Ross Chastain‘s 2024 season hasn’t gone the way many expected, but the Alva, Fla., native broke through for his first win of 2024 at the Kansas Speedway on Sunday. (Sept. 29).
A fantastic restart on the inside lane with 20 laps to go shot Chastain to the lead ahead of Martin Truex Jr., who was the race leader when the field entered the GEICO restart zone. With William Byron chasing him down in the closing laps, Chastain nursed his lead, holding off Byron to score the victory.
Byron, Truex Jr., Ryan Blaney and Ty Gibbs completed the top-five. Alex Bowman was sixth, followed by Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott and Zane Smith rounding out the top 10.
It didn’t take long for the action to heat up, as Ty Dillon and Josh Berry spun around on lap 1. Harrison Burton and Jimmie Johnson were also involved in the backstretch scuffle, with Elliott incurring damage on the right rear of the No. 9 Chevrolet. Berry was the only driver involved in the incident who was knocked out of the race.
As Bell took control of the race lead on the ensuing restart, Elliott began to make his way through the pack, advancing up to 24th on lap 19. Fellow playoff driver Chase Briscoe went the opposite direction, however, losing 17 positions from the drop of the green flag to the race’s second yellow on lap 19.
On lap 19, Kyle Larson lost his right rear tire, sending the No. 5 into a half-spin that sent him into the wall. While the hit damaged Larson’s Camaro, he was able to continue.
The field decided to pit for tires and fuel during the caution period, with a two-tire call from Adam Stevens allowing Bell to win the race off pit road. Despite an aggressive three-wide move by Joey Logano on the restart, Bell held on to the race lead.
Handling issues plagued Larson throughout the rest of stage one, as Bell lapped the 2021 champion on lap 57.
With Byron bearing down on Bell, a rare mistake from the driver of the No. 20 forced Bell into wall and back to fifth-place, handing the race lead and eventual stage win to Byron.
Logano’s No. 22 team got him off pit road first during the round of yellow flag pit stops. A loose wheel forced Austin Cindric to come down pit road a second time, relegating him to the back of the field for the restart.
Byron snagged the lead on the restart, with Logano and Gibbs taking the second and third-place spots.
Erik Jones brought out the fourth caution flag of the day on lap 98, as the No. 43…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at …