Twenty years of NASCAR highlights at Kansas Speedway: our countdown to Thursday begins

NASCAR came to Kansas Speedway when the track opened in 2001 and will mark 20 years of racing at the facility Thursday through Saturday. This week, in four installments, The Star will count down its most 20 memorable moments from the Cup, Xfinity and trucks series at Kansas Speedway.

Here’s the first in a series:

No. 20: Stewart runs on empty

Oct. 1, 2006, Cup series

Tony Stewart’s car was out of fuel as he led Casey Mears to the checkered flag in the Banquet 400. So was Mears’.

That enabled Stewart to literally coast to victory by 12 seconds in a race in which a number of teams chose to base their finishes on fuel mileage decisions. Most lost their gambles.

Because Stewart, the defending Cup Series champion, failed to qualify for the playoffs — for the only time in his career — he had little to lose in taking the risk and not refueling toward the end.

“That’s the thing about not being in the (playoffs),” Stewart said. “We could roll the dice. Zippy (crew chief Greg Zipadelli) asked what I thought, and I said, ‘We might as well go for it.’’’

No. 19: Bowyer finds victory lane

June 5, 2011, Trucks Series

Clint Bowyer of Emporia moonlighted in the Trucks Series and piloted the Kevin Harvick Inc. No. 2 Bad Boys Chevrolet to victory. It still is his only victory across any of NASCAR’s national series at Kansas Speedway.

Bowyer, in his sixth year as Cup regular, qualified second for the race and had the dominant truck. He led 124 of the 167 laps and beat defending race champion Johnny Sauter to the checkered flag by 1.695 seconds.

It wasn’t the long-sought Cup victory Bowyer has been chasing at Kansas Speedway, but it was still satisfying to win at his home track.

“I had a fast truck in practice and I knew it was a truck capable of winning,” Bowyer said. “Winning in front of family and friends is amazing. I watched this place (Kansas Speedway) being built and always dreamed of being able to race anything here, but going onto victory lane is huge.”

No. 18: Byron wins before high school graduation

May 6, 2016, Trucks series

William Byron, three weeks shy of high school graduation, became the youngest driver to win a NASCAR race at Kansas Speedway when he survived a caution-filled Toyota Tundra 250.

Byron, 18, would take advantage of an open weekend and attend his graduation on May 27 at Charlotte (N.C.) Country Day School.

“I’m pretty fortunate with that and get to enjoy that,” he said, “but, my prom, I was racing that weekend.

Byron, driving a Kyle Busch Racing Toyota, was competing in just his fifth trucks series race. He survived a green-white-checkered finish by making a last-lap pass by two-time trucks series champion Matt Crafton.

“This night is unprecedented for William for sure with the limited experience that he does have in the Truck Series and the limited experience that he has in racing in general,” said reigning Sprint Cup champion Kyle Busch. “I’m real impressed. … It’s pretty special to have William being able to win this soon in his career in the Truck Series and, hopefully, there’s many more to come.”

Indeed, Byron would win a series-most seven races in 2016 before he turned 19 years old.

No. 17: Logano rocks after roll

Oct. 3, 2008, Xfinity Series

Joey Logano had absolutely no fear.

Less than a week after Logano rolled over seven times in a spectacular crash at Dover, he made a daring move with four laps to go and beat teammate Kyle Busch in the Kansas Lottery 300.

“I had an emotional week,” Logano, 19, said afterward. “I needed a win to stop everyone from talking about me and asking if I’d be all right after that roll.”

Though Busch dominated the race by leading 173 of the 200 laps, Logano made a bold move, diving to the outside and passing his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate for Logano’s fourth win of the season.

Incredibly, in all four of those then-Nationwide Series wins, Logano came from behind and beat Busch who would win the series championship.

No. 16: Keselowski dedicates win to Mittler

May 11, 2019, Sprint Cup

Brad Keselowski won his second NASCAR Cup race at Kansas Speedway, but his thoughts were across the state of Missouri, in St. Louis.

Keselowski had planned to head to St. Louis after the Cup race and visit Mike Mittler, a longtime trucks series owner who helped him and so many others early in their careers and had been battling cancer.

But Mittler died a night earlier at the age of 67, and Keselowski dedicated the win to Mittler, who also was instrumental in the development of Jamie McMurray, Carl Edwards and other NASCAR stars.

“He helped a lot of guys in their career. Just a huge loss for the NASCAR community,” said Keselowski, the 2012 Cup champion, who held off Alex Bowman and a charging field in overtime for his third win of the season and 30th of his career.

Keselowski was so inspired by Mittler, that he tried paying it forward by giving young drivers opportunities with his Brad Keselowski Racing team in the Trucks Series during 2008-17.

“One of those unsung heroes,” Keselowski said of Mittler. “Gave his whole life to this sport.”