2021 Buschy McBusch Race 400

2021 Buschy McBusch Race 400

Race details[1][2][3][4][5][6]
Race 11 of 36 in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series
Date	May 2, 2021 (2021-05-02)
Location	Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas
Course	Permanent racing facility 1.5 mi (2.4 km)
Distance	267 laps, 400.5 mi (644.542 km)
Average speed	129.647 miles per hour (208.647 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske
Grid positions set by competition-based formula
Most laps led
Driver	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports
Laps	132
Winner
No. 18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing
Television in the United States
Network	FS1
Announcers	Mike Joy, Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer
Radio in the United States
Radio	MRN
Booth Announcers	Alex Hayden and Jeff Striegle
Turn Announcers	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.

Kansas Speedway is a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) 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.

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]

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

Brad Keselowski was awarded the pole for the race as determined by competition-based formula.^[4]

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. 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 One Laps: 80

Stage Two Laps: 80

Stage Three Laps: 107

• 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: 129.647 miles per hour (208.647 km/h)

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.

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.

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.