Bubba Wallace Wins at Kansas, More Playoff Drivers Crash

The second race in the playoffs delivered another curveball as Wallace earned his first win of the season, and the second of his Cup career. The two playoff races have been won by non-playoff drivers, setting the stage for an epic elimination race next weekend.

After taking the lead with 67 laps remaining, Wallace held off a late charge by fellow Toyota drivers Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell to earn the win. While he is not a playoff driver, the win locks the No. 45 team into the Round of 8 for the Owners Championship.

"Man, just so proud of this team, so proud of the effort that they put in each and every week," said Wallace. "Just thankful for the opportunity. Took this jump from an idea two years ago from a text from Denny before it all even happened. He was ready to get the deal done. Pit crew was awesome today. Just thankful to shut the hell up for a lot of people."

"I knew Denny was going to be strong. He wasn’t a factor at the beginning of the day, and he comes up and finishes P2 today. That’s what I want to start doing when we don’t have the best days, capitalizing on moments like that. It’s cool to beat the boss, but man, we were just lights out today once we got to the lead. It was a lot of fun."

After a runner-up finish last week at Darlington, Hamlin was a bridesmaid once again. This time was much better though, as he watched the car that he co-owns win the race. It was a bitter sweet day for the veteran racer, but he is pleased with the results.

"It’s been a good day overall," Hamlin said. "Still frustrated about the first half of the race. We just aren’t executing all that well.” Hamlin recovered from an equipment interference penalty early in the race, which is the team's 34th pit road infraction this season.

“Really happy for our 11 Toyota team,” Hamlin continued. “They fought hard. They really stepped up that last half. We made the car quite a bit better. Just really happy about the outcome and really happy for that 45 team and Bubba. He has just worked really hard on his craft, and we’ve just given him fast race cars, and now he is showing what he's got."

The 3rd place finish for Bell comes on the heels of another top-five finish last weekend. With that, and a Stage 1 win, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver has locked himself into the Round of 12 by virtue of points. He is the only driver that has advanced, which eases the pressure on him at Bristol.

Alex Bowman won Stage 2 and finally got the solid finish that he so desperately needed. After struggling for the majority of the season, the Hendrick Motorsports driver now has back-to-back top-ten finishes to begin the playoffs. The same can be said for his teammate William Byron, who finished 8th last week and 6th today.

Although they weren't able to win, several drivers collected decent results to set them up for Bristol. Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, and Trackhouse teammates Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez each scored top-ten results today. Chase Elliott, Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe, and Austin Dillon were just behind them.

There were still many playoff drivers that stumbled today, putting them in a major hole going into the elimination race.

Kyle Busch spun off Turn 4 on Lap 138 and went into the grass. He ended up going a lap down, getting back on the lead lap, only to fall behind once again. It was a microcosm of his 2022 season, as he came home with a disappointing 26th place result.

Pole sitter Tyler Reddick blew a tire while leading on Lap 66 and hit the outside wall. The damage was too severe to continue, and what was a potentially great day ended with a 35th place finish. It was a costly blow to the Richard Childress Racing driver, who fell from 5th to 11th in the playoff standings.

"The right-rear tire just blew like we’ve had a few times," Reddick said. "At Fontana, I was able to save it, but here it snapped at the worst possible point, and we just killed the wall. It broke the control arm on the right-front, so our day was over. We leave here with not a lot of points, so we’ll have to fight hard at Bristol."

Kevin Harvick has had a disastrous start to the playoffs. The Stewart Haas Racing driver got into the outside wall on Lap 33 and broke the suspension on the car. He finished last, and will have to win at Bristol on Saturday to advance to the next round.

Harvick is no stranger to being in a must-win situation. "When those two cars came up in front of me, I just got super tight," Harvick said after a visit to the infield care center. "When I lifted, it grabbed and got loose. I just wasn’t expecting them to come up and my car getting that tight. It is what it is. We were racing to win anyway today, so that’s what we will do again next week.”

The 16 playoff drivers will be trimmed to 12 following the race at Bristol next weekend. The four drivers currently at the bottom of the standings are Busch, Dillon, Briscoe, and Harvick. There are three drivers (Suarez, Reddick, Cindric) that are just six points above the cut line, and could easily be eliminated next weekend.

Today's victory was more than validation for Bubba and the 23XI Racing team. Ironically, it was the same No. 45 Camry that won the Spring race here at Kansas, but with Kurt Busch behind the wheel. Two races in, the move to put Bubba in that car for the playoffs has proven to be the right call.

Now the heat really ramps up as four drivers will be eliminated from the playoffs next weekend. That will be decided after 500 laps under the lights at Bristol Motor Speedway, where emotions always run high. Coverage for Saturday's Bass Pro Shops Night Race begins at 7:30 PM ET on USA Network.