NASCAR Nationwide Series at Kansas 2014 Results: Winner, Standings and Reaction

Through some savvy strategy, Kyle Busch seized the checkered flag at Saturday's NASCAR Nationwide Series at Kansas while outlasting a bevy of other contenders and slightly shaking up the standings table as a result.

The Kansas Lottery 300 is known for dramatic finishes, but Busch was able to fend off Kevin Harvick down the stretch, as well as third-place finisher Ryan Blaney. Ty Dillon, who won the pole earlier that day, wound up in fifth place.

It was an overall tense affair as always, with an eye-popping seven yellow flags before lap No. 100.

NASCAR Nationwide summed up the top five:

The victory marks Nationwide checkered flag No. 6 for Busch, who continues his run of dominance at the series with no end in sight. It also helps him breathe a bit easier at Kansas, where he has put together several head-scratching performances as of late before Saturday's result.

Jeff Wackerlin of Motor Racing Network captured his celebration:

Here is a look at the top 10 finishers from Saturday's action

Pos.	Driver	Laps Led
1	Kyle Busch	34
2	Kevin Harvick	47
3	Ryan Blaney	33
4	Paul Menard	0
5	Ty Dillon	6
6	Matt Kenseth	8
7	Elliott Sadler	37
8	Trevor Bayne	0
9	Brian Scott	4
10	Chase Elliott	0

Full results can be found at NASCAR.com.

2014 NASCAR Nationwide Series Standings

Pos.	Driver	Points	Wins	Top 5	Top 10
1	Chase Elliott	1068	3	14	23
2	Regan Smith	1030	1	7	24
3	Ty Dillon	1028	1	6	22
4	Brian Scott	1011	0	6	19
5	Elliott Sadler	1008	1	6	21
6	Trevor Bayne	971	0	5	19
7	Chris Buescher	874	1	4	12
8	Brendan Gaughan	846	2	2	6
9	Ryan Reed	791	0	1	1
10	James Buescher	779	0	0	2

Analyzing Notable Finishers

Kyle Busch

Jerry Markland/Getty Images

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has now won back-to-back races on the Nationwide circuit, cruising to an easy victory last week in Dover, where he led 101 laps.

For Busch, that makes it three first-place finishes in his last four Nationwide races, with the outlier being a third-place finish in Chicago.

While he was arguably out-dueled by Harvick for most of the day, some strange decisions from his rival's pit crew helped him to win this particular race for the first time since 2007.

That said, Busch was quick to suggest the roles may be reversed Sunday, per Bob Pockrass of Sporting News:

Regardless of that result, how and when Busch's strong run on the Nationwide circuit will come to an end is quite difficult to nail down.

Elliott Sadler

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

As the owner of six top-five finishes entering Saturday, many expected a strong showing from Elliott Sadler, especially after his great performance in Dover a week prior.

Sadler entered the day fifth in the standings and shot out to first place. By the time the 100-lap mark hit, he had already led for more than 30 laps and was skillfully fending off the likes of Busch and Blaney.

Eventually, though, Sadler fell back and finished with 37 laps led and a seventh-place spot. In order to hang around in the region fifth place in the standings, he will need better performances down the stretch in the remaining races.

Ryan Blaney

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Despite being absent from the leaderboard Saturday, Blaney built a world of expectations for himself earlier in the week by turning in the fastest time in a practice session and then coming in second place behind pole position by just 0.041 seconds.

Blaney met those expectations head-on by going toe-to-toe with the heavyweights of Saturday's action for most of the race, eventually leading 33 laps by day's end.

As the promotion's Twitter handle points out, luck was on Blaney's side at one point:

Still, Blaney was unable to overcome Busch and Harvick in the waning moments, settling for third place. Not the exact result he wanted, surely, but one he will take nonetheless.

Chase Elliott

Sarah Glenn/Getty Images

The pursuit of history took a brief detour Saturday in Kansas.

Rookie Chase Elliott entered the day No. 1 in the standings and hoping to etch his name in the history books by being the first rookie to win a NASCAR national touring series title. After starting 12th, though, Elliott experienced his fair share of struggles throughout the race.

As JR Motorsports captured early on, Elliott was able to avoid debris and remain focused on the task at hand in the wreck-riddled race:

While a 10th-place finish is not ideal, Elliott's debut at Kansas Speedway certainly cannot be chalked up as a failure. Especially upon viewing the standings. 

Regan Smith

Robert Laberge/Getty Images

After a wreck in the second round of qualifying that totaled his main car, Regan Smith needed a hiccup from Elliott and a dash of luck in a backup car to retain his No. 2 spot in the standings and perhaps inch closer to first.

Smith got neither.

It was quite apparent Smith was in a backup ride during the proceedings, as he made little headway before another untimely wreck, illustrated by NASCAR on ESPN:

"

Regan Smith has a broken swaybar on the right front. A tough day for Smith getting progressively worse. May lose 2nd in points to Dillon.

— NASCAR on ESPN (@ESPNNASCAR) October 4, 2014"

The only good news to come of the day's events is that there are still four races on the upcoming schedule. It may not continue to be a two-man duel between Smith and Elliott down the stretch, but Smith is very much still in the proceedings with a handful of opportunities left to make some noise.

NASCAR Nationwide Series Schedule After Kansas Lottery 300

Date	Time	Race	TV
Fri, Oct. 10	7:30 p.m. ET	NASCAR Nationwide Series at Charlotte	ESPN 2
Sat, Nov. 1	3:30 p.m. ET	NASCAR Nationwide Series at Texas	ESPN 2
Sat, Nov. 8	4 p.m. ET	NASCAR Nationwide Series at Phoenix	ESPN 2
Sat, Nov. 15	4:30 p.m. ET	NASCAR Nationwide Series at Homestead-Miami	ESPN 2

Note: Stats and info courtesy of ESPN.com unless otherwise specified.