As Motorsport.com reports in its ongoing series ahead of NASCAR's fall visit to Kansas Speedway, Kyle Busch put together an incredible record at the 1.5-mile intermediate track. Across NASCAR's three national series, Rowdy collected nine wins at the venue, stacking up iconic moments, fierce rivalries, and a few heartbreakers along the way. Busch earned a record 234 career NASCAR national series wins, claiming his final victory just days before his unexpected passing at the age of 41 in May.
His Kansas resume spans 37 Cup starts with 2 wins and 463 laps led, 12 O'Reilly starts with 4 wins and 544 laps led, and 6 truck starts with 3 wins and 287 laps led. Among the highlights is his final NASCAR win at the track during the 2021 Cup season. Driving the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Busch held off Kevin Harvick in a late-race restart on his 36th birthday to capture a victory in the fan-voted Buschy McBusch Race 400. To complete the script, the driver of the Busch Beer car finished second.
I got run into the back of and spun out down the back straightaway for absolutely no reason,
Kansas also delivered wild moments in the Truck series. During the 2021 event, a chaotic green-white-checkered restart saw Ross Chastain aggressively blocking with smoke pouring from his No. 44 truck. While Austin Hill held the inside line, Busch crept to the outside to complete a stunning three-wide pass at the white flag, securing a memorable win for Kyle Busch Motorsports. In the 2018 O'Reilly race, Busch pulled off an astonishing save after getting a massive run on Stewart Friesen. Going sideways and leaving heavy skid marks and sparks, he drove through the dry grass at full speed without losing a position, ultimately finishing second in a Kyle Busch Motorsports 1-2 finish.
Of course, Rowdy's time at Kansas was never short of fire and friction. The 2013 O'Reilly race brought a boiling point in his ongoing feud with Brad Keselowski. While battling for second, Busch turned Keselowski into a crash, making no effort to avoid spinning out his rival and owner's championship competitor. "He just dumped me down the straightaway and I'm not gonna stand for it," said Keselowski after the race. Busch fired back by pointing to past grievances at Watkins Glen, adding, "I got more class than that."
Tensions flared similarly back in the 2007 Cup round, when Busch was headed out the door at Hendrick Motorsports and Dale Earnhardt Jr. was arriving to take his seat. Earnhardt spun Busch down the back straightaway, dealing a heavy blow to his Chase hopes. "I got run into the back of and spun out down the back straightaway for absolutely no reason," Busch said at the time, calling it a stupid move that his future team wouldn't appreciate given their championship fight.
Not all dramatic finishes ended in disaster, though. Back in the 2007 O'Reilly race, a 22-year-old Busch didn't lead a single lap until a restart with 17 laps remaining. He took control from there, fighting off heavy pressure from Matt Kenseth on the white flag lap to win by a razor-thin margin of just 0.085s, which stands as the third closest finish in the series at Kansas. On the flip side, the 2024 Cup race brought pure heartbreak. Battling back-and-forth with Chastain for the lead in the final stage, Busch appeared to have the upper hand until he caught a tricky spot behind the soon-to-be-lapped car of Chase Briscoe, squeezing to the outside and spinning to the inside in a devastating loss.
