Ricky Stenhouse Jr. rallies for improbable Nationwide win at Kansas

Ricky Stenhouse rallied from two laps down to win Saturday’s Kansas Lottery 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Kansas Speedway and tighten the battle for the series championship.

During a green-white-checkered-flag finish that took the race six laps beyond its scheduled distance of 200 laps, Stenhouse surged to the front in the final turn after Kyle Busch ran out of fuel.

Austin Dillon ran second, .288 seconds behind Stenhouse. Joey Logano finished third, followed by Elliott Sadler and Cole Whitt.

In winning for the sixth time this season and the eighth time in his career, Stenhouse cut Sadler’s points lead from 13 points to six with three races left in the season.

The championship battle took an ominous turn for Stenhouse, the defending series champion, just after the midpoint of the race. Stenhouse and polesitter Logano collided off Turn 2, damaging both cars, but both were able to continue.

Stenhouse lost two laps during a green-flag pit stop but got them back on a wave-around before a Lap 142 restart and a free pass as the highest-scored lapped car under the 10th caution of the afternoon.

Back on the lead lap for a restart on Lap 167, Stenhouse had charged to 13th by the time Mike Bliss’ slide through the tri-oval caused the track-record-tying 11th caution. Stenhouse was two spots behind Sadler in fifth when first-time Nationwide starter Hal Martin and Scott Lagasse Jr. wrecked off Turn 2 on Lap 198.

Fearing they would run out of fuel in overtime, Sadler and Dillon both pitted for a splash of fuel under the 12th caution. Stenhouse restarted fourth and took the checkered flag when Kyle Busch ran out of fuel on the final lap.