There was no rain. It wasn’t on a superspeedway. No fuel mileage race, no late race caution, no mechanical issues for the leader, no ifs, ands, buts, asterisks etc.
Bubba Wallace won the Hollywood Casino 400.
“Thankful to shut the hell up for a lot of people,” Wallace said after the race.
Once Wallace inherited the lead back after the last green flag pit cycle, he had a 3.3 second lead over Christopher Bell. Although Wallace’s lead diminished as the checkered flag from a hard charging Denny Hamlin, Wallace was too far out in front for his 23XI boss to do anything about it. Wallace went on to lead the final 43 laps for his second career Cup Series victory, and his first win in the 2022 season.
“To win it in this fashion, yeah, it’s definitely really cool.” Wallace said “We’re talked about when we go to the speedways and kind of not so much the rest of the tracks, so I want to start changing that. ”
“We know how good we are,” crew chief Bootie Baker said. “We knew how good Bubba was, how good he has been all year. So I feel very happy for him in the fact that we took it to him. There’s no, ‘what are you going to say’? What can you throw rocks at us about this time?”
The patriotic numbered 45 23XI car stayed out toward the front of the pack for most of the race, finishing fifth in stage one, and fourth in stage two.
With the stage two caution, and a fast pit stop, Wallace found himself on the outside of Alex Bowman on what was the final restart of the race. Although Wallace fell back to fourth off the restart, a 3-wide pass on the apron at lap 180 moved Bubba back to second.
It took Wallace 20 more laps to catch Bowman for the lead, but once the 45 caught the 48, Bubba was able to take the lead with ease.
The final pit stop of the day at lap 215 proved to be the pivotal moment of the race, with Bubba having a stellar entrance and exit off pit road, supporting a good pit stop by the 45 pit crew. The rest was history.
“I think winning at this level is the hardest thing in life for us race car drivers,” Wallace said. “To be able to say we’re winners today here at Kansas through the year that we’ve had, and what we’ve been able to do the last couple of months, is incredible.”
Bubba Wallace became the 18th different Cup Series winner this season, the most winners in a single season since 2001. With one more unique winner this season, the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season will tie the all-time record for the most unique winners at 19, an outcome that mimics 1956, 1958, 1961 and 2001.
Wallace’s win also swept the Kansas races for the 45 car, with Kurt Busch winning the spring race back in May. Bubba Wallace, who normally drives the flagship 23 car for the Michael Jordan co-owned team, has driven the 45 car for the past two races in substitution for Kurt Busch, who has been sidelined since suffering a head injury back in July at Pocono.
Although Kurt Busch withdrew his entry into the driver’s playoffs, the 45 car remained eligible for the owner’s title, and with the win, Wallace has secured a spot in the Round of 12 in the owner’s title fight.
As for the driver’s title, Wallace’s win also marks the second week in a row the 16 playoff drivers have gone winless. Although no driver has automatically advanced with a win, Christopher Bell locked up his spot in the Round of 12, thanks to a third place finish and a stage one victory.
Denny Hamlin finished second, with Alex Bowman coming in fourth after leading 107 laps and winning stage two.
Martin Truex Jr. wrapped up with a fifth place finish, marking the second of three non-playoff drivers to finish inside the top 15. William Byron led a pack of playoff drivers with a sixth place finish, followed by Ross Chastain, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, Daniel Suarez, Chase Elliott, Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe and Austin Dillion. Joey Logano finished a lap down in 17th.
Three playoff drivers had major issues throughout the day, with Kyle Busch finishing 26th after spinning out in stage two. Tyler Reddick also had a rough day, finishing 35th after a tire went down while he was leading the race, and Kevin Harvick finished dead last after crashing out at lap 33.
Going into the cutoff race at Bristol Motor Speedway next Saturday, eight drivers control their own destiny with the playoff picture looking like this:
NASCAR Cup Series Race – 22nd Annual Hollywood Casino 400 Presented by Barstool Sportsbook
Kansas Speedway
Kansas City, Kansas
Sunday, September 11, 2022
Results taken from NASCAR Media Wire:
1. (6) Bubba Wallace (P), Toyota, 267.
2. (25) Denny Hamlin (P), Toyota, 267.
3. (4) Christopher Bell (P), Toyota, 267.
4. (3) Alex Bowman (P), Chevrolet, 267.
5. (12) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 267.
6. (9) William Byron (P), Chevrolet, 267.
7. (5) Ross Chastain (P), Chevrolet, 267.
8. (7) Kyle Larson (P), Chevrolet, 267.
9. (17) Ryan Blaney (P), Ford, 267.
10. (15) Daniel Suarez (P), Chevrolet, 267.
11. (22) Chase Elliott (P), Chevrolet, 267.
12. (8) Austin Cindric # (P), Ford, 267.
13. (13) Chase Briscoe (P), Ford, 267.
14. (11) Austin Dillon (P), Chevrolet, 267.
15. (10) Chris Buescher, Ford, 267.
16. (23) Michael McDowell, Ford, 267.
17. (2) Joey Logano (P), Ford, 266.
18. (28) Noah Gragson(i), Chevrolet, 266.
19. (27) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 266.
20. (21) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 266.
21. (36) Aric Almirola, Ford, 266.
22. (29) Cole Custer, Ford, 266.
23. (32) Todd Gilliland #, Ford, 266.
24. (31) Landon Cassill(i), Chevrolet, 266.
25. (26) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 266.
26. (20) Kyle Busch (P), Toyota, 265.
27. (30) Cody Ware, Ford, 265.
28. (33) JJ Yeley(i), Ford, 264.
29. (24) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 264.
30. (35) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 262.
31. (34) BJ McLeod(i), Ford, 262.
32. (18) Harrison Burton #, Ford, Accident, 115.
33. (19) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, Accident, 114.
34. (16) Ty Gibbs(i), Toyota, Accident, 90.
35. (1) Tyler Reddick (P), Chevrolet, Accident, 67.
36. (14) Kevin Harvick (P), Ford, Accident, 33.