Hollywood Casino 400 Presented by ESPN BET: Ross Chastain returns to Victory Lane at Kansas

KANSAS CITY, Kansas — After missing out on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, Ross Chastain and his No. 1 Trackhouse Racing team got to be disruptors by winning the Hollywood Casino 400 Presented by ESPN BET at Kansas Speedway.

Chastain found himself back in Victory Lane at the premier level for the first time since the 2023 Championship 4 Race at Phoenix. Despite not earning any stage points, the driver of the No. 1 Kubota Chevrolet led the second most laps of the race (52) and finally smashed a watermelon this year in the Cup Series.

“This is incredible,” Chastain said. “To drive into Victory Lane in the Cup Series, it’s just so challenging. It’s so tough. That process I talked about last year in Nashville, we all stayed on it. We haven’t gone anywhere. We keep showing up. It’s not easy when you’re failing or struggling at something, and you just can’t get to where you want to get to.

“Our No. 1 Kubota Chevy today, we had what we needed to have, when we needed it. After practice and qualifying, I didn’t think we had the best car, but we kept working on it. I have to be honest; it was some of the most motivating on-radio stuff that Phil Surgen has ever had. We manifested the front two rows when we weren’t up there, and then we manifested the front row and we took the lead on it. For everything that this means for Worldwide Express and Busch Light — a brand like that, to buy into me, it’s absolutely incredible.”

The driver who scored the most points in this race and arguably had the best day was Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron. The driver of the No. 24 Valvoline Chevrolet scored 52 points with a Stage 1 victory and a second-place finish which allowed him to head into Talladega with the points lead.

When asked about what made the difference at the end of the race…

“I don’t know,” Byron said. “I think just him being able to get out front and control his pace definitely helped. Just kind of being stuck in his dirty air, it seemed like the top got really dominant there at the very end. The shade just started creeping in and it was just hard to work other lanes. That is probably some of it, but just a little bit here and there. Had a good restart and that was nice to go from third to second and to be able to chase him down, but just needed a little more.”

Kyle Busch was on pace to earn his first Cup Series win of 2024 until he got loose and spun from the lead after some aero blocking from Chase Briscoe, who was trying to stay on the lead lap. Busch wound up 19th, and for now, his chances of continuing his 19-year streak with at least one race win have taken a hit.

“I don’t know… I am sure he was racing to stay on the lead lap with whoever was in front of him there,” Busch said. “Granted they have a race to run, but back in the old days when you were under 30 to go or whatever it was, lap traffic would kind of lay over and give you a lane and let the leaders race. I just wasn’t getting that, so I tried to force my hand into getting that and get to his outside, and for whatever reason, it just gave all the air in all the wrong places and I spun out.”

Results from the 2024 Hollywood Casino 400 Presented by ESPN BET are listed below:

Other Race Facts

Kyle Busch became just the fifth driver in NASCAR Cup Series history to lead at least 200 laps for 20 consecutive seasons, according to statistician Trey Ryan. Busch joins Richard Petty (25), Jeff Gordon (23), Dale Earnhardt (22) and Rusty Wallace (20th) on this exclusive list.

Chastain is also the 10th driver to break a 30-race winless streak this season, which is the second most ever in a Cup Series season. 2013 has the record with 12 drivers.

An incident on the first lap of the race left Stewart-Haas Racing’s Josh Berry with four flat tires. NASCAR decided to tow him to the infield and end his day before completing a single lap. Berry and his crew chief Rodney Childers were not happy with the decision

“I assumed they were going to tow the car to the pits, which is what I was asking for, and then they dropped my window net and told me to get out,” Berry said. “Rodney (Childers) told me to stay in because all we needed was tires. They were telling me to get out. Then they towed me into the campground, so I was just out there chilling with the fans.

“At that point, they said they had to get a rollback, and they finally made me get out. Rodney was trying to talk to somebody and couldn’t get anybody on the phone. I don’t know what I am missing. I have seen plenty of cars get towed to the pits and get tires put on, so I don’t know if I am missing something or if there was something different than normal, but that was an experience for sure.”

Childers expressed his frustration on social media:

In the first race since the driver swap, Corey LaJoie wheeled Rick Ware Racing’s No. 51 Children’s Mercy Hospital Ford to a 15th-place finish, while Justin Haley was involved in multiple incidents and wound up 33rd in the No. 7 Gainbridge Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports.

All four Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas finished inside the top eight: Martin Truex Jr. (third), Ty Gibbs (fifth), Christopher Bell (seventh) and Denny Hamlin (eighth).

Bell also led 122 of 267 laps, after starting on the pole for the third consecutive race at Kansas Speedway. Since he did not win, we have only seen one pole winner who went on to win the race in the last 50 Cup Series races (Byron at COTA, 2023).

The next race on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, Oct. 6. Coverage will begin at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.