The initiation of the playoffs of the 2023 Cup Series season couldn’t be any better. While Darlington had always been a steep mountain to climb for the drivers, Kansas proved to be an unforeseeable daunting experience for the playoff drivers. On-track struggles and tire failures were a common sight on Sunday, even the regular-season champion Martin Truex Jr. falling prey to it as early as Lap 7 of the race.

A race marked by overtime cautions, Kansas bore witness to one of the most contentious races of the season. With the championship on the line and victories to clinch, drivers were in constant contention for the lead. However, it was 23XI’s Tyler Reddick who eased in a three-wide pass before taking the chequered. Furthermore, appreciation is not restricted to the victor himself, but also to another emerging team of NASCAR, RFK Racing. Even Denny Hamlin apparently couldn’t hold his praises for the team as the woes continue for JGR and HMS.

Denny Hamlin showers his praises for fellow driver

With three victories in the last half of the regular season, Brad Keselowski owned RFK Racing team proved that they could be one of the biggest threats to the championship contention for the 2023 season. Since the first victory at Richmond, the team in its nascent stage has shown remarkable signs of development and continues to do so, which was evident in the first two playoff races.

Where drivers from the established team struggled to find traction and failed to avert on-track mishaps, Brad Keselowski and his teammate Chris Buescher seemed to capitalize on every possible situation. This was also apparent in the playoff race at Kansas. Although Chris Buescher suffered a tire failure that threw him deep in the field, both drivers had steadily risen to the top of the field. 

The execution of the pit-stops has been one of the decisive factors for the teams in the ongoing season. Owing to this, Joe Gibbs Racing swapped the pit crew of Christopher Bell with Ty Gibbs, who had one of the impeccable pit members in the paddock. However, the miseries were far from ending for the No.20 driver as in both the playoff races, Bell had to suffer with a prolonged stay on the pit roads, and so did his teammate Denny Hamlin. In the overtime caution, Hamlin suffered from a poor restart after his pit stop in order to take fresh tires.

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Speaking on his Kansas experience on his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin expressed, “He [KyleLarson] was racing guys, continuing to march through the top 10. I think he was very strong, us the 5, and the 45 were consistently what I saw the best cars. There were the other guys the 6 and the 9 that were up there but they were just there, I could just tell that they did not have the speed to like, once they led to go dominating.”

“Yeah, you could tell, Brad’s pit crew holy moly, they gained him so many spots throughout the day probably got to the front. I couldn’t believe it, I thought he had honestly probably like 8th to 10th place speed car, but they just continued to execute super well. They put themselves in contention and didn’t quite get the finish that they thought they probably deserved.”

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It was not just JGR that was mired in pit road struggles, but also the drivers of Hendrick Motorsports. In the final restart at Kansas, Larson, while exiting the pit stall, swerved right in order to avoid making contact with Keselowski and tapped Chase Elliott. This resulted in retaliation from Elliott, who appeared at the door of Larson.

Nevertheless, with Keselowski seizing another top-10 finish, the co-owner did not shy away from acknowledging his pit crew members. He shared in a post-race interview, “We just had a really solid day. To win the stage and good pit call at the end of stage two to win that stage and, kind of maximized all we had, so. You know we were probably a tenth-place car and to get all those points is a good day.”

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With that being said, it will be interesting to see what is in store for these drivers. While Keselowski still searching for his first victory in the season, the drivers steadily embark on the next half of the playoffs, with Bristol being the deciding factor.