NASCAR Kansas 2016 results: Kyle Busch wins Go Bowling 400

Defending Sprint Cup champion Kyle Busch fended off Kevin Harvick, then pulled away to win the GoBowling.com 400 Saturday night at Kansas Speedway.

Busch vaulted into the lead thanks to a decision by crew chief Adam Stevens to forgo pitting under a late caution. From there Busch took control, first getting a superior restart over Matt Kenseth, a Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, with 19 laps remaining then withstanding Harvick’s efforts to pass.

“When you’re out front and you focus on hitting your marks and hitting the restart and doing what you can do, then you get an opportunity to try to drive away,” Busch said. “Harvick was making it tough. He was right on my bumper there for a few laps. I kind of pulled slide job off of Turn 4, cut it a little bit close. We touched a little bit.

“After that, I kind of refocused on being able to hit my marks and hit the line that I was running before the caution came out where I was really fast.”

The victory is Busch’s third of the season and gives him wins at 21 of 23 tracks on the Sprint Cup Series schedule. Charlotte Motor Speedway and Pocono Raceway are the only venues where Busch remains winless.

“It’s certainly been some tough roads along the way here at Kansas, but it’s certainly nice to win this one,” Busch said. “I look forward to being to hopefully knock off some more this year at Charlotte and Pocono to complete the list.”

Harvick finished second, Kurt Busch third, Kenseth fourth and rookie Ryan Blaney completed the top five.

With fresher tires than Busch, Harvick closed to back of Busch’s bumper and seemed poised to take the win. But Harvick could never pull alongside to make a pass and when he struck a piece of debris with a handful of laps left, it caused him to fall back.

“Hit a big piece of debris and knocked a big hunk out of the nose and knocked the splitter down,” Harvick said. “From that point on it was tight. Otherwise I would have drove around him.”

Austin Dillon, Ryan Newman, A.J. Allmendinger, rookie Chase Elliott and Brad Keselowski completed the top 10.

Martin Truex Jr. started on the pole and had the dominant car, leading a race-high 172 laps, but a loose wheel necessitated an unscheduled green flag pit stop. He never recovered and the Furniture Row Racing driver finished 14th.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Truex said. “Went around (Turns) 1 and 2 and I was like, ‘Wheels loose.’ I kept telling myself that maybe it’s not me, maybe it’s just shaking because it has tape on it or something stupid. It was loose and I knew it right away. Frustrating, but that’s how it goes.”

An accident involving Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano and Kyle Larson setup the decisive final restart where Busch got the better of Kenseth. The incident began when Hamlin attempted a bold pass trying to split Keselowski and Larson off Turn 2, only for both he and Keselowski to lose control and spin. Keselowski spun harmlessly to the bottom of the track, but Hamlin went up towards the outside and into the path of Logano, who had nowhere to go.

“I knew our car had some speed,” Hamlin said. “I was on two tires and the guys in front of me were on none or two. I was just going for it.”