Did the Go Bowling 400 make the NASCAR gods angry? Is Martin Truex underrated? Here’s what we learned from the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas.
Saturday saw the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series arrive in Kansas for the 2017 Go Bowling 400, but the first round of bowling will be on Martin Truex Jr. after the No. 78 car pulled off a last stage victory.
Truex had a bone to pick with Kansas Speedway after coming oh so close to winning this race in 2016 by leading 172 laps. On Saturday, he quietly plotted his revenge. While Kyle Busch won the first stage and polesitter Ryan Blaney the second stage, it was Truex who was there at the end to capture the checkered flag at the Go Bowling 400.
Now he goes into next weekend’s Monster Energy All-Star Race with all the momentum and a new view from the top, while we’re here to pick up the pieces of all the other mayhem around the track.
Here are our takeaways from the 2017 Go Bowling 400:
1) Martin Truex Jr. is underrated
If you started naming the top drivers in NASCAR, chances are you’d take a minute before you got around to Martin Truex Jr. He may not be a household name like Dale Earnhardt Jr. or Jimmie Johnson, but Truex has quietly been doing his thing very well for a while now. Kansas was his second race win of 2017 and moved him into second place in the updated Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series points standings. Now if Erik Jones can improve his standings (and we’ll talk about him in a minute), Furniture Row Racing could become a great team.
2) There’s always room for one more big wreck
If you thought Talladega was eventful, there was another “Big One” at the Go Bowling 400 and ironically it involved many of the same people. Something broke inside of Joey Logano’s No. 22 car, knocking him out of a second straight race. Logano then drove into Danica Patrick, and Aric Almirola had no way of getting around the disaster. Kansas may have taken out less cars, but in terms of the level of damage, this one was definitely big in its own way.
3) Aric Almirola is in one piece
After the above crash, Aric Almirola had to be airlifted from Kansas Speedway to a local hospital. But according to league reports just before midnight ET, the No. 43 driver was awake and alert. FOX Sports later reported that Almirola has a back injury and is presumably out of racing for a bit, but at least he’s alive and in much better shape than he could have been. That’s definitely the most important thing to take away from Saturday night, and we wish him all the best.
4) A tale of two Penskes
If Logano can’t catch a break since the Toyota Owners 400, his downturn hasn’t rubbed off on his teammate Brad Keselowski. Keselowski’s No. 2 team was also slapped with their own separate penalty but that didn’t stop him from swooping in to snatch a second-place finish away from Harvick and Blaney at the Go Bowling 400. Maybe he can give some advice to the No. 22 team, because while Logano is getting bad breaks (literally), Keselowski’s looking pretty good.
5) You haven’t made it in NASCAR till you’ve visited the infield
Saturday night was rookie Erik Jones’ time to take a spin across the infield grass, courtesy of Ty Dillon. It feels like everyone in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series has to mow the lawn at some point, and Jones has clearly adjusted to full-time Cup racing. But nothing will ever be funnier than David Ragan taking the Spongebob Squarepants car across Spongebob Squarepants.
Next: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series after Kansas
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