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Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney claim Go Bowling 400 stage wins

By Nick Tylwalk

KANSAS CITY, KS - MAY 13: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M's Red Nose Toyota, leads a pack of cars during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Go Bowling 400 at Kansas Speedway on May 13, 2017 in Kansas City, Kansas. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
KANSAS CITY, KS - MAY 13: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M's Red Nose Toyota, leads a pack of cars during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Go Bowling 400 at Kansas Speedway on May 13, 2017 in Kansas City, Kansas. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images) /
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Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney managed to see the green and white checkered flag wave in their honor in the first night race of the 2017 NASCAR season.

The sun was shining on Kansas Speedway at the beginning of the Go Bowling 400, and perhaps offering a ray of light for Joe Gibbs Racing to break its 2017 winless streak.

Kyle Busch, the defending race winner and a Truck Series victor on Friday night, claimed Stage 1 and served notice that he would be a factor. He didn’t lead the most laps in the first stage — that honor went to Martin Truex Jr., who appeared to have the fastest car — but proved impossible to run down once he got in front with clean air on his No. 18 Toyota.

Stage 1 had a minimum of torn-up cars, with the worst incident coming when Chase Eliott ran into Michael McDowell on pit road, forcing the 95 to pit facing the wrong direction in its pit and the 24 to make multiple stops to repair damage to its right-front corner.

Early in Stage 2, Jimmie Johnson brought out a caution after a run-in with Kurt Busch caused him to cut down a tire and leave rubber and metal all over the track. Johnson went a lap down while making repairs, likely ending his chances of racing for a win.

With 40 laps to go, Brad Keselowski made an unexpected green flag stop while running fifth due to what he believed was a loose wheel. Adding insult to injury, Keselowski was also given a pass-through penalty for driving through too many pit stalls, causing him to lose another lap.

Pole-sitter Ryan Blaney had no such problems, though, and after his pit crew put him our in front after a caution with just under 10 laps to go in Stage 2, the Wood Brothers driver was able to hand onto the lead the rest of the way to win his third stage of the 2017 season.

Next: More NASCAR: 5 takeaways from Talladega

Blaney, Larson, Kyle Busch and Truex appeared to all have cars capable of winning the race, making for what should be an intriguing finish to the first race to end under the lights in 2017.

Go Bowling 400 Stage 1 results

  1. Kyle Busch, 10 points, 1 playoff point
  2. Martin Truex Jr., 9 points
  3. Ryan Blaney, 8 points
  4. Kyle Larson, 7 points
  5. Brad Keselowski, 6 points
  6. Jimmie Johnson, 5 points
  7. Kevin Harvick, 4 points
  8. Denny Hamlin, 3 points
  9. Kasey Kahne, 2 points
  10. Kurt Busch, 1 point

Go Bowling 400 Stage 2 results

  1. Ryan Blaney, 10 points, 1 playoff point
  2. Kyle Larson, 9 points
  3. Martin Truex Jr., 8 points
  4. Jamie McMurray, 7 points
  5. Kyle Busch, 6 points
  6. Denny Hamlin, 5 points
  7. Kasey Kahne, 4 points
  8. Matt Kenseth, 3 points
  9. Erik Jones, 2 points
  10. Joey Logano, 1 point
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