Sunday’s race at the 1.5-mile intermediate track is already shaping up to be a fine one. Despite taking the RFK Racing’s Fords back into the game, NASCAR veteran and 2012 Cup Series champion, Brad Keselowski is yet to claim a win this season. Ranked just behind his former rival, Kyle Busch, with 2048 points, Keselowski needs to win to make it to the round of 10.

After qualifying for Kansas with a time of 30.404 seconds, the veteran had a glimmer of hope when HMS’s pride’s shortcoming bumped him to start the race one up at 11th. However, as the action moves to the Kansas Speedway, the veteran has been delivered a low-key blow with the HMS Chevy back in the game.

Brad Keselowski suffers a minor hiccup

Ahead of his qualifying run, Hendrick Motorsports‘ youngest driver, William Byron, suffered a setback during Saturday’s practice. A minor mechanical fault got the #24 team worried a bit while Keselowski and his driver Chris Buescher got bumped to P11 and P12.

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The team even posted an update on X, taking a sly jab at the HMS driver with the caption, “Found some speed in qualifying! We’ll technically be P11 and P12 cuz 24 car is going to the rear.” During Saturday’s morning practice session, Byron felt something was off of his #24 car. The driver pulled it off into the pit road and found a broken suspension component to as the source of the flaw.

However, NASCAR has clarified that they will not send the #24 car to the rear. That is because the fault was because of a part issue. And the team’s not at fault here. Despite the adversity, Byron qualified for Sunday with a lap time of 30.375 seconds. This, however, puts the #6 and #17 back in their places, as the organization has ruled out any chances of having the #24 start at the rear.

William Byron opens up about Saturday’s debacle

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NASCAR’s 2023 Silly season has been nothing, but a dream run for the 25-year-old. Unlike his previous years in NASCAR’s top-tier division, he racked up five wins to blast into the playoffs. This included a landslide road course win at Watkins Glen, thus making the standings leader a solid title contender.

Reflecting on Saturday’s confusion, Byron, according to Racer.com, said: “What I felt was I was coming off of (Turn) 4, coming down the front straightaway. And the wheel just kind of jerked to the left and felt like I unloaded the wheel. So I knew it was something steering-related.”

Oddly enough, the upper control arm issue puzzled the crew as well. “Unfortunately, at first, we couldn’t really find it, and then when we started messing with the wheel here sitting on pit road, it’s a broken right-front suspension piece. So, pretty substantial suspension component,” the driver said.

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