NASCAR: Bubba Wallace wins Kansas; Kevin Harvick must win Bristol; Kyle Busch? 'Nope'

It’s tempting in modern competition for someone to win and claim they’ve shocked the world, that nobody saw it coming and the legions of doubters now must rethink their belief systems.

Well, Bubba Wallace did suggest it would be a good time for stubborn doubters to “shut the hell up,” but still . . . his Sunday win at Kansas should’ve stunned no one — outside of the fact that, yes, it’s damn hard to win a Cup Series race even when things are pointing favorably in your direction.

Are you surprised that the first two playoff-race winners are non-playoff competitors? Yes, that should be mildly surprising. But don’t be shocked by Bubba’s win at Kansas Speedway — he and his team were ready for this one.

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First Gear: Bubba Wallace wins Kansas by keeping Denny Hamlin in his mirror

Bubba’s first career Cup Series win came last year at Talladega — a superspeedway “plate race” — after a long rain delay ended things 71 laps earlier than prescribed.

Place race, rain-shortened. Not a real win, some might suggest — and, yes, some did.

But slowly over this season, Bubba's second year with the 23XI team co-owned by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin, there’s been improvement, even as pit-lane issues hamstrung the effort, sometimes in big ways. Then two months back, mid-July at New Hampshire, results began catching up with potential.

A third-place run at New Hampshire began a run of four straight top-10s, including a runner-up at Michigan, where he led 22 laps.

A three-week lull, which included a broken suspension at Watkins Glen, preceded a ninth-place run at Darlington prior to Sunday’s win at Kansas, where — this too should’ve been factored in — Bubba’s teammate, Kurt Busch, won back in May.

So you have a driver who seems to have found something this year, and a team that won the most recent race at this particular track. It set up decently, and Bubba ran with it, which shouldn’t diminish the  feat, because the Unemployed Drivers Lounge is full of racers who never capitalized on opportunity.

“Been doing this for a really long time,” Bubba said after the smoke cleared. “. . . Just knowing getting excited is going to mess you up — so it was just cool, calm, and collected, and here we are.

“True fans that are out there, thank you guys. I love you. It's been a tough road. You guys are the best. Let's keep this train rolling.”

Does a train have a second gear?

Second Gear: Hey Kyle Busch, going to Bristol with confidence? 'Nope'

What does the Bubba Wallace win do for the Cup Series playoff race? Nothing, actually.

But third-place Kansas finisher Christopher Bell became the first playoff racer to clinch a spot in the Round of 12. Back-to-back top-five finishes give Bell enough of a points cushion to advance, which means he can go to Bristol this week without anxiety.

Man, what some others would pay for that relief.

Just 22 points separate second-place William Byron from ninth-place Ross Chastain, while the nail-biting crowd sits between 10th and 15th. Just 13 points separate that gaggle of Bubble Boys. The playoff field is trimmed from 16 to 12 after Bristol’s checkers.

After Kansas, Austin Dillon (14th) and Chase Briscoe (15th) are two of the four currently on the outside, and that shocks no one, really. But Kyle Busch is sitting 13th, two points out of 12th, and since his mind has been busy with locking down his racing future, you have to wonder how much horsepower is being sapped by it all.

If any place should pick up his pace, it figures to be Bristol, where he’s won eight times.

Right? Um . . . right? Kyle?

“Not with the luck of this year, nope,” he said. “We’ll go and try hard and if what Bristol has always been to me occurs, we’ll be fine. With the way this year has been . . . if that occurs, it’s going to be ugly.”

Don't hand Kyle lemons and ask for lemonade. Not this year.

Third Gear: Kevin Harvick has one mission at Bristol, and it ain't a top-10

Oh, 16th place? The “win or else” guy? That’s Kevin Harvick, whose back-to-back heartbreakers leave him with no practical option but to win Bristol in order to stay in the playoffs. He’s 35 points out of 12th place.

After finishing 33rd at Darlington in a burning car, he finished last — 36th — at Kansas after his Ford shot out from under him when he lifted due to traffic just ahead. He quickly met the outside wall.

“When I lifted, it grabbed and got loose,” he said.

Don’t fold up the tent just yet, however. If Harvick had to pick a track to visit with desperation riding shotgun, it might be Bristol, where he’s finished first and second in the past two night races. He seemed resigned to the fact following Sunday’s disappointment.

“We were racing to win today,” he said, “so that’s what we’ll do again next week.”

And there you have it. Oh, wait, almost forgot, there was also this from Kev . . .

“It is what it is.”

Hey, thanks.

Fourth Gear: More on North Wilkesboro and its NASCAR future

Since we met here last, NASCAR planted a big wet kiss on the old-school race fans. North Wilkesboro Speedway lives!

The ancient racing arena, recently refurbished and modernized just enough for stock-car racin’, was announced last week as host of next year’s All Star Race. You would’ve thought the Dodgers were moving back to Ebbets Field (thankfully, unlike the old Brooklyn shrine, North Wilkesboro was never introduced to a wrecking ball).

Man, some longtime NASCAR fans would give a lot to see that old track back on the regular schedule, as it was from 1949-1996. But they probably need to slow their roll. Take a look at the map, and take a look at logistics. An occasional All Star Race or, who knows, maybe a future preseason Clash, seems to be the best hope.

Denny Hamlin has seen the sport from various angles, and he did a pretty good job of explaining things this past week.

“They stopped going for a reason, so we have to identify those reasons and try to fix that so we can have a long-term future at a track like North Wilkesboro,” he said. “I think there’s a time and a place to have those types of tracks.

“But we also need to make sure that we continue to push towards the future as well and create nice amenities for our race fans and our teams that really take us to the next level. But certainly there’s a place in our schedule for tracks like that.”

Go ahead and get excited for next May’s visit to Junior Johnson’s old neighborhood, but take it easy on those real-estate flyers.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Bubba Wallace wins Kansas, NASCAR to Bristol; Kevin Harvick desperate