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Wednesday, October 14, 2015

2015 Week 31 Preview: Kansas

Hollywood Casino 400

Kansas Speedway


By Richard Tix

This time NASCAR heads to Kansas Speedway with a little less SpongeBob around them. Earlier this year SpongeBob and friends were crawling all over Kansas Speedway for a Jimmie Johnson win, this time Kansas sponsor is all about the Hollywood Casino (far different).

The bigger issue at hand is that it is the second Chase race of this second round. Thing will start to heat up as drivers position themselves better going into the final race of this round of 12. Only 8 will come out the end and you want to be in good position because next race is Talladega and anything can happen there.

So, can Kenseth make up the ground after a 42nd place finish without a win? Or will he need a win to survive. Who will take all the Dega pressure off themselves with a win at Kansas?



The Good
  • Jimmie Johnson- Last time around he made this list before the SpongeBob race, this time he makes it again coming off a win. He has 12 top 10's in his last 13 Kansas starts.
  • Carl Edwards- Earlier this year it was a struggle for Edwards at Kansas (finished 20th), but this time around JGR is still running well and Edwards has a good track record here. He has 11 top 10's in 16 career Kansas starts.
  • Jeff Gordon- Earlier this season Gordon notched a top 5 at Kansas (4th) which has helped him keep his current trend of running well here going. He has 3 top 5's in his last 4 starts here including a win in 2014.
  • Kevin Harvick- (Bonus) It is hard to leave Harvick off of this list this time around. In his last four here he has three poles, one win, and two runner up finishes. With the way he has been running he could win again this weekend.
The Middle
  • Denny Hamlin- Earlier this year he had a tough finish, but most of the time Hamlin has quality, not great, finishes at Kansas. Seven times in 14 races Denny has finished 7th-18th. In those 14 races he has only 4 top 10's. He does have a Kansas win (2012) so he can't be counted out, but he normally isn't a top 5 runner here.
The Bad
  • Justin Allgaier- His first three starts here all resulted in wrecks... Earlier this year he finished the race but still only finished 30th. It just doesn't seem to be in the cards for Justin at Kansas.
  • Kyle Busch- For awhile Kansas was not Kyles track. He struggles here it seemed every time. Things have started to turn the corner, but it is good to note in his last 5 starts here he has three finishes of 30+.
  • Casey Mears- As always, guys in underfunded cars get looked at differently for these categories, but in the last 6 races here Casey has only one top 20 and two top 25's. However, that top 20 was earlier this season (19th).
About the Track: Kansas
Track Stats
  • Kansas has 12 different career winners in 19 Cup races
  • Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson are tied for most career Kansas wins with 3
  • In 2011 Kansas started to have two races a year.
  • Manufacture win count: Chevy 10, Ford 5, Toyota 2, and Dodge 2
  • Brad Keselowski won after starting 25th in 2011, the furthest back a winner has come from
  • JJ, Harvick, and Kahne are tied for most career Poles at Kansas (3)
  • Most cautions in a Kansas race was 2013 in the Fall Chase race (15)
Track Details
  • Surface: Asphalt
  • Length: 1.5 mile
  • Banking
    • Turns: 24 degrees
    • Straights: 5 degrees 
Kansas Speedway
Race
Date
Cars
Winner(s)
St
Make
2001-28
9/30/2001
43
Jeff Gordon
2
Chevrolet
2002-29
9/29/2002
43
Jeff Gordon
10
Chevrolet
2003-30
10/5/2003
43
Ryan Newman
11
Dodge
2004-30
10/10/2004
43
Joe Nemechek
1
Chevrolet
2005-30
10/9/2005
43
Mark Martin
19
Ford
2006-29
10/1/2006
43
Tony Stewart
21
Chevrolet
2007-29
9/30/2007
43
Greg Biffle
7
Ford
2008-29
9/28/2008
43
Jimmie Johnson
1
Chevrolet
2009-29
10/4/2009
43
Tony Stewart
5
Chevrolet
2010-29
10/3/2010
43
Greg Biffle
5
Ford
2011-13
6/5/2011
43
Brad Keselowski
25
Dodge
2011-30
10/9/2011
43
Jimmie Johnson
19
Chevrolet
2012-08
4/22/2012
43
Denny Hamlin
4
Toyota
2012-32
10/21/2012
43
Matt Kenseth
12
Ford
2013-08
4/21/2013
43
Matt Kenseth
1
Toyota
2013-30
10/6/2013
43
Kevin Harvick
1
Chevrolet
2014-11
5/10/2014
43
Jeff Gordon
13
Chevrolet
2014-30
10/5/2014
43
Joey Logano
4
Ford
2015-11
5/9/2015
43
Jimmie Johnson
19
Chevrolet
2015 SpongeBob SquarePants 400 Photo Recap:















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