NASCAR Cup Series – The playoffs give a boost to Kansas Speedway

Blaney, Larson, Brad Keselowski and Alex Bowman were eliminated from the playoff race. Blaney defied the first half of the race before scouring the wall and fading.

Larson, who started at the back in a relief car after falling in primary, managed to reach second place, but finally qualified for third place.

"I'm glad nothing stupid has brought us this season," said Larson. "We had this battery in Dover a few years ago, and we blew up an engine here last year.

"Obviously, I would have liked to be able to participate in the next round, but I'm glad it was nothing but the fact that we did not play where we needed to go. to be, which kept us out of the next round. "

Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Aric Almirola, Martin Truex Jr., Elliott, Clint Bowyer and Kurt Busch have made progress. Having led 101 laps in May in Kansas, Larson was considered the most likely driver to win. But the Chip Ganassi Racing driver did not win all year and also took the start with a deficit of 36 points in the cut-off.

The race was a typical Kansas Speedway affair. The position on the track was the key. There was only one green flag for the lead on the track (the others were coming during pit cycles) and that's when Logano overtook Blaney with four new tires when he took two tires .

"Even the races where I felt good can not make up for lost time," said Larson. "Everyone is fast, when you're faster, someone gets stuck."

Larson looked at himself in the mirror, talking about elimination. He had won a stage all year. He finished 12th, 11th and 3rd and could not get out of the round. He did not win any points in the first two races, stifling his efforts in the round.

"For teams that start the playoffs with few points in the playoffs, their deficit is already very high," said Larson. "You know you have to be perfect … We had no stage points until today – only one step out of six.

"We can not really expect to go on to the next round without having to stay in front of the whole race – it's a bit like that our turn went wrong."

The driver who has undoubtedly had the best season not to advance is 2012 Cup champion Brad Keselowski, who had three wins this year and was the closest to the cut-off that started in the race. He has never been a factor and finished sixth.

"We were not as good today as yesterday. [in practice] and I'm not sure why, "said Keselowski. Everyone seemed to find a little practice and we were pretty much the same, maybe even a little worse than we were in practice.

"Towards the end of this first stage, it was pretty obvious that we needed something after seeing things about the other cars, we needed something to move on, but it was just not there . "

Keselowski, like Larson, was philosophical: "I'm proud of what we've done all year long – we've won three races and all that, I think we can win Martinsville next week." But of course, the ultimate goal is to win a championship and we will not have the opportunity to do it this year. "

Blaney seemed to have the best shot as he finished third in the first stage and second in the second stage. Contact with the wall put an end to most of his hopes as he finished six points behind Kurt Busch and Bowyer for last place in the playoffs.

"I never thought we had gained speed," said Blaney. "I thought we were in second or third place, we hit the fence."

The race in Kansas was scheduled for the theater while Busch and Bowyer both had problems and were about to be eliminated, especially when Blaney was running with the leaders.