Kansas
Kansas takeaways: Hendrick firing on all cylinders, championship venues and more
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Hendrick Motorsports being NASCAR’s premier powerhouse team is nothing new, but the organization’s speed lately is particularly impressive.
Kyle Larson absolutely dominated the Kansas Speedway race on Sunday and led a record 221 laps, but he may have been challenged by each of his teammates — Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman and William Byron — had circumstances played out a bit differently.
“I would argue we could run one through four with the speed of what some of those guys looked like earlier in the day,” Larson crew chief Cliff Daniels said.
Except it didn’t turn out that way. Elliott’s chances of winning were thwarted by a horrible pit stop, which sent him from first to 12th (and he eventually finished 15th). Bowman got fenced as part of a three-wide melee and still managed to finish fifth with a wounded car. Byron was running top-five until he suffered a flat tire and finished 24th.
Still, the speed across all four teams at the same time is noteworthy. Hendrick has famously had a “fourth car” weakness, where at least one driver doesn’t seem to have the competitiveness the others do throughout a season. And although Elliott and Bowman have yet to actually win this season, they look capable of it; Bowman said Sunday this season is the best his team has ever been.
“We’re maturing as a group,” said seven-time Cup Series champion crew chief Chad Knaus, who is now Hendrick’s vice president of competition. “Obviously the crew chiefs are now in their third complete year of working together. Our drivers are maturing, working together. They dive in deep with one another. They lean on each other.
“The communication at Hendrick Motorsports has always been high, but I don’t know that it’s ever been as high as what it is right now. It’s something great to be a part of.”
Bowman echoed the secret sauce was in the company all working well together as one group, particularly for a car which Knaus said is dependent on the smallest details to find success.
“I know the fans think all four should be perfect every week, but it’s hard, man,” Bowman said. “It’s really hard to get all four on the right side of things every week.”
Right now, though, it’s happening.
Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott run side-by-side during Sunday’s race. The two were part of a strong effort across all four of Hendrick Motorsports’ cars. (Chris Graythen / Getty Images)
Daniels, who formerly worked under Knaus as Jimmie Johnson’s engineer on the No. 48 team, said the roots of today’s success can be traced back to seeds planted in 2017. That was when team owner Rick Hendrick told the organization they would no longer be split by shops with communication; formerly, there were two teams in each building and they shared similar agendas.
These days, everything is a completely open book.
“It’s one thing to say, but it’s another thing to practice how closely all four teams really do work,” Daniels said. “There’s no hidden notes. There’s no secret notebook. Everything is shared really out in the open with our engineering corps, with the crew chief group.
“All of our meetings are together. We do everything as a combination of the four teams. There’s never any specific meeting or conversation that just happens between a couple groups.”
If there’s talk about engineering, all four teams are in the same room. If there’s talk about setup theory, all four teams are in the same room. No one is ever excluded.
“That’s just Mr. Hendrick’s vision of how he wanted the company to be led,” Daniels said. “He saw that if the communication, the teamwork — all the cliche things that are so important to live out — if that came into fruition, you’d see what you see today.”
Bundle up?
NASCAR announced last week that the season finale will rotate to various tracks beginning next season, and drivers we spoke with were unanimously in favor of the idea. The question now is which tracks should be included in the rotation?
The Athletic’s Jordan Bianchi laid out a list of possible candidates, but drivers seemed more concerned about weather than anything when listing their potential choices.
In addition to Homestead-Miami Speedway and Phoenix Raceway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway seems like a no-brainer. Once-maligned Texas Motor Speedway got several mentions, as did Charlotte Motor Speedway.
But what about Kansas? All of the drivers love the track, so wouldn’t that be a candidate?
“Kansas would be a great place if the weather cooperated, but that’s too much of a tossup,” Ryan Blaney said.
“You don’t really know what to expect in November,” Larson said. “You might have beautiful weather or it could be freezing or snowing or whatever. It probably needs to stay at tracks where you can count on the weather being favorable. With a big weekend like that, you wouldn’t want any delays.”
But depending on which weather site you look at for historical data, early-November average temperatures in Kansas City are a high of between 55-62 degrees. That doesn’t seem like a dealbreaker, particularly in a city where fans are used to dressing warmly for football weather.
“That’s not bad,” Kyle Busch said. “But you’re not going to want to end in prime time (due to cold), so it’s going to have to be a noon o’clock start, you know what I mean?”
He added, with the classic Busch grin: “And we don’t do those.”
Going flat
There were a rash of tire failures and drivers complaining of vibrations at Kansas (Chase Briscoe said he could barely see at the end of the race because his car had such a severe vibration). So what gives? Was it just low air pressures the teams were experimenting with and got burned?
We asked Knaus for his take.
“There’s no one isolated reason why you have a tire failure,” he said. “The vibrations are high. If you walked up and down pit road at all, you saw the rubber and the debris that was laying on pit road from when they took the tires off, and the rubber is caking on the insides of the wheels. People were busting cords in their tires. That creates a vibration as well.
“The failures are from heat, which is a result of low tire pressure, load. There’s so many things that go into it. It’s rarely one singular thing that creates those failures.
“(Goodyear) typically brings a very good product, and what happened today I don’t think was necessarily a Goodyear issue. I think that was a competitor thing where we were really pushing the limits of the cars and the tires, just for what that’s worth.”
And the award goes to…
Brad Keselowski once proclaimed “Kyle Busch is an a—” over the public address system at Bristol Motor Speedway. There had been no thaw between the longtime foes by 2017, when Busch sat alongside Keselowski in the championship preview news conference and said, “Sometimes you just don’t like a guy.”
Nothing in the years since had suggested anything different between the two veteran drivers.
Then came an incredible piece of NASCAR-produced content last Tuesday, a send-up of “Back to the Future” in which Busch and Keselowski revealed the move to Homestead and acted like they were in a buddy comedy. As of Monday morning, it has 1.2 million views on X alone.
Breaking news! @keselowski and @KyleBusch went searching for answers about @HomesteadMiami in 2026.
You’re going to like what they found. pic.twitter.com/t6xrxVEMGb
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) May 6, 2025
How the heck did that happen, Kyle?
“DAP program, let’s just leave it at that,” Busch said of NASCAR’s new Driver Ambassador Program, which offers financial rewards for promoting the sport.
But seriously though. They had to have spent hours together filming that. Does that mean the Keselowski/Busch relationship has changed with both drivers in their 40s?
“We don’t necessarily have a relationship,” Busch said. “I probably don’t have a relationship with half of these guys here anyway. So we just show up and do our deal.”
Still, though, it had to be strange when the two had to film a smiling, leaping high-five.
“That was definitely weird,” Busch said. “But hey, when you’re a good actor, you can make anything work.”
For his part, Keselowski posted a photo of himself on X holding a miniature Oscar.
“Finally, my acting is being recognized and I got my very own Academy Award for this performance,” he wrote. “Thank you to everyone who got me here.”
The new disruptor
Carson Hocevar continues to be NASCAR’s most interesting new personality. Hocevar won Saturday night’s Truck Series race at Kansas after he was nearly wrecked by Layne Riggs on the last lap — only to then hold his middle finger out the window to Riggs all the way to the finish line.
Hocevar then kissed the TV camera during his victory celebration, which isn’t exactly something you see often from NASCAR race winners.
All of this came one week after Hocevar was criticized by yet another veteran — this time Ryan Preece — after causing a crash at Texas. Preece, like Blaney, Kyle Busch and Hocevar mentor Ross Chastain, have expressed frustration for the way Hocevar races.
Carson Hocevar held off Layne Riggs to win the Truck Series race Saturday in Kansas — with a colorful last lap. (Chris Graythen / Getty Images)
But from Hocevar’s point of view, he doesn’t hear those same comments when he reaches out to various drivers (and said he settled things with Preece via phone this week).
“You get the radio transmission or you see the talks after the race or interviews and everything, and then when I have that conversation, it’s just different,” he said. “It’s heat of the moment.”
Hocevar said it comes down to the intent of the move and making sure those drivers know “the intent wasn’t to put them in a bad spot, put me in a bad spot or jump that line where it’s dirty, aggressive or over-aggressive.”
Except the more it happens, the more the veterans won’t give him the benefit of the doubt.
Upping the power?
Last week, NASCAR spokesman Mike Forde gave the first hint of a thaw toward the sanctioning body’s refusal to increase horsepower, indicating on the “Hauler Talk” podcast an engine boost is being explored.
Larson was asked about whether a horsepower increase would help the on-track product.
“We would be all for trying something new,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s going to change the racing drastically or anything. It’s a decent size increase, but it’s not massive.
“I’d be open for it. I know we all are. I think it’s gotten a little bit stale — the racing obviously, the product and all that. We’re in need of a change, a drastic change, to try and help. It would be good to start there.”
Heim Time
23XI had four cars in Sunday’s race, and the highest-finishing driver was … Corey Heim?
Yep, the 14-time Truck Series race winner got his first career top-15 finish in just his fourth Cup start and — aside from one small mistake that led to a crash — reminded everyone why he’s one of the biggest Cup prospects.
“I definitely feel like I’m ready to make Cup starts — I don’t know if I’m ready to be a full-time Cup driver,” he said. “That is what I’m learning as I go. I certainly feel like I am, but it is going out and proving that.”
But Heim should arguably already be in Cup by now. He led the Truck Series in wins last year, one season after he had the most top-fives, most top-10s, best average finish and most laps led. And now he’s back in Trucks for another season (where he’s already won three of the first nine races).
Prospects like Heim don’t typically get stuck at one level for that long. How does he avoid getting impatient at age 22?
“Maybe I was struggling more on the Truck side or seeking other opportunities, it would be different, but I’m really happy with my opportunities in the Truck Series,” he said. “We are competitive every week, and it is really fun. It is rewarding. That is the main thing.”
(Top photo of Kyle Larson celebrating his win Sunday: Jamie Squire / Getty Images)
HUTCHINSON — Throughout their formative years, they grew up playing side-by-side, on rival teams or simply admired each other’s success from afar.
Now that their high school football careers are over, Salina Central’s Cooper Reves and Jesus Delgado, Salina South’s Jaxon Myers and Brody Chambers from Southeast of Saline, share the honor of playing for the West team in this weekend’s Kansas Shrine Bowl.
Perhaps just as important in their minds, they get to represent Salina for either the first or the last time wearing identical uniforms.
Jesus Delgado
“Us Salina guys are kind of sticking together, I like to say,” Delgado, an all-state linebacker on Central’s 2025 Class 5A state championship team, said Tuesday during the West training camp Tuesday at Hutchinson Community.
On Thursday, the East and West teams convened in Emporia, site of the 53rd annual Shrine Bowl, set for 7 p.m. Saturday at Emporia State’s Welch Stadium. But not before four days of intense practice at their respective camps in Hutch and Ottawa.
For the Salina contingent, the free time between workouts and meetings was an opportunity to connect, reconnect and reminisce.
Jaxon Myers
“We’re all from near each other, so we kind of know each other, or we’ve heard of each other,” said Myers, a standout wide receiver at South. “We’ve got some pretty good dudes in Salina.
“It’s not just us, but there’s a lot more that could have been here.”
While Reves, an all-state running back, and Delgado helped lead Central to a 12-1 record and its first state title since 2005, Myers was part of a struggling South team that suddenly caught fire in the playoffs after a 1-7 regular season. Road victories in the first two rounds led to the Cougars’ first postseason showdown with their crosstown rivals since 2004.
“That was one of the craziest football games I’ve been a part of in my entire life, just from the fan bases to everything building up to it,” Delgado said of Central’s 49-24 victory after trailing 17-14 at halftime. “But as of right now, it’s really just trying to soak everything in, going to college, and we’re all going on to different opportunities.”
“Some people are playing ball, some people are doing other things, but we’re really all just trying to get to know each other, build some connections and embrace it.”
While Myers’ memories of the playoff game aren’t as fond as those of his rivals, he said it spoke to the mutual respect the teams shared amid all the hoopla.
“It was fun, but not fun at the same time,” said Myers, who did catch a touchdown pass in the game. “You want to win those types of games and you want to keep the Cinderella story going, but they’re a tough team and they won state, so it’s not much you can do about that.”
“You’ve got to eat it from time to time, but this is a part of the game, and it’s all respect. We all respect each other.”
Myers, a Class 5A all-state selection by KSHSAA Covered, caught 45 passes for 871 yards and 10 touchdowns in just nine games for South as a senior. He will play at Garden City Community College this fall.
“Jaxon’s been killing it,” Reves said of Myers’ early West camp practices.
Cooper Reves
Reves, a KSHSAA Covered Top 11 selection and first team 5A pick, knows a little about killing it. As a senior, he rushed for 2,814 yards and 32 touchdowns, including 243 with four scores in the Mustangs’ 51-34 state championship victory over Basehor-Linwood.
Reves also caught 28 passes for 256 yards and another touchdown to finish with 3,070 total yards for the season.
Reves is not the only KSHSAA Covered Top 11 pick representing Salina. Chambers, a 6-foot-1, 285-pound lineman, helped Southeast of Saline to a Class 2A runner-up finish, one game shy of a second straight state championship. While also starting on the offensive line, he had 85 tackles, including 17 for loss, for the 12-1 Trojans.
And then there’s Delgado, the heart of Central’s defense, a first team 5A all-state selection, who had 145 tackles, 21.5 for loss, a sack and an interception in the Mustangs’ championship run.
Among the Salina players, there are several unique connections.
Cooper Reves and Jesus Delgado: One last game together
Delgado, who has signed with Butler Community College in El Dorado, will play his final game alongside Reves, who is headed to Northern Iowa on a wrestling scholarship after winning two state titles at Central.
“Having that state championship, there’s not really much like it,” Reves said. “I feel like me and Jesus were leaders, and we kind of felt like we’d take that role on this year.”
“Just having someone like that next to you the whole way and being able to bring each other up and be there for each other has been great.”
Good memories, indeed, Delgado agreed.
“Early on, when we got (to camp), we were kind of chatting about what it’s going to be like in a different environment,” he said. “We’ve been looking back on old memories, videos and things like that with the guys.
Jesus Delgado and Jaxon Myers: Teammates for just one game
For Delgado and Myers, their history as rivals also represents the future. After teaming up in the Shrine Bowl, they are headed back to rival camps in the Jayhawk Conference.
“He’s like, ‘Some things just never change.’ But right now, for one week, we’ll just let it slide,” Delgado said with a smile. “What some of the guys are doing is putting some of the other team’s decals on their helmets. It might be the only time I agree to put some of the other guys’ decals on.”
Myers, for his part, isn’t too worried about future rivalries.
“It’s fun not having to go against them just because of how good they are and seeing how hard they work,” he said. “It’s a lot different, but it’s fun watching them play.”
Appreciating success at different levels
While South and Central were doing their thing, including the historic playoff clash, they were not too busy to appreciate what Chambers, all-state running back Grady Gebhardt and Southeast of Saline were accomplishing just 15 miles away near Gypsum.
“They’ve been successful, and I think Brody’s been a big part of that,” Reves said. “He’s a good dude and amazing athlete.”
Chambers has something else in common with Reves as a two-time state wrestling champion, and he played both football and baseball with Delgado growing up.
Like his South and Central counterparts, Chambers kept an eye on their postseason successes.
Brody Chambers
“It was definitely fun to watch Central’s run to the state championship and winning it,” said Chambers, who will continue his football career at Grand View University, a high-level NAIA school. “We kind of came up short, unfortunately, but it was really cool that we had two Salina teams I the state championship.”
“We didn’t watch any of the games because we were still focused on us, but I did see a whole bunch of Facebook stuff about (the South-Central playoff game), and we were excited for them. We root for each other since we’re not in the same division.”
Proud to represent Salina in Shrine Bowl
When the final whistle blows at the Shrine Bowl on Saturday, Delgado, Reves, Myers and Chambers all will go their separate ways.
But not before proudly representing their hometown.
“It’s awesome to say that we have four guys from Salina be on this team when there’s only 40 guys from around the state,” Reves said. “So, that’s 10% of the team just from Salina.
“It says we have the right people doing the right things, and I think that’s pretty special.”
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Colorado-based chicken restaurant Birdcall is expanding into Kansas.
The company announced Friday its plans to expand into Kansas and five other Midwestern states over the next five years. Birdcall plans to add six to eight fast-casual restaurants in Wichita and Topeka.
“The Midwest represents a tremendous opportunity for Birdcall,” CEO Mark Lohmann said. “From our award-winning chicken sandwiches and other handcrafted menu offerings to our commitment to innovation and community, we believe Birdcall offers an experience that resonates with today’s guests and is a natural fit for the region.”
Other locations announced are:
- Indiana – 10 to 15 restaurants across Indianapolis, Bloomington, Evansville and Fort Wayne
- Missouri – Up to 18 restaurants across St. Louis, Columbia, and Kansas City
- Nebraska – Seven to 10 restaurants across Omaha and Lincoln
- Ohio – Up to 20 restaurants across Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and Toledo
- Wisconsin – 10 to 15 restaurants across Milwaukee, Madison and Appleton
Birdcall’s menu features a variety of chicken sandwiches, chicken fingers and nuggets, salads, tater tots, fries, and more. The restaurant also makes its own in-house sauces and serves up draft beer and house-made margaritas, with happy hour specials.
The company said each restaurant will use self-service kiosks and occupy about 2,300 square feet, with indoor and outdoor seating that can serve up to 150 people.
Birdcall currently operates 17 restaurants across Colorado, Arizona and Texas.
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KSHB 41 reporter Ryan Gamboa covers Miami County in Kansas and Cass County in Missouri. He also covers agricultural topics. Share your story idea with Ryan.
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A video shared by a viewer, shows a resident speaking at the Osawatomie, Kansas City Council meeting being escorted out by police on Thursday evening.
The video shows a man holding a “Hell No Alcove” sign, while commenting about a blighted property, which according to public records is owned by Pacific Apartments, LLC, operating out of the same address as Alcove Development in Lawrence, Kansas.
KSHB 41
Alcove Development is behind the effort to build a $1 billion, 283-acre data center development in Osawatomie’s northland property.
The video, shared by a viewer, goes on the show two law enforcement officers approaching the individual, who is Lee Brewer, at the podium, after he begins to yell, while the crowd joins in behind him. Lee Brewer reached out to KSHB 41 late Thursday night, identifying himself as the person who was escorted out.
Osawatomie, Kansas Police Chief Dave Stutteville is seen in the video also approaching the man.
Fabian Rosales/KSHB
KSHB 41 Miami County Reporter Ryan Gamboa reached out to the Police Chief, City Manager, and Mayor Nick Hampson for comment late on Thursday night and is waiting on a response.
Residents in contact with Gamboa attending the meeting shared the meeting was still in session after 9:30 p.m.
Thursday night’s meeting was the city and Alcove Development’s attempt at sharing potential benefits of a data center for the community.
Gamboa has long covered the data center project in Osawatomie, Kansas — and neighbors to the project have voiced their opposition to the proposed development.
Brian Luton/KSHB
This is the first time Alcove Development has approached the public, but not the first time it has worked with the city of Osawatomie.
In late 2025, Alcove Development approached the city with the project and weeks later, a pre-development agreement was signed giving Alcove exclusive rights to the development for three years.
But city council meeting records from 2023 show, the city of Osawatomie entered into a pre-development agreement with Alcove Development to redevelop a property known as Old Swenson School.
Alcove Development had six months to asses the condition of the property and determine a course of action for redevelopment, and the overall agreement would last 18 months, according to public records.
Will Shaw/KSHB
The pre-development agreements states, Alcove would consider asking for tax breaks on the project, including utilizing the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit.
At the time, the property had sat in disrepair since 2016, according to the records, and was frequently found in violation of city code.
If the re-development were to fall through, the city would be on the hook to purchase the property from the developer for $25,000, with unclear total costs for infrastructure improvements.
KSHB 41
KSHB 41 will follow up on the status on this project at a later date.
Earlier this week, Miami County Reporter Ryan Gamboa, sat down with Donna Ingram who doesn’t live far from the data center site.
Ingram expressed her concerns about the amount of infrastructure that would be built to operate a data center, and how it might overtake the land around her home.
Ryan Gamboa/KSHB
She expressed concerns because the City of Osawtomie changed the public comment guidelines of a promise town hall with the developer.
“Watching this process play out is disheartening,” Ingram said in an interview on Monday. “A town hall was promised that didn’t come to fruition… I don’t believe it’s the definition. This is a city council meeting. We’re the ones that are gonna live next to it. We’re the ones that live in the path of the infrastructure.”
The city told KSHB 41 on Monday in a statement, they changed the format to prioritize the voices of city taxpayers, as county taxpayers have dominated the public comment periods over the past couple of months.
Brian Luton/KSHB
Mayor Nick Hampson also told Gamboa in an earlier interview he was hoping to have a productive “town hall” — instead, the first meeting with the public and the developer of the project was during a formal and regularly scheduled city council meeting.
The city also required residents to submit questions ahead of time, and the city would filter questions to the developer, while limiting public comment to three minutes.
“We have been and will continue to hear from the residents that are in the county and closest to this project,” Hampson told KSHB 41 in an email on Monday.
Miami County, Kansas
Residents shared a record to KSHB 41, submitted to the city for a formal investigation into 1009 Pacific Avenue in Osawatomie, which is owned by a company operating out of Alcove Development’s address.
The dilapidated property is the a former school house, that sits with broken windows, and other parts of the building breaking down.
The Miami County Republic reporting on Thursday, the city launched an investigation into the building.
Ryan Gamboa/KSHB
Residents cite the buildings deteriorating condition and potential danger to the public, and lack of property maintenance.
Lee Brewer issued a comment regarding the incident at Thursday night’s meeting, stating he was escorted out after the Mayor closed public comment, and he was not on the list.
Brewer told KSHB 41, he has a time -stamped email of pre-submitted questions ahead of the meeting. KSHB 41 asked Brewer to review the email, and is waiting for an answer.
I am severely disappointed in our Mayor and the city council. They told us we were required to send in an email with our questions and our address to prove we were citizens of the town by Wednesday the 24th at noon. I have my email which is timestamped at 10:26 a.m. Wednesday the 24th. They shut me down and first told me I didn’t put the email in and then once I was kicked out of there I was told by people coming out that they were told I turned in my email too late. I’m not a math teacher but last time I looked at my clock 10:26 a.m. falls just over an hour and a half before noon. I mean correct me if I’m wrong. I thought because the mayor and I were having decent conversations on Facebook Messenger, whereas I would ask him questions and he would answer to the best of his ability. And I would thank him I thought we were pretty cordial. So to basically call me a liar in front of the entire town on video recording, take away my freedom of speech My first amendment right, and have me removed from a public building was completely wrong I am very disappointed in our city council and mayor. When I approached the podium all I was trying to do was point out that resolution number 1169 in Osawatomie Kansas refers to Alcove development LLC being the owner of the old Swenson School at 1009 Pacific. As I pointed out in these earlier messages to you Alcove has left this building dilapidated in ruins and a danger to our community. Our great city council and mayor seem to have other plans for me being able to speak though.
Lee Brew, via Facebook to KSHB 41 News
KSHB 41 reached out to Alcove Development late on Thursday night, and is waiting on a response.
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