Bubba Wallace wins Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway

There was chaos at Kansas.

Blown tires. Pit-road mistakes. Multi-car crashes. Trouble on the playoff grid.

Bubba Wallace rose above it all.

Wallace emerged late in the afternoon as a power in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway and held on to score the second win of his career. At the end, Wallace outran Denny Hamlin, one of the owners of the 23XI Racing team for which Wallace drives.

Wallace took the lead with 43 laps to go and wasn’t seriously challenged the rest of the way. He led 58 laps total.

For the second straight week, a non-playoff driver won a race, making Saturday’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway a critical one for much of the playoff field.

Wallace’s first win came last October in a rain-shortened race at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. He became the season’s 18th different winner.

Following Wallace and Hamlin at the finish were Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman and Martin Truex Jr. as Toyotas took four of the first five positions.

There were a series of problems along pit road during Sunday’s race, with several teams battling issues with uncontrolled tires and contact between cars entering and exiting pit areas.

The first incident involving a playoff driver sent Harvick to the garage on lap 34. Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain were racing for position in front of Harvick, and momentum forced Harvick into the outside wall. Right-front damage on the car was too extensive for quick repair.

Tyler Reddick, another playoff driver, slammed the wall 20 laps later after blowing a tire and parked his Chevrolet.

Kyle Busch lost control of his car in Turn 4 on lap 139, slid across the track and blew tires as he spun onto grass. He lost a lap in the pits.

Stage 1 winner: Christopher Bell

Stage 2 winner: Al