By Matt Marr
For the second week in a row, pole-sitter Christopher Bell brought the field to the green flag, this time to begin the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.
Martin Truex Jr. quickly brought out the first caution of the day on lap 4 after hitting the wall. It was later found that he had a tire puncture. That was the end of his race, and he finished 36th.
Kyle Larson took the lead off of a restart with 11 laps to go in Stage One and was able to fend off Bubba Wallace to win the stage.
After starting Stage Two up front, the caution came out for Wallace at lap 108, as he blew a right rear tire. He was able to continue after extensive repairs on pit road.
With three to go in Stage Two, Brad Keselowski took the lead over Chase Elliott, and hung on to it over Denny Hamlin to win the stage.
Keselowski and Hamlin started the final stage side by side with 96 laps remaining.
Hamlin had built a sizeable lead, but the tire issues continued, and Chris Buescher blew a tire and brought out the caution with just 7 laps remaining. Hamlin’s lead was erased.
On the ensuing caution, Hamlin took four tires, while some took only two, or even stayed out. Daniel Suarez and Erik Jones led the overtime restart with two laps to go.
Also on four fresh tires, Tyler Reddick made a last lap pass going three-wide around Erik Jones and Joey Logano to win the Hollywood Casino 400. Reddick joins Kyle Larson in being locked into the round of 12.
Hollywood Casino 400 top 5:
1. Tyler Reddick
2. Denny Hamlin
3. Erik Jones
4. Kyle Larson
5. Joey Logano
Notable Drivers:
10. Alex Bowman
20. Carson Hocevar
21. Justin Haley
22. Corey Lajoie
Playoff Cutline:
9. Chris Buescher +13
10. Christopher Bell +13
11. Joey Logano +12
12. Kevin Harvick + 7
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13. Martin Truex Jr. -7
14. Bubba Wallace -19
15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -22
16. Michael McDowell -40