.

Harvick led the field to green on Lap 55 with Ty Dillon alongside. But Truex popped the No. 13 on the restart and four laps later, Dillon spun on the backstretch with a damaged right front tire to ignite the third caution. Harvick remained out front followed by Kyle Busch, Blaney, Truex, Johnson, Kyle Larson, Kurt Busch, Keselowski, Hamlin and Suarez. When the race returned to green, the Toyotas of Busch and Truex took command and checked out followed by Blaney and Harvick.