Kansas Speedway was not kind to the Nascar Mustang teams on September 11th, 2022, but was especially hard on the No. 4 Ford Mustang of Kevin Harvick. When it was all said and done, Harvick's No. 4 Mustang was scored 36th, or dead last in the Cup Series field.
On Lap 34, Harvick's No. 4 Mustang was locked in a three-wide battle with Ross Chastain's No. 1 Chevy Camaro ZL1 and Bubba Wallace's No. 45 Toyota TRD Camry. Chastain's No. 1 Camaro chased Wallace's No. 45 Camry up the racetrack, making contact with Harvick's No. 4 Mustang. Harvick broke loose and struck the wall, causing severe damage to his No. 4 Mustang.
"When those two cars came up in front of me, I just got super tight," Harvick said after his early retirement from the race. "When I lifted, it grabbed and got loose. I just wasn’t expecting them to come up and my car getting that tight."
The incident put Harvick, who raced his way into the Playoffs by winning at Michigan and then at Richmond just one week later, in danger of being eliminated from the championship. He's currently 16th in points, last in the Playoffs, thanks to this week's wreck and last week's bizarre fire at Darlington.
"Yeah, it is what it is," Harvick said. "We were racing to win anyway today, so that’s what we will do again next week."
Polesitter Tyler Reddick's No. 8 Camaro was also involved in an early-race wreck, relegating him to a 35th-place finish. Wallace went on to win the race, putting the No. 45 Camry in Victory Lane at Kansas for the second time this year, though the May win went to Kurt Busch. Wallace, the only Black Cup Series driver, is currently subbing for Busch, who was injured in a wreck over a month ago. It is also the second consecutive race won by a non-Playoffs driver.
Ryan Blaney was the highest-finishing Nascar Mustang, bringing home ninth place in the No. 12 Ford.
| Finish | Start | Car Number | Driver | Team | Laps Run | Laps Led | Car |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | 45 | Bubba Wallace (P) | ROOT Insurance Toyota | 267 | 58 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 2 | 25 | 11 | Denny Hamlin (P) | Acumatica Toyota | 267 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 3 | 4 | 20 | Christopher Bell (P) | DeWalt Toyota | 267 | 12 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 4 | 3 | 48 | Alex Bowman (P) | Ally Chevrolet | 267 | 107 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 5 | 12 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Bass Pro Shops Red White Blue Toyota | 267 | 24 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 6 | 9 | 24 | William Byron (P) | Liberty University Chevrolet | 267 | 9 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 7 | 5 | 1 | Ross Chastain (P) | Advent Health Chevrolet | 267 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 8 | 7 | 5 | Kyle Larson (P) | HendrickCars.com Chevrolet | 267 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 9 | 17 | 12 | Ryan Blaney (P) | Menards/Richmond Water Heaters Ford | 267 | 2 | Ford Mustang |
| 10 | 15 | 99 | Daniel Suarez (P) | CommScope Chevrolet | 267 | 8 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 11 | 22 | 9 | Chase Elliott (P) | NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet | 267 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 12 | 8 | 2 | Austin Cindric # (P) | Snap on Ford | 267 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 13 | 13 | 14 | Chase Briscoe (P) | Magical Vacation Planner Ford | 267 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 14 | 11 | 3 | Austin Dillon (P) | Get Bioethanol Chevrolet | 267 | 3 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 15 | 10 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Fastenal Ford | 267 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 16 | 23 | 34 | Michael McDowell | WISE-EV Ford | 267 | 1 | Ford Mustang |
| 17 | 2 | 22 | Joey Logano (P) | Shell Pennzoil Ford | 266 | 2 | Ford Mustang |
| 18 | 28 | 16 | Noah Gragson(i) | Cure Token Chevrolet | 266 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 19 | 27 | 31 | Justin Haley | LeafFilter Gutter Protectioni Chevrolet | 266 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 20 | 21 | 42 | Ty Dillon | SunseekerResorts.com Chevrolet | 266 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 21 | 36 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Farmland Ford | 266 | 3 | Ford Mustang |
| 22 | 29 | 41 | Cole Custer | HaasTooling.com Ford | 266 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 23 | 32 | 38 | Todd Gilliland # | CITGARD Ford | 266 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 24 | 31 | 77 | Landon Cassill(i) | Voyager: Crypto for All Chevrolet | 266 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 25 | 26 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | Solomon Plumbing Ford | 266 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 26 | 20 | 18 | Kyle Busch (P) | M&M's Toyota | 265 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 27 | 30 | 51 | Cody Ware | Nurtec ODT Ford | 265 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 28 | 33 | 15 | JJ Yeley(i) | RWR Ford | 264 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 29 | 24 | 43 | Erik Jones | FOCUSfactor.com Chevrolet | 264 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL |
| 30 | 35 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | SunnyD Chevrolet | 262 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 31 | 34 | 78 | BJ McLeod(i) | Circle B Diecast Ford | 262 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 32 | 18 | 21 | Harrison Burton # | Menards/MasterForce Ford | 115 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 33 | 19 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | Circle B Diecast Chevrolet | 114 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 34 | 16 | 23 | Ty Gibbs(i) | McDonald's Toyota | 90 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 35 | 1 | 8 | Tyler Reddick (P) | Guaranteed Rate Chevrolet | 67 | 38 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 36 | 14 | 4 | Kevin Harvick (P) | Rheem Ford | 33 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
# - Rookie
i - Points ineligible
* - Part-time driver
P - Playoffs eligible
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