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As one of the “newest” ovals in NASCAR, debuting in 2001, Kansas Speedway may not have the years and years of history that some other tracks in the sport have. But over the years, particularly in the last three years, Kansas has put on quite a show and produced some iconic moments. We’ll take a look at some of those below.
Jeff Gordon had a knack for winning inaugural races in his career. He won the first Brickyard 400, the first Daytona night race, the 1998 Pepsi 400, and that tendency carried into the 2000s when the four-time champion won the 2001 ProtectionOne 400, the inaugural race at Kansas Speedway. Gordon led 53 laps and held off Rusty Wallace, who had led a race-high 117 laps, and a hard-charging Ryan Newman. This win came as no surprise, as 2001 was Gordon’s year, where he won six races and the final of his four championships.
Kansas sure was good to Joe Nemechek in 2004. Front Row Joe, driving the iconic Army No. 01 car for MB2 Motorsports, had a career weekend at Kansas, winning the Xfinity Series race, earning the pole for the Cup race, and then leading 41 laps en route to his final career victory, completing the Kansas sweep.
2014 gave us the first night race at Kansas Speedway after a $2 million investment was made in lighting for the track in 2011. That race was also the first to be slotted into the night before Mother’s Day, which was typically reserved for Darlington Raceway. This was a short-lived change, however, as Kansas moved away from night Cup races in 2021 due to the unwillingness of Fox to broadcast three consecutive night races (the other two being the All-Star Race and the Coke 600), and the May date was moved to a Sunday afternoon race and has remained that way since. Maybe someday we will get another race under the lights at Kansas.
The 2015 fall race at Kansas gave us the beginning of one of NASCAR’s greatest feuds of all time. Playoff drivers Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano were locked in a late race battle, with Kenseth leading and looking to lock himself into the next round of the playoffs. Instead, Logano, who was on a tear in that particular round, spun Kenseth and went on to win in a green-white-checkered finish. Kenseth, who led a race-high 153 laps that day, ended up finishing 14th and took a hit to his playoff chances. This would set up the famous payback two weeks later at Martinsville, when an already eliminated Kenseth would deliberately take out Logano, ending his championship run in the process.
We didn’t know it at the time, but when we all witnessed Kurt Busch capture the checkered flag at Kansas in the spring race, it would be the last time we’d see the Cup Series champion win in NASCAR. Busch led a race-high 116 laps, earning the first win for 23XI’s No. 45 car. Later that year at Pocono, Busch would be involved in a qualifying crash that would ultimately end his season and career.
When the Cup Series returned to Kansas that fall, the No. 45 car was locked into the owner’s playoffs, but with Busch being out of commission due to injury, 23XI had elected to put Bubba Wallace in the car for the playoffs rather than fill in Ty Gibbs, who had been driving the No. 45 since Busch’s accident at Pocono. Wallace, the normal driver of the No. 23 for 23XI, had missed the playoffs, so he was not competing for a championship in the driver or owner playoffs in the No. 23. Rather than having rookie Gibbs pilot the car, 23XI opted for the veteran Wallace to give them the best chance at an owner’s championship. Wallace wasted no time validating that decision, as he ran a great race, leading 58 laps en route to his second career victory. The win would complete the season sweep at Kansas for the No. 45 car.
The spring 2023 race came down to an absolutely thrilling finish between two of the Cup Series best. Kyle Larson, who had led a race-high 58 laps, was doing everything he could to hold off a hard-charging Denny Hamlin as the laps began to wind down. Hamlin was the faster car and was tracking down and eating into the lead of the No. 5 lap after lap. On the final lap, Hamlin was on the back bumper of Larson exiting turn two, and going down the backstretch, Hamlin packed air onto the back of Larson’s Chevrolet and appeared to turn the No. 5 into the wall. After replays showed there was no physical contact between the two, it turned out to be just an aero issue that caused Larson to snap loose. Hamlin would cruise to victory, leaving a disappointed Larson in his wake.
You’ll remember this one and likely won’t ever forget it. The Cup Series’ most recent visit to Kansas Speedway brought with it arguably the most iconic finish in the history of the sport. There have been a number of photo finishes in NASCAR history. You think of classics like Craven vs. Busch at Darlington in 2003, Harvick vs. Gordon at Atlanta in 2001, and the three-way photo finish between Daniel Suarez, Ryan Blaney, and Kyle Busch at Atlanta in 2024. And while all of those were classics, none were as close as the finish earlier this year between Kyle Larson and Chris Buescher. The 0.001-second margin of victory for Larson set a new record for the closest finish in NASCAR history and is likely a finish that won’t be topped anytime soon. We can only hope for a finish as fitting as this one when the Cup Series returns to Kansas for the Hollywood Casino 400 this week.
These were some of the most iconic all-time moments we could think of at Kansas, but we want to hear your thoughts. Let us know what you think, and let us know if there are any we missed that should be considered. We’d love to hear your thoughts, and make sure to connect with us on our socials at The Daily Downforce to keep up with everything NASCAR all year long!
