Those are Earnhardt’s only three victories at 1.5-mile speedways, and more than 10 years have passed since his last one. The rest of the top five: Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne and Chase driver Kyle Busch. Six current chasers have Kansas wins, led by Jeff Gordon who has three wins. This is perhaps the first time Matt Kenseth and the #20 team have been put in such a desperation mode situation and typically they are not known to swing for the fences. “We try to show up and try to do the best we can every week”, Kenseth said. Landon Cassill ran the most laps (28) during the session. He ultimately finished so far off the lead that his Chase hopes took a major hit, and now he arrives at Kansas in desperate need of a victory that would guarantee him one of the eight spots in the “eliminator” round.
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Unlike the 11 other drivers he’s battling for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship, Joey Logano can relax and enjoy the next two races on the schedule.
Busch became the winningest NASCAR driver in Kansas Speedway history with four. As always, you can also reach out to us via our various social media platforms.
This will mark the latest philanthropic achievement from the Frances, who founded the Luke and Meadow Foundation, named after their four-year old twins, in 2011. Kyle Busch has defied odds all season long through injury and bad luck and once again he needs to fight his way back into contention.
Earnhardt won the spring race at the restrictor-plate track. Said Logano: “I got raced hard, I got fenced twice”. “As you look at Kansas, I think the test has applied to what we did at Charlotte and should give us a great starting point for when we get to Kansas to take care of a lot of the characteristics that we already worked through during the test. I’m definitely looking forward to Kansas for sure”.
Whether that comes back to haunt him will be seen on Sunday.
Keselowski beat out Carl Edwards in the final round of knockout qualifying to claim the pole position at Kansas.
Somehow, though, Gordon rallied back to finish 10th. He’s now sixth in the standings, a fairly safe spot. With Talladega looming on the horizon, no one can play it safe at Kansas so watch for Brad Keselowski to be on a mission to join his teammate in the next Chase round.
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A succession of mistakes, both major and minor, cost Kenseth dearly last week at Charlotte Motor Speedway, in the Contender Round’s first race. He ended up winning at Dover and advancing to the second round of the Chase. He led a race-high 153 of 269 laps. If Harvick can repeat that performance, he will be set to move to the next round and not have to sweat about finishing up front in Talladega next weekend.
