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Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Week 30 Preview: Kansas

Hollywood Casino 400

Week 30


By Richard Tix

Last time NASCAR was in Kansas Jeff Gordon came across as the winner after catching Harvick late and stealing a win. This time around both drivers will be looking for a win so they can automatically advance to the next round of the Chase (while fine tuning things with the team for the next two races).

The normal fast guys in 2014 were fast last time around at Kansas Speedway. I expect the same this time. Penske and Hendrick should lead the way like normal (don't be shocked if someone from the team wins) as well as Kevin Harvick.

One things is for sure, everyone will be trying to win. Yes, that's expected and a pretty obvious statement, but think about this round in the Chase. The final race of this round is at Talladega and I can tell you the winner of Kansas and Charlotte sure will be happy that they don't have to stress out over the "big one" possible taking there title hopes away. The winner at Kansas will be in the drivers seat in the standings for the next round with nothing to worry about except keeping momentum going forward.

Let's take a look at some other drivers who have fared well here in the past few races.


(This is just a review of each drivers recent past performance, generally about 5-10 past races)

The Good
  • Jimmie Johnson- JJ has 11 straight top 10's at Kansas including two wins (2008 and 2011). In 16 career starts here he has 14 top 10's. One non top 10 was due to a crash and the other was a 14th place finish. Not too shabby huh?
  • Jeff Gordon- Earlier this year Jeff Gordon won his first race of the season at Kansas. It was his first win at Kansas since he won in back to back years in 2001 and 2002. In 17 tries he has 10 top 5's and 12 top 10's.
  • Matt Kenseth- Just in the last 3 years (5 races) Kenseth has 2 wins, 3 top 5's, 4 top 10's and 1 pole (lone non top 10 was an 11th place finish in 2013). In those 5 races he has led 265 total laps.
  • Extra Credit- Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards
The Middle
  • Greg Biffle- The Biff does have two career wins at Kansas, the last being 2011. But in his last four starts he doesn't have a single top 10 and only one top 15. 
The Bad
  • Kyle Busch- Earlier this year I was tweeting stats about drivers at Kansas. One of them I used Rowdy's handle and said he hasn't fared well here and that he spun out a few times in the last few stops. Found out later he blocked me....Thin skin. Anyways, thin skin aside, Kyle still hasn't been very impressive here. he has two top 10's in 14 tries. His best finish is 7th (other top 10 was 10th) and the 10th was 5 races ago. He does have 6 top 15 finishes in that same time, but someone with his caliber shouldn't be judged on top 15's.
  • AJ Allmendinger- If you make the Chase you are fair game for the "Bad" Category (even if you are already eliminated). AJ has only two top 10's in 9 tries and none since 2010. His average finish at Kansas is 22.8.
  • Brian Vickers- I thought Vickers would be a surprise driver in 2014 but the whole MWR team was a dissapointment. A lot of that may have to do with Toyota Racing Development being a bit behind the curve. Well, that has nothing to do with Vickers Kansas career average finish of 20.2. 
Track Stats
  • Kansas has 11 different career winners in 17 Cup races.
  • 4 drivers are tied for second most wins with 2. Stewart, Biffle, Johnson, and Kenseth
  • Jeff Gordon has the most Kansas wins with 3 career
  • In 2011 Kansas started to have two races a year.
  • Manufacture win count: Chevy 9, Ford 4, Toyota 2, and Dodge 2.
  • Brad Keselowski won after starting 25th in 2011, the furthest back a winner has come from.
  • Jimmie Johnson has the most career laps lead (586) with Kenseth in second (501).
  • JJ and Kahne are tied for most career Poles at Kansas (3).
  • Jeff Gordon has run the most career laps at Kansas (4447) with Harvick in second (4377).
  • Most cautions in a Kansas race was last year in the Fall Chase race (15).

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