NASCAR: Winners And Losers From Kansas

Loser: Teammate Battles

We know Joe Gibbs Racing has been dominant this season and they’ve had plenty of races where they’ve raced against each other for the win. One that stuck out was Carl Edwards’ win at Richmond, when he came around Turn 4 and moved Kyle Busch out of the way to win the race on the final lap.

Fast forward to Kansas. The two drivers met late in the race again as Edwards–who had the faster car at the time–was trying to get past Busch so he could make a run at Kevin Harvick.

Both drivers wanted to give it a shot so they were hung up for a bit while Harvick continued to drive away. After the race, you could tell they were a little frustrated, even though neither came out and said it.

According to Charles Bradley of Motorsport.com, Busch started off by avoiding any question about the battle. “It’s racing I guess,” was the answer he finally gave on the situation.

As for Edwards, he maintained his composure and stayed classy as usual, but you could tell that he wished he could’ve had more time chasing Harvick instead of getting caught up by Busch. He said the following (via Joe Menzer of FOX Sports):

"“I felt like we had the fastest car at the end. That’s what’s frustrating, you should win with the fastest car, especially when you start on the front row,” said Edwards, driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. “I take responsibility for that. I could have done something different on that restart, possibly hung on, and I wouldn’t have been in that position.”"

Both drivers will likely overcome their differences as they’re members of JGR, but this was just another example of how this Chase format can impact drivers.