NASCAR Cup Kansas: Kurt Busch beats Larson and brother Kyle to win

The 2004 Cup champion Busch dominated much of the race, leading a race-high 116 laps,  a round of pit stops under caution.

Following the restart, as Kyle Busch led the field, Kurt fell back to fourth before mounting a charge back to the front. After Hendrick Motorsport Chevrolet driver Larson had passed Kyle Busch for the lead on lap 235 of 267, Kurt demoted Kyle to third two laps later.

From there, the 23XI Toyota patiently made up ground on Larson and dove inside the reigning champion at Turn 3 with eight laps to go to reclaim the lead and secure his first win of 2022 by 1.413 seconds.

It was only the second victory for 23XI Racing, which is co-owned by NBA legend Michael Jordan and Cup driver Denny Hamlin, after Bubba Wallace's Talladega breakthrough last October and 43-year-old Busch's first win since Atlanta in July 2021.

Asked how it felt to get his 34th career win for a new team, Busch said: “It’s the most gratifying to work from the ground up with a brand new car. Everybody at 23XI – this is for us. This is what the hard work is all about.”

Behind Larson, JGR team-mates Kyle Busch, Hamlin fourth and pole-winner Christopher Bell rounded out the top-five.

Completing the top 10 were Martin Truex Jr., Ross Chastain, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Alex Bowman and Wallace, who rebounded from a pit road penalty.

At the start, Bell took command early before Chase Briscoe spun off Turn 4 on lap six to put the race under an early caution. Tyler Reddick quickly passed Bell on the restart to move into the lead, but lost out to Larson on lap 34 - just before B.J. McLeod spun off Turn 4 to bring out another caution, from which Bell once again emerged in the lead.

Busch's win was only the second for 23XI

Photo by: Jasen Vinlove / NKP /