Gifts for NASCAR Fans
Sunday, Chase Elliott came seemingly out of nowhere to score a major win and lock himself into the Round of Eight. But, it’s still not time to shut the book on NASCAR’s trip to the Great Plains. So, who were the biggest losers from NASCAR’s weekend at Kansas Speedway?
So, you are a fan of Kyle Busch. The last three seasons have been tough. That’s not to mention the fact that the No. 8 looked like a championship contender after the first half of the 2023 season. Who do you blame? KFB? RCR? Randall Burnett? If you answered Burnett, you probably had a great weekend (aside from the actual racing portion of this weekend).
While some may be celebrating the fact that Burnett is headed out, I would go ahead and pump the brakes. RCR Losing Burnett is by no means a good thing, after all, it’s not like he’s going to Rick Ware or Front Row. If anything, he got a promotion, after all, he is getting a chance to work with one of the most anticipated prospects in recent NASCAR history, with Connor Zilisch.
Yes, sometimes Crew Chiefs and drivers don’t work out, no matter how skilled they are, but there are bigger issues facing RCR and, in turn, Kyle Busch. Randall Burnett may not have been the best fit for KFB, but if the No. 8 wants to see any improvement, it will have to come from the front offices of RCR.
This is a difficult topic to address, but it needs to be discussed. Carson Kvapil will not be full-time in 2026, and that is a real shame. Not only did this announcement occur during the playoffs, but JR Motorsports also used it as a side topic in a press release, stating that Rodney Childers would be the Crew Chief of the No. 1 car shared by Kvapil and Connor Zilisch next season.
Right now, Kvapil is by no means having a bad season, but when you don’t win, you don’t make it into the eye of the public. While he has also had the second most impressive rookie campaign, all while tackling tracks unlike anything he has ever seen, the main problem with Kvapil’s rookie season is perhaps Zilisch, who has dominated not only the rookie battle but the season as a whole.
Although it may seem that all is lost for Kvapil, he could still thrive in this playoff format, with a solid finish this next weekend and races at tracks like Martinsville in the next round, Kvapil could score the upset of the season.
Perhaps the team that walked out of here in the toughest position was 23XI Racing. Now, did Denny seem regretful for racing Bubba Wallace that hard? Sure. Does he actually regret it? Who knows? However, here’s the problem: the two 23XI Racing cars of Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace are the only Toyotas sitting below the cut line entering a crucial race.
So, could both drivers realistically win this weekend? Yes. Unfortunately, there is no real scenario in which both 23XI drivers qualify for the Round of Eight. This is a huge disappointment, given the 2024 season in which Reddick was on the verge of winning a championship. But most importantly, returning to Wallace, the No. 23 team looked like a real underdog contender for a title. Nonetheless, it looks as if they are facing elimination at the ROVAL.
Lost in the shuffle of Sunday’s finish was something we have not seen in years: a driver who owns a team he does not race for, racing one of his drivers for the win. If anyone had any questions about how Denny would race a 23XI driver for the win, it’s safe to say that Denny was not holding back at Kansas. While that was fun, and Denny is essentially locked in for the next round, it appears that the Toyota camp is hosting back-to-back weeks of awkward competition meetings.
However, looking back at the final turn of this race, the story of Bubba and Denny is a foreboding warning for Toyota in the coming weeks. Currently, there are five Toyotas in the playoffs. This number is likely to fall to three after this coming weekend. Although this is still impressive, all teams in the TGR camp have stepped on each other’s toes this round. There is a legitimate chance that Toyota could take all three cars to Phoenix; however, they cannot afford to get in each other’s way after the next round of cuts.
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