NASCAR at Kansas 2016: Winners and Losers from the Go Bowling 400

It could be that when we look back at the Go Bowling 400 at Kansas Speedway that we see a race of missed opportunity.

Kyle Busch won the race, his third of the season, but it was Martin Truex Jr. who decidedly lost this race. He led 172 laps, but a mishap on pit road ended any chance he had at cementing the win.

Many other drivers had fast cars that either ended up in the garage or inexplicably tracked to the back of the field.

In the end, Joe Gibbs Racing won its sixth race of the season and shows no signs of slowing down (though Denny Hamlin may want to slow down a little bit).

Let's carry on for this week’s winners and losers.

Loser: Joey Logano's Return Trip to Kansas

Reed Hoffmann/Associated Press

It was a case of bad luck for Joey Logano—wrong place, wrong time.

When Hamlin decided to shoot the gap and fiddled with the air currents around the No. 2 and the No. 42, it was the No. 22 that slammed into Hamlin.

“It’s just racing, some guys with old tires, some guys with two tires, some with four tires, the two got loose, the 11 got loose, right about here I couldn’t see anything,” Logano said during the FS1 broadcast. “I was hoping the 11 would come down the hill. He never did.”

He returned to the site of his most controversial win of 2015 and avoided any of that drama.

“It stinks that two weeks in a row we’re walking out of the infield car center,” said Logano. “I thought we had a shot at the end to win it.”

Logano still needs that win and after earning six in 2015, he’s struggling to find that finishing kick. He’ll get there, but the No. 22 must be wondering why it’s taking so long.

Winner: Matt Kenseth's Return to Kansas

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Matt Kenseth and the No. 20 team earned a top five.

That’s right. Finishing fourth at Kansas was the team’s first top five of the season. Kenseth, per the FS1 broadcast:

"

I thought we were a second- to a third-place car for most of the day. I thought we were as good as the No. 18 if we could have had the position. It was tough restarting on the bottom. I tried something different to try to lay back and get the pass. Once we were single file, I could get him.

"

After lots of bad luck, and even dealing with a bit of bad blood still circulating after the Logano incident of 2015, Kenseth finally showed the skill that won him five races in 2015.

Now, what does he do with it from here?

Loser: Unapproved Body Work

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It was early in the race, but it was enough to knock Jamie McMurray off the rails.

The jackman for the No. 1 team threw his hip into the side panel of McMurray's car in an effort to doctor it up.

It wasn't much, but it ensured that McMurray wouldn't be a factor in the race. As a result, he finished a disappointing 26th and three laps down.

This team can't afford this type of mistake because too much of its success hinges on points. They're unlikely to win a race this season, so it's imperative that mistakes of this magnitude never happen again going forward.

Winner: The Rookies

Ralph Lauer/Associated Press

Ryan Blaney had another solid day after surviving the melee at Talladega. He had been in a slump the previous few weeks and to finish fifth—his best finish of the season—was key.

Blaney, during the FS1 broadcast, had this to say:

"

When the track cooled off, I felt like we lost a bit of speed. We maintained, but we didn’t really gain speed. I thought that last restart with fresher tires, I thought maybe we’ll have a shot at it, but the 20 and the 18 were really fast. Could get alongside the 20 to get a solid run.

"

Two great finishes in a row is, “something to build off of,” he added.

And Chase Elliott, once a lap down, earned a ninth-place finish.

Just a solid night for the rookies.

Loser: The Speeding Penalties of the No. 11 Car

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Since winning the Daytona 500, Denny Hamlin has been sloppy on pit road. He’ll be the first to admit it.

He sped on pit road for his fifth speeding penalty of the year—the most by any driver. Then he sped again for his sixth of the year.

Despite shooting himself in the foot wheel, Hamlin muscled his way into the top five and tried to split the No. 2 and the No. 42. Splitting the cars pulled the right-rear bumper of the No. 2 and spun him out.

Hamlin said during the FS1 broadcast:

"

I wasn’t letting off. The No. 42 was too close up there. It wasn’t his fault. I got loose. It’s a shame. I screwed us on pit road twice. Our car was fast, just didn’t show it because we were in the back because I sped twice. I gotta get better at pit lane to give us a chance.

"

As a result, Hamlin loosened right into Kyle Larson. Smoke erupted. Logano lost vision. Logano plowed Hamlin. Hamlin’s day, doomed from mistakes, finally caught up to him.

“I got the win, and as part of this format, I was going for it,” said Hamlin.

Winner: Kurt Busch

Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Kurt Busch came flying at the end, getting within striking distance of his brother and Kevin Harvick.

Eventually, Kurt needed to settle for third and backed off for a satisfying finish.

“We’re good, we just have to find that next level to be great,” he said during the broadcast. “We’re knocking on the door in all the right areas; we just need to put it all together for that final piece.”

He has no shortage of confidence, and you can see that swagger and that bounce in his step even after a loss.

“We’re right there,” he said. “We’re the best car that hasn’t won a race. It’s going to happen for us.”

And at this point, he may even have a better car than Logano. Kurt appears to be heading in the right direction while Logano is trending southward.

Either way, things are looking up for Kurt and that No. 41 team.

Loser: 172 Laps Led for Nothing

Orlin Wagner/Associated Press

Martin Truex Jr. led 172 laps at Kansas. He won the pole and drove like winning the race was a foregone conclusion. The one thing he couldn’t do: hurt himself.

The No. 78 team violated that one rule on what was supposed to be its final pit stop with about 55 laps to go.

“I don’t know what the racing gods have against me, but this sucks,” Truex Jr. said over his radio (h/t SB Nation's Jordan Bianchi’s Twitter feed).

Truex Jr. reported back that he thought he had a tire vibration. His team said it was all good and that it was his call. Truex Jr. came back to pit road and sacrificed the lead and the race.

“Been thinking it’s too perfect a night until now,” said NASCAR analyst Darrell Waltrip.

Then he missed the free pass when Tony Stewart was on pit road.

“They threw the caution for Tony,” Truex Jr. said.

Of course there is no way even the most paranoid of conspiracy theorists would buy into that. That’s frustration because this was Truex Jr.'s race to lose, and he lost it.

“We’re gonna win some races,” he said after the race on the broadcast. “If we keep bringing cars like that, we’re going to win some races for sure. It’s frustrating when you have it happen so many times in your career.”

Winner: Silencing the Kansas Demons

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Kyle Busch made it three wins in 2016—the first driver to do so.

And he did it at a track where he had previously gone without a win. Busch said during the FS1 broadcast:

"

This is pretty big. There’s been some rough days at Kansas. That’s for sure. Through the beginning and middle part of the race we weren’t great. The No. 78 was probably the fastest car, but we kept ourselves in the game.

"

Which was an inadvertent dig at Truex Jr. who took himself out of the game when he had the type of car that routinely opened up three- and four-second gaps within a few laps.

At the end, Busch stayed out on older tires and that was the difference: winning on pit strategy.

Busch continued:

"

I thought clean air was best; I knew we were on old tires, but still I thought our car was really great out front. I was worried about Matt and Harvick hounded me for a few laps. He raced me clean. He had a couple opportunities especially off of Turn 4. I cut him off a little bit but when you’re clear, you’re clear, you take that chance.

"

As if he wasn’t already driving like the car to beat for the team to beat, Busch earns top honors as the favorite to win the Sprint Cup with this third win of 2016.