2021 Buschy McBusch Race 400 explained

Type:	CUST
Description:	Race 11 of 36 in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series
Race Name:	Buschy McBusch Race 400
Details Ref:	^[1] ^[2] ^[3] ^[4] ^[5] ^[6]
Year:	2021
Location:	Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas
Course Mi:	1.5
Course Km:	2.4
Distance Mi:	400.5
Distance Laps:	267
Distance Km:	644.542
Avg:	129.647mph
Pole Driver:	Brad Keselowski
Pole Team:	Team Penske
Grid From Prev Perf:	yes
Most Driver:	Kyle Larson
Most Team:	Hendrick Motorsports
Most Laps:	132
Car:	18
First Driver:	Kyle Busch
First Team:	Joe Gibbs Racing
Network:	FS1
Announcers:	Mike Joy, Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer
Radio:	MRN
Booth Ann:	Alex Hayden and Jeff Striegle
Turn Ann:	Dave Moody (1 & 2) and Mike Bagley (3 & 4)

The 2021 Buschy McBusch Race 400 was a NASCAR Cup Series race was held on May 2, 2021, at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas. Contested over 267 laps, on the 1.5 mile (2.4 km) asphalt speedway, it was the 11th race of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Report

Background

Kansas Speedway is a 1.5miles tri-oval race track in Kansas City, Kansas. It was built in 2001 and hosts two annual NASCAR race weekends. The NTT IndyCar Series also raced there until 2011. The speedway is owned and operated by the International Speedway Corporation.

Sponsor

Anheuser-Busch on their @BuschBeer twitter account asked fans to vote on the title sponsor name for the race. The options were between "The Busch Latte 400", "Nectar of the Cobs 400", "For the Farmers 400", and "Buschy McBusch Race 400" with the last one ultimately winning the fan vote.^[7]

Entry list

(R) denotes rookie driver.
(i) denotes driver who are ineligible for series driver points.

	Driver	Manufacturer
00		Chevrolet
1		Chevrolet
2		Ford
3		Chevrolet
4		Ford
5		Chevrolet
6		Ford
7		Chevrolet
8		Chevrolet
9		Chevrolet
10		Ford
11		Toyota
12		Ford
14	Chase Briscoe (R)	Ford
15	Joey Gase (i)	Chevrolet
17		Ford
18		Toyota
19		Toyota
20		Toyota
21		Ford
22		Ford
23		Toyota
24		Chevrolet
33	Austin Cindric (i)	Ford
34		Ford
37		Chevrolet
38	Anthony Alfredo (R)	Ford
41		Ford
42		Chevrolet
43		Chevrolet
47		Chevrolet
48		Chevrolet
51	Cody Ware (i)	Chevrolet
52		Ford
53	Garrett Smithley (i)	Ford
55	Matt Mills (i)	Ford
77	Justin Haley (i)	Chevrolet
78	B. J. McLeod (i)	Ford
99		Chevrolet
Official entry list

Qualifying

Brad Keselowski was awarded the pole for the race as determined by competition-based formula.

Starting Lineup

Pos		Driver	Manufacturer
1	2		Ford
2	24		Chevrolet
3	34		Ford
4	4		Ford
5	21		Ford
6	3		Chevrolet
7	12		Ford
8	20		Toyota
9	18		Toyota
10	41		Ford
11	8		Chevrolet
12	37		Chevrolet
13	23		Toyota
14	6		Ford
15	19		Toyota
16	17		Ford
17	9		Chevrolet
18	10		Ford
19	14	Chase Briscoe (R)	Ford
20	11		Toyota
21	99		Chevrolet
22	38	Anthony Alfredo (R)	Ford
23	47		Chevrolet
24	42		Chevrolet
25	48		Chevrolet
26	7		Chevrolet
27	43		Chevrolet
28	1		Chevrolet
29	22		Ford
30	78	B. J. McLeod (i)	Ford
31	77	Justin Haley (i)	Chevrolet
32	5		Chevrolet
33	51	Cody Ware (i)	Chevrolet
34	00		Chevrolet
35	15	Joey Gase (i)	Chevrolet
36	53	Garrett Smithley (i)	Ford
37	52		Ford
38	33	Austin Cindric (i)	Ford
39	55	Matt Mills (i)	Ford
Official starting lineup

Race

Brad Keselowski was awarded the pole. Kyle Busch won the first stage while Kyle Larson won the second stage. Larson dominated the race, but was passed for the lead by Denny Hamlin. Hamlin got into the wall while battling Larson and then got into the wall again after a flat tire. On the restart, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spun after contact with Austin Cindric. On the following restart, Christopher Bell spun and collected Stenhouse and Ryan Preece. In a two lap shootout, Larson got into Ryan Blaney and both fell back as Kyle Busch held off Kevin Harvick to win on his 36th birthday.[199] NASCAR officials were criticized for their handling of an uncontrolled tire by Tyler Reddick's pit crew. They waited several laps until all the cars had pitted, then belatedly threw a caution, despite the tire presenting little apparent danger. This action disadvantaged several of the drivers.

Stage Results

Stage OneLaps: 80

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Points
1	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	10
2	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	9
3	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	8
4	2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	Ford	7
5	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	6
6	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	5
7	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	4
8	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	3
9	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	2
10	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	1
Official stage one results

Stage TwoLaps: 80

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Points
1	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	10
2	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	9
3	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	8
4	2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	Ford	7
5	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	6
6	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	5
7	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	4
8	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	3
9	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	2
10	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	1
Official stage two results

Final Stage Results

Stage ThreeLaps: 107

Pos	Grid		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Points
1	9	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	267	59
2	4	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	267	40
3	1	2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	Ford	267	48
4	5	21	Matt DiBenedetto	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	267	33
5	17	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	267	43
6	15	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	267	35
7	11	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	267	41
8	16	17	Chris Buescher	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	267	29
9	2	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	267	34
10	6	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	267	27
11	21	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	267	26
12	20	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	267	35
13	3	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	267	24
14	24	42	Ross Chastain	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	267	23
15	28	1	Kurt Busch	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	267	22
16	14	6	Ryan Newman	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	267	21
17	29	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	267	20
18	25	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	267	19
19	32	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	267	37
20	19	14	Chase Briscoe (R)	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	267	17
21	7	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	267	24
22	38	33	Austin Cindric (i)	Team Penske	Ford	267	0
23	22	38	Anthony Alfredo (R)	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	266	14
24	10	41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	266	13
25	27	43	Erik Jones	Richard Petty Motorsports	Chevrolet	266	12
26	13	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	266	11
27	26	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	265	10
28	8	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	265	12
29	18	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	264	8
30	31	77	Justin Haley (i)	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	263	0
31	30	78	B. J. McLeod (i)	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford	260	0
32	12	37	Ryan Preece	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	259	5
33	36	53	Garrett Smithley (i)	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet	259	0
34	23	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	258	3
35	35	15	Joey Gase (i)	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet	258	0
36	33	51	Cody Ware (i)	Petty Ware Racing	Chevrolet	257	0
37	34	00	Quin Houff	StarCom Racing	Chevrolet	256	1
38	39	55	Matt Mills (i)	B. J. McLeod Motorsports	Ford	255	0
39	37	52	Josh Bilicki	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	250	1
Official race results

Race statistics

Lead changes: 18 among 6 different drivers
Cautions/Laps: 7 for 36
Red flags: 0
Time of race: 3 hours, 5 minutes and 21 seconds
Average speed: 129.647mph

Media

Television

Fox Sports covered their 10th race at the Kansas Speedway. Mike Joy, three-time Kansas winner Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer called the race from the broadcast booth. Jamie Little and Regan Smith handled pit road for the television side. Larry McReynolds provided insight from the Fox Sports studio in Charlotte.

Radio

MRN had the radio call for the race which was also simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Alex Hayden and Jeff Striegle called the race in the booth when the field raced through the tri-oval. Dave Moody covered the race from the Sunoco spotters stand outside turn 2 when the field was racing through turns 1 and 2. Mike Bagley called the race from a platform outside turn 4. Steve Post and Pete Pistone worked pit road for the radio side.

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
	1	Denny Hamlin	481
	2	Martin Truex Jr.	394 (–87)
1	3	William Byron	385 (–96)
1	4	Joey Logano	373 (–108)
	5	Ryan Blaney	370 (–111)
	6	Brad Keselowski	366 (–115)
1	7	Chase Elliott	349 (–132)
1	8	Kevin Harvick	348 (–133)
	9	Kyle Larson	337 (–144)
1	10	Kyle Busch	330 (–151)
1	11	Austin Dillon	295 (–186)
2	12	Christopher Bell	292 (–189)
	13	Michael McDowell	268 (–213)
	14	Alex Bowman	260 (–221)
1	15	Chris Buescher	258 (–223)
1	16	Matt DiBenedetto	250 (–231)
Official driver's standings

Manufacturers' Championship standings

Pos	Manufacturer	Points
1	Ford	397
2	Chevrolet	392 (–5)
3	Toyota	382 (–15)

Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.

. – Driver has clinched a position in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

Notes and References

Web site: 2021 schedule . Jayski.com. . March 21, 2021.
Web site: Kansas Speedway. NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC.. March 21, 2021. January 3, 2013. April 28, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170428025309/http://www.nascar.com/en_us/nascar-tracks/kansas-speedway.html. dead.
Web site: Entry List. Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. April 26, 2021. April 26, 2021.
Web site: Starting Lineup. NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC.. April 28, 2021. April 28, 2021.
Web site: Buschy McBusch Race 400 Results. NASCAR.com. NASCAR. May 2, 2021. May 2, 2021.
Web site: Points standings. Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. May 2, 2021. May 2, 2021.
Web site: Why Sunday's NASCAR Cup race at Kansas Speedway is called the 'Buschy McBusch Race 400' . 2023-07-12 . USA TODAY . en-US.