Race #: 30 of 36 (10-9-11)
Track Size: 1.5 miles
Banking/Corners: 15 degrees
Banking/Frontstretch: 10.4 degrees
Banking/Backstretch: 5 degrees
Frontstretch: 2,685 feet
Backstretch: 2,207 feet
Qualifying/Race Data
2010 pole winner: Kasey Kahne (174.844 mph, 30.920 seconds)
2010 race winner: Greg Biffle, 138.077 mph, 10-03-10)
Qualifying record: Matt Kenseth (180.856 mph, 29.858 seconds, 10-08-05)
Race record: Greg Biffle (138.077 mph, 10-03-10)
After three races in the Chase, Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards technically sit 1-2 in the points – though both are tied at the top with 2,122 points. It’s the first tie for the points lead since after the first Chase race in 2008.
Heading into Kansas, Brad Keselowski, now sixth in points, conquered Kansas during the series’ first visit in June, leading nine laps and besting the field with solid fuel mileage strategy. t was his first victory with Penske Racing, and the first of third wins on the season. During the post-race interviews, Keselowski mentioned how his goal was to make the Chase. Will he repeat and move up getting ever so closer to the NASCAR Championship? What about Greg Biffle? Biffle has two wins at Kansas, and has finished in the top 10 in each of the last five races (and in the top five in four of the last five). He is one of three active driver who average a top-10 finish at Kansas: (Biffle, 8.3; Jeff Gordon, 8.1; Jimmie Johnson, 9.1).
Current NASCAR Camping World Truck Series standings leader – Austin Dillon – will attempt to make his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut this weekend at Kansas Speedway at the age of 21.
Drive History for Kansas in Point Standings after Dover
1 – Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet)
· One top five, four top 10s
· Average finish of 14.3 in 11 races
2 – Carl Edwards (No. 99 AFLAC Ford)
· Three top fives, six top 10s
· Average finish of 11.4 in eight races
3 – Tony Stewart (No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet)
· Two wins, five top fives, eight top 10s
· Average finish of 11.9 in 11 races
4 – Kurt Busch (No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge)
· Three top 10s; one pole
· Average finish of 18.1 in 11 races
5 – Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet)
· One win, three top fives, eight top 10s; three poles
· Average finish of 9.1 in 10 races
6 – Brad Keselowski (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge)
· One win, one top five, one top 10
· Average finish of 12.3 in three races
7 – Matt Kenseth (No. 17 Crown Royal Ford)
· Two top fives, five top 10s; one pole
· Average finish of 19.3 in 11 races
8 – Kyle Busch (No. 18 M&Ms Toyota)
· One top 10
· Average finish of 22.4 in eight races
9 – Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet)
· Two wins, eight top fives, nine top 10s
· Average finish of 8.1 in 11 races
10 – Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88 National Guard/AMP Energy Chevrolet)
· One top five, five top 10s; one pole
· Average finish of 17.5 in 11 races
11 – Ryan Newman (No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet)
· One win, three top fives, four top 10s
· Average finish of 17.3 in 11 races
12 – Denny Hamlin (No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota)
· Two top fives, two top 10s
· Average finish of 15.7 in seven races
History
· Groundbreaking was held on May 25, 1999.
· The official opening of Kansas Speedway was in 2001, with the first events being an ARCA race and a NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race on the same day – June 2.
· The first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race was Sept. 30, 2001.
Notebook
· There have been 11 NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Kansas
since the track opened in 2001.
· All of the races have been scheduled for 267 laps.
· 10 drivers have competed in all 11 races at Kansas.
· Jeff Gordon won the first two NASCAR Sprint Cup races.
· Jason Leffler won the first pole in September 2001.
· Eight different drivers have won poles, led by Jimmie Johnson with three.
· Eight different drivers have posted victories, led by Greg Biffle, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart (each with two).
· Seven of the 11 races have been won from a top-10 starting position.
· Two drivers have won from the pole: Joe Nemechek in 2004 and Jimmie Johnson in 2008.
· The furthest back in the field that a race winner started was 25th, by Brad Keselowski earlier this season.
· Three active drivers with more than one start have averaged a top-10 finish: Greg Biffle (8.3), Jeff Gordon (8.1) and Jimmie Johnson (9.1).
· Jeff Gordon leads all drivers in top fives (eight) and top 10s (nine). Gordon’s only two non-top 10s were a 39th in 2006 and a 13th in 2004.
· Seven of the 11 races that ended under green had a margin of victory under one second. The 2007 race ended under caution.
NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES
This year upon his return to Kanas, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. – who celebrated his 24th birthday on Oct. 2, has a 22-point lead over second-place Elliott Sadler in the driver championship standings.
The 2010 Sunoco Rookie of the Year contenders are Timmy Hill and Blake Koch, with Koch holding off Hill by only two points. Hill and Koch may need to consider a third contender for the rookie title. Ryan Truex, who was the odds-on-favorite to win the award at the start of the season, has worked his way back in to the conversation thanks to a late-season surge with his new team, Joe Gibbs Racing. Although Truex may not have enough time to overtake the rookie lead, but his recent results have been eye-opening. Since joining JGR at Chicago last month, he has finished no lower than 13th in those four races – including a career-best fourth at Richmond and an eighth-place last week at Dover.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver, James Buescher, will compete in the NASCAR Nationwide Series at Kansas for Turner Motorsports. It will be his eighth NNS start this season.
This is an open week for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Sereis.
Ron Hornaday Jr. has accomplished just about everything possible in the NCWTS during his 14-year career – by clinching his 50th victory at Kentucky Speedway – and a record four series championships. Winning an unprecedented fifth series championship seems very unlikely at this point, Hornaday sits in fifth place, 42 points out of the championship. Hornaday has three wins (Texas, Atlanta & Kentucky) this season. He has led an impressive 9,386 laps in his truck series career.
Austin Dillon holds a two point lead in the NCWTS standings over James Buescher.
Next race for the NCWTS:
Oct. 15th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway / 3:30 p.m. on SPEED