KANSAS CITY, Kan. — No doubt a bettor brave enough to take Chase Elliott with one lap left in overtime in last year’s Sept 28 race at Kansas Speedway could have gotten long odds.

Elliott took the white flag in fifth place, behind the Toyotas of Bubba Wallace, Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe and Christopher Bell. Wallace pulled out to a lead of a half-car-length, with Hamlin in pursuit.

Hamlin steered his No. 11 Camry to the inside of Wallace’s car and forced Wallace wide through the final two corners. That allowed Elliott to dive to the inside of both Toyotas and steal the win for Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet.

“It certainly played a factor, kind of in the manufacturer battle as well, right?,” Hamlin said on Saturday before NASCAR Cup Series practice for Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 at Kansas (2 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). “I mean, you go from winning one to now your competition actually won.

“There were definitely a lot of negatives to the way that race ended, but it certainly was I just, I feel like, I was trying to go for it, certainly, and used a little bit too much aggression, for sure, in Turn 3.

“But overall, you’re going to have that in racing. When you have teammates, manufacturer guys that you all share information with, we’re going to always be right around each other. So sometimes those racing incidents happen in one out of 20 times.”

Hamlin heads the list of winners at Kansas with four victories, but he’s shocked at his recent failures to find Victory Lane.

“For the last six years, if someone else wins a Kansas race, I’m just trying to figure out how we didn’t win, because we’re always just so fast here,” Hamlin said.

“We found 10 to 12 different ways to not win here, and I thought I saw the stat this week that there has only been. … I think (Kyle) Larson’s been the only repeat winner here in the last 11 races, and it was like, the fact that we haven’t is just criminal. So, hopefully we can change that.”

Now a NASCAR Cup winner, Ty Gibbs wants to make racing more physical

At age 23, Ty Gibbs is feeling his oats after his first career NASCAR Cup Series victory, and he’d like to make the sport tougher and more physical.

“I think we should rip all the cool suits out of everyone’s cars and make it a more physical sport,” Gibbs said on Saturday. “I think that would be very entertaining and bring out more emotion, obviously…

“I think no cool suits — rip ‘em all out. I think, honestly, people would be pumped with that, ‘cause half the time they break on everybody and make it worse. I think we should rip all of it out, make it more physical.”

When cool suits are working properly, they compensate for high temperatures in a car’s cockpit. When they malfunction, however, the water flowing inside the suit can overheat and add to a driver’s discomfort.

Some drivers, such as Gibbs’ teammate Denny Hamlin, choose not to use cool suits at all.

Erik Jones: New LEGACY president should have significant impact

The new president of LEGACY Motor Club isn’t just an administrator, as driver Erik Jones made clear on Saturday at Kansas Speedway, site of Sunday’s AdventHealth 400.

With a background as chief operating officer at Joe Gibbs Racing and as vice president of engineering and R&D (as well as global sales and marketing) at automotive industry supplier Multimatic, Michael Guttilla brings a broad-ranging skill set to LEGACY.

“I didn’t know him beforehand, but I had a chance to sit down and spend some time with him in the last week and a half,” Jones said on Saturday at Kansas Speedway. “I think he’s a super impressive guy. His resume’s really strong, and he’s done a lot of things, in motorsports and in manufacturing and production cars.

“He has a pretty broad range of skills, and I think he has a lot of managerial skills. I think the role he’s in is great, obviously, but I think he can bring a lot to the table and a sense of understanding the engineering side as well. I don’t think he’s a guy that is just well-versed in business, but I think he’s well versed in competition and performance.

“I’m excited to have him. We’ve been kind of waiting to fill that role and find the right guy, and that’s been a role that wasn’t just randomly filled when Michael became available. It was something that’s been in the works, and we’ve been trying to find the right fit for a while. I was excited to do that, excited to have him, and see what he can bring. It’s still super early. It’s been a couple of weeks, but I really, I think his influence is already starting to be felt a bit.”

Female drivers make a statement in ARCA Menards Series race at Kansas

Gio Ruggiero won Saturday’s Tide 150 ARCA Menards Series race at Kansas Speedway, but there were significant stories that unfolded behind him.

Three of the four female drivers in the field finished in the top 10, with Lanie Buice running fifth, followed by Jade Avedisian in seventh and Dystany Spurlock in 10th. Avedisian was competing on a 1.5-mile intermediate speedway for the first time.

The fourth female driver in the race, Isabella Robusto, a former Kansas pole winner, was running just outside the top 10 when the engine in Cleetus McFarland’s car blew and spread oil on the track.

Robusto slid through the fluid, slammed into the outside wall and fell out of the race.

Daniel Dye finished second in his first race since his reinstatement from a suspension for inappropriate comments directed at IndyCar driver David Malukas.

–By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media.

Frederik Andersen made 22 saves and Logan Stankoven had a goal and an assist as the Carolina Hurricanes overcame a slow start to defeat the visiting Ottawa Senators 2-0 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals Saturday afternoon in Raleigh, N.C.

Taylor Hall also scored and Jackson Blake was credited with two assists for the Hurricanes, who are the top-seeded team in the conference.

Linus Ullmark made 27 saves for the Senators, who met the Hurricanes for the first time in the postseason.

The Hurricanes chose to go with the 36-year-old Andersen instead of record-setting rookie Brandon Bussi in nets. Andersen was up to the task.

The 13-year veteran registered his sixth career playoff shutout, though he didn’t record a shutout during 35 regular-season outings this season. His playoff career record improved to 47-35, which includes a shutout last May versus the Florida Panthers.

The game began with captains Brady Tkachuk of Ottawa and Jordan Staal of Carolina drawing fighting majors off the opening faceoff.

The Hurricanes, normally a team with a high volume of shots, didn’t put a shot on goal for the game’s first 12 minutes. Then they fired the next eight shots.

By the end of the scoreless first period, Carolina held an 8-5 edge in shots despite Ottawa going on the lone power play.

Though the Hurricanes finished 0-for-5 on power plays, they scored in the second and third periods at even strength.

Stankoven’s goal came 2:11 into the second period, with assists going to Blake and Hall. Hall scored in a scramble in front of the net 7:15 into the third period.

The Senators posted seven shots in the first nine minutes of the third period, exceeding their shot numbers from each of the first two periods. They had nine total shots entering the third period.

Yet Carolina had three power plays across a third-period stretch, including some time on a 5-on-3 advantage, and didn’t score.

The Senators pulled Ullmark late in the third period, then went on a power play with 2:35 remaining. But Andersen saved three shots and his teammates blocked five others to preserve the shutout.

Game 2 is Monday night in Raleigh.

–Field Level Media

The Boston Bruins have won 11 Stanley Cup playoff rounds since the last time the Buffalo Sabres made the postseason.

That experience seems to have Boston coach Marco Sturm oozing with confidence heading into Game 1 of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference first-round series on Sunday night in Buffalo.

“We know how we have to play, we’re going to be ready to go,” Sturm said Friday. “We’re excited. We are bigger, stronger, we are more physical. We just have to be smart, but we’re going to go after them.”

Buffalo forward Josh Doan said on Saturday that those comments have been seen and heard by the Sabres, who will play their first postseason game since April 26, 2011.

“At the end of the day, I think our group trusts what we’re doing here and we’ll just let that play out throughout the series,” he said. “We’re going to stick to our game plan. So, it’s one of those things that you see, but at the end of the day there’s no real response from us in this room.”

Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff didn’t fire back either when asked about Sturm’s comments.

“That’s his take on his team,” Ruff said. “I have a lot of respect for what our team has done and how we play and the speed we play the game. They’ve got a good team. I mean, they know who they are and we know who we are.”

Boston won three out of four meetings with Buffalo this season, most recently a 4-3 overtime win on March 25 that moved the Bruins into a tie for third in the Atlantic Division at the time.

Boston ultimately finished fourth in the Atlantic, six points behind the third-place Montreal Canadiens. That dropped the Bruins into the Eastern Conference’s first wild-card spot.

The Bruins are just happy to get back into the postseason after missing out last season for the first time in nine years.

“I think if you don’t enjoy (the Stanley Cup playoffs), you’re in the wrong sport or wrong place,” Boston defenseman Nikita Zadorov said. “That’s playoff hockey. That’s pressure, that’s atmosphere, intensity, physicality, blood, sweat — you name it.”

Leading the way for the Bruins will be 29-year-old forward David Pastrnak, who finished the regular season with exactly 100 points (29 goals, 71 assists) — the fourth straight year he has hit triple digits.

After Pastrnak, however, the Bruins have a significant drop-off in point totals with Morgan Geekie next at 68 points (39 goals, 29 assists).

Sturm said he doesn’t expect Ruff to try to match up line for line.

“In the past, Lindy wasn’t really a big matchup guy,” Sturm said. “He did his thing, so we’ll see where it goes. Maybe he does it differently in the playoffs, but we don’t really care.”

The Sabres not only ended the NHL’s longest active playoff drought at 14 years, they won the Atlantic Division by three points over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Buffalo doesn’t have a 100-point scorer, but Tage Thompson remains one of the top centers in the league. He followed up last year’s 44-goal output with 40 goals and 41 assists this year.

The Sabres also boast one of the top offensive defensemen in Rasmus Dahlin, who finished second on the team with 74 points (19 goals, 55 assists). That ranked sixth among all NHL defensemen.

–Field Level Media