NASCAR Cup Series in Kansas

2 related

"This place is so wide and you can move so easily that it's not an easy place to double, especially when there are big obstacles and everyone runs at the top," Bowman said. "It is quite difficult to pass.

"The best car usually prevails here, I do not know if you're going to take a lot of risk, it's going to win the race, you could go from the 10th to maybe finish 4th or 5th with a big risk. do not know that it will win the race for you. "

Brad Keselowski, 18 points from the cut-off, could perhaps catch up. Ryan Blaney, who is currently 21 points behind, also has a chance, while Kyle Larson, with 36 points back, is quite capable of advancing by points in math only.

"You're trying to cope," Keselowski said. "It's an opportunity to win a championship, like Jimmie [Johnson] proved in 16 that if you can go to Homestead, anything can happen.

"I'm really confident if we can qualify for the next round, there are very good leads for us with Martinsville and we ran very well in Texas … Just look out the front window. Is the biggest benefit, do not spend too much time looking back and looking forward and doing what I can do. "

Larson will fall to the back of the field because he has destroyed his main car in practice.

"I hate that we destroyed the main car," Larson said. "I'm sure our rescue car will be fine, we're still very good here in Kansas.

"We should be fine, I've already been in a rescue car and very quickly. [We’ll] dig deep and work hard and see what we can do on Sunday. "

Chase Elliott and Aric Almirola have already made progress in the next round, leaving 10 riders in contention for six spots in the final. The four winless playoffs in the round with the fewest points will be eliminated.

"I think the strategy will come into play," said pioneer Joey Logano. "It's typically a four-tire [pit-stop] in law. The tires are used, but they do not wear as aggressively as other race tracks.

"That being said, it's important to understand where your competitors are in. It's important to know if someone has to win or if he's playing the conservative card just to get through."

The average of the 10 drivers in Kansas for the remaining six places is Kevin Harvick (9.6), Brad Keselowski (13.2), Blaney (13.9), Martin Truex Jr. (14.5) , Kurt Busch (16.0), Clint Bowyer (16.0), Clint Bowyer 16.8, Kyle Busch (17.0), Logano (18.1), Larson (19.1) and Bowman (27.7).

"It will be difficult to point our way," said Blaney. "We will do our best to make that happen, it is a good track for us, I do not see any other track where to try to win and win.

"We've had a shot here a few times, especially this year's first race before I ruin myself – it's a good place for us – hopefully we'll have a shot on Sunday and try to move on to something else."

Kansas wins among the unblocked playoff drivers: Harvick (3), Logano (2), Truex (2), Keselowski (1) and Kyle Busch (1).

Here's how the Hollywood Casino 400 runs Sunday (2pm, NBC) at Kansas Speedway:

1. Joey Logano (Team Penske No. 22 Ford): Logano can clinch a spot on the next round with 35 points (second place in Kansas if no point of step). If anyone else than Keselowski, Blaney, Larson or Bowman wins, he only needs 17 points (20th if no point of step). Logano has won two career Kansas Cup victories (few will miss Matt Kenseth in 2015). During the last races, it was a party or a family with first, 38th, third, 37th, 21st and third finishes in his last six starts.

2. Kevin Harvick (Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Ford): Harvick can clinch a spot on the next round with 11 points (26th place in Kansas if no stage point). If anyone, with the exception of Keselowski, Blaney, Larson or Bowman, wins, he is stuck no matter where he finishes. In other words, it will go until the next turn. He has three wins – including May – and three-time finalist in the last 10 races in Kansas.

3. Aric Almirola (Stewart-Haas Racing No. 10 Ford): Almirola has already passed the next round with the victory in Talladega. He loves Kansas, even though it is the place where he crashed and broke his back last season. He finished ninth in his last two starts in Kansas.

4. Ryan Blaney (Team Penske No. 12 Ford): At 22 points behind the eighth on the grid (Truex) and 25 points behind Bowyer in seventh place, Blaney can only guarantee himself a spot in the next round when he wins. Blaney has racked up so many points on Bowyer in four races this year. Blaney has four career top-10 finishes in Kansas, including a fourth in May 2017 and a third one a year ago. He led 145 laps on the track.

5. Brad Keselowski (Team Penske No. 2 Ford): At 18 points from eighth on the grid and 21 points from seventh, Keselowski can not secure a spot on the next round that he wins. Can he earn 18 points on Truex or 21 points on Bowyer? He has caught up with this margin over Bowyer only once this year in races where he has not won.

6. Erik Jones (Joe Gibbs Racing # 20 Toyota): Jones was seventh in Kansas in May, his first top-10 in four starts on the track.

7. Kyle Busch (Joe Gibbs Racing # 18 Toyota): Busch can clinch a spot on the next round with 28 points (ninth place in Kansas if no stage point). If anyone else besides Keselowski, Blaney, Larson or Bowman wins, he only needs 10 points (27th if there are no points in there). 39; step). Busch finished better than ninth out of five of his last seven starts; and he has a 10th place in a row on the track.

Daniel Suarez (Joe Gibbs Racing # 19 Toyota): After seventh place in his first race in the Kansas Cup, Suarez finished 36th and 28th in his last two starts.

9. Denny Hamlin (Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota): Hamlin is generally fast in Kansas – he has not been worse than the ninth of the last seven races (including Sunday) in Kansas. He won the race in April 2012 in Kansas, a second in October 2015 and a fifth place in fifth place in the last two editions.

10. Alex Bowman (Hendrick Motorsports # 88 Chevrolet): Bowman is 68 points behind Truex, so the only way to progress is to win. It will be a big challenge. Bowman was seventh in Kansas in October 2016 in his replacement role for Dale Earnhardt Jr., but he was 18th in May.

11. Kurt Busch (Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 Ford): Busch can clinch a spot in the next round with 44 points in Kansas. By entering the race, only one victory guarantees him a place in the next round, regardless of the arrival of anybody. This could change depending on the results of the first two steps. If anyone else than Keselowski, Blaney, Larson or Bowman wins, he can win the match with 26 points (11th if no point of step). Busch has never won Kansas, but has a pair of seconds and a third. He finished in the top 8 in five of his last seven starts in Kansas.

12. Martin Truex Jr. (Toyota Street Furniture Race # 78): Truex, as the current "bubble" driver on points like last in front of the cutoff, must win to secure a place to move forward. If anyone else besides Keselowski, Blaney, Larson or Bowman wins, he needs 38 points to win the match. If any of these pilots win, they must earn at least three (and probably four) points over Bowyer, whose second place in Talladega helps tie the game. Truex has been great in Kansas lately since he swept the races of 2017 and finished second in May. He has led 380 laps in the last five races in Kansas.

13. Elliott Chase (Hendrick Motorsports No. 9 Chevrolet): Elliott has already passed the next round with the win at Dover. He was 12th in May and 4th in Kansas a year ago.

14. Clint Bowyer (Stewart-Haas Racing No. 14 Ford): Bowyer would need 52 points to move forward, so that would probably mean winning a stage or two and then finishing in the top 5. If anyone else than Keselowski, Blaney, Larson or Bowman wins, he needs 35 points to win (second there are no points of step). Bowyer did not perform too badly in the races where he played something in Kansas. But that has not been often. He has only a top-10 in his last 10 starts in Kansas.

15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (Roush Fenway Racing No. 17 Ford): Stenhouse is still looking for his first top 10 in Kansas, where he made 11 starts and 3 11th.

16. Ryan Newman (Richard Childress Racing # 31 Chevrolet): Newman just wants to get to the finish – he has not managed to finish the last three races in Kansas. In his first three games in Kansas in 2001-03, he finished second, second and first.

17. William Byron (Hendrick Motorsports # 24 Chevrolet): An accident ended Byron's race in early May, but he won a truck and finished fourth in Xfinity on the track.

18. Paul Menard (Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 Ford): Menard got his second best performance in Kansas when he ranked sixth in May. It was his first top-10 in his last seven starts in Kansas.

19. Trevor Bayne (Roush Fenway Racing No. 6 Ford): It's the penultimate race from Bayne to Roush (it will also run in Texas). The first time he was replaced by Kenseth, it was the Kansas race in May. He has a better career record of 10th in Kansas.

20. Jamie McMurray (Chevrolet Chip Ganassi Racing # 1): Kansas did not really look like a home run for the Missouri native. He has only four top-10 career on the track, including two in his first two starts. He has not managed to finish the last two races in Kansas and has only one of the top 10 in his last 10 starts.

21. Chris Buescher (JTG Daugherty Racing # 37 Chevrolet): Buescher has a top 10 (one-sixth) five career starts in Kansas.

22. Jimmie Johnson (Hendrick Motorsports # 48 Chevrolet): Johnson has three career wins in Kansas, the last one in May 2015. He has had two top-5 finishes in his next three Kansas races, but he enters Sunday without top-10 in his last three starts in Kansas .

23. Austin Dillon (Richard Childress Racing # 3 Chevrolet): Dillon has not finished better than 14th in his last three races after a sixth consecutive place.

24. Michael McDowell (Front Row Motorsports No. 34 Ford): McDowell has three consecutive times in the top 20 in Kansas: 13th, 18th and 20th.

25. AJ Allmendinger (JTG Daugherty Racing # 47 Chevrolet): Allmendinger has four top-10 finishes in 17 starts in Kansas. After eighth in a row, he has not finished in the top 15 in his last three races.

26. Regan Smith (Leavine Family Racing # 95 Chevrolet): Smith is in the top 10 of nine career starts in Kansas.

27. Kyle Larson (Chevy Chip Ganassi Racing # 42): A 10-point penalty at Talladega made the battle difficult even more difficult for Larson, who is 36 points behind Truex and 39 points behind Bowyer (waiting for a call late Friday night). He caught up with that margin over Bowyer once this year. He led 101 laps and finished fourth in May. But he has another hurdle: he runs with a rescue car and will go to the rear after demolishing the main car during the test session on Friday.

28. David Ragan (Front Row Motorsports No. 38 Ford): Like McDowell, Ragan ranks three times in the top-20 in Kansas. He had a pair of 17's and 13's.

29. Bubba Wallace (Richard Petty Motorsports # 43 Chevrolet): Wallace started 21st and finished 23rd in her first Kansas Cup race in May.

30. Ty Dillon (Germain Racing # 13 Chevrolet): Dillon has a career record in 14th place on four starts in Kansas.

31. Matt DiBenedetto (Ford No 32 Go Fas Racing Racing): DiBenedetto finished 22nd in each of her last two starts in Kansas.

32. Ross Chastain (Premium Motorsports No. 15 Chevrolet): Chastain was 26th in the May race in Kansas.

33. Jeffrey Earnhardt (Gaunt Brothers Racing # 96 Toyota): Earnhardt finished better this season finishing 25th in 13 non-restricting plate races.

34. Corey LaJoie (TriStar Motorsports # 72 Chevrolet): LaJoie has four starts in Xfinity and Kansas Cup, the 24th and 27th finals.