Stenhouse earns sixth Nationwide win of season

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. rallied from two laps down at Kansas Speedway to salvage his points day.

Then he stole a win, as well.

Stenhouse, the defending Nationwide Series champion, lucked into his series-leading sixth win of the season Saturday when leader Kyle Busch ran out gas heading into the final turn. A late caution extended the race by six laps, and it stretched the fuel tanks of several cars at the front of the field.

Not Stenhouse, though. Because he ran into Joey Logano early into the race, falling two laps down during his stops for repairs, he was on a different pit sequence and had plenty of gas to make it to the end.

So he liked his chances when he lined up fifth on the final restart.

As the field prepared to take the green, Sam Hornish Jr. ran out of gas and NASCAR called off the start. It tacked on yet another lap, and that cost Paul Menard, who led a race-high 110 laps but ran out of gas as the field took the green.

Busch, who was seeking his first Nationwide win of the season and first in his Kyle Busch Motorsports entry, was the leader on the restart and jumped out to a comfortable lead. But his tank ran dry as he exited the third turn, and Stenhouse cruised past for the improbable victory.

The win tightened up the Nationwide points race. Stenhouse was 13 points behind leader Elliott Sadler at the start of the race, but cut it to six with three races left.