KANSAS 2
Saturday, September 27 – NASCAR Xfinity Series, 4 p.m. ET (CW)
Saturday, September 28 – NASCAR Cup Series, 3 p.m. ET (USA)
It’s the middle race in the Round of 12 for both the NASCAR Cup and NASCAR Xfinity Series as Kansas Speedway serves as the host venue. Ford’s Ryan Blaney has already clinched a spot in the Round of 8 after his Cup victory last weekend in New Hampshire while defending champ Joey Logano and Austin Cindric remain in contention. After a week off, the Xfinity Series returns with all three Ford drivers – Sam Mayer, Harrison Burton, and Sheldon Creed – above the cut line.
BLANEY HEADING TO THE ROUND OF 8
Ryan Blaney clinched a spot in the Round of 8 after winning last weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. It marked the continuation of a streak that has seen the 2023 champion finish eighth or better in nine of the last 10 races, including a pair of victories (Daytona and New Hampshire). Blaney has now won three races this season, which matches a personal best he’s done three other times (2021, 2023, and 2024).
LOGANO’S KANSAS PLAYOFF SUCCESS
Joey Logano will be looking for his fourth career win at Kansas Speedway this weekend, which would match a personal best as he has four at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Phoenix Raceway. He won for the first time at Kansas in 2014, and then did it again one year later in a well-documented battle with Matt Kenseth that resulted in contact as the two entered turn one with five laps to go. That controversial finish marked Logano’s second straight playoff win and led to a sweep of the round as he took the checkered flag the following week at Talladega. His last Kansas win came in 2020 when he led the final 45 laps to beat Kevin Harvick across the finish line and clinch a spot in the Championship 4.
KESELOWSKI AND KANSAS
Brad Keselowski has won at 17 different racetracks during his NASCAR Cup Series career, including twice at Kansas Speedway. In 31 career Cup Series starts, the Michigan native has a pair of victories (2011 and 2019), seven top-5 and 14 top-10 finishes. He’s led at least one lap in three of the last four events and is looking to rebound from a crash that took him out of the spring race at Kansas after 194 laps.
FORD DRIVERS IN THE CUP PLAYOFFS
DRIVER – POINTS POSITION
Ryan Blaney – New Hampshire Winner (Clinched Round of 8)
Joey Logano – 6th (+24 above the cut line)
Austin Cindric – 10th (-19 below the cut line)
Note: Top 8 advance after Charlotte
FORD PLAYOFF DRIVERS AT KANSAS
Joey Logano: 32 starts, 3 wins, 9 top-5, 13 top-10
Ryan Blaney: 21 starts, 0 wins, 5 top-5, 9 top-10
Austin Cindric: 8 starts, 0 wins, 0 top-5, 0 top-10
RYAN BLANEY: “It’s been a long time since we’ve run a traditional mile-and-a-half and you hope that what we’ve learned at Charlotte and the previous mile-and-a-halves you apply. It’s the first time you’re gonna try like, ‘Maybe we should go down this path and we think it’s better.’ That’s what racing is. You think of directions that are better and you talk through them and you sim them and all of that stuff and then you have to make your decision. That could be good or it could be bad. That’s the beauty of showing up and you’ve got what you got. We’ll see where we stack up. I don’t really know what to expect, to be honest with you. It’s been a while and things could be massively different than what you saw at Charlotte, or it could be the exact same. I don’t know.”
MAYER LOOKS TO CONTINUE TOP FIVE ROLL
Sam Mayer is coming off a third-place finish two weeks ago in the playoff opener at Bristol Motor Speedway, continuing a streak that has seen him finish fifth or better in five of the last seven races. Included in that is a victory at Iowa and a pair of runner-up finishes at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Watkins Glen International. Overall, Mayer has 13 top-5 and 16 top-10 efforts this season.
FORD DRIVERS IN THE XFINITY PLAYOFFS
DRIVER – POINTS POSITION
Sam Mayer – 3rd (+35 above the cut line)
Harrison Burton – 5th (+9)
Sheldon Creed – 7th (+7)
Note: Top 8 advance after Charlotte
FORD PLAYOFF DRIVERS AT KANSAS
Sam Mayer: 4 starts, 0 wins, 0 top-10, 2 top-10
Sheldon Creed: 3 starts, 0 wins, 2 top-5, 2 top-10
Harrison Burton: 4 starts, 0 wins, 1 top-5, 1 top-10
FORD NASCAR CUP SERIES WINNERS
AT KANSAS
2005 – Mark Martin
2007 – Greg Biffle
2010 – Greg Biffle
2012 – Matt Kenseth (2)
2014 – Joey Logano (2)
2015 – Joey Logano (2)
2018 – Kevin Harvick (1)
2019 – Brad Keselowski (1)
2020 – Joey Logano (2)
FORD NASCAR XFINITY SERIES WINNERS
AT KANSAS
2001 – Jeff Green
2002 – Jeff Burton
2012 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
2020 – Chase Briscoe
The Ford Mustang, celebrating its 61st anniversary in 2025, is the world’s best selling sports car. It is also one of the planet’s most popular race cars. With Mustang-based race cars competing in international sports car competition (GT3 and GT4), NASCAR, NHRA, Formula Drift, in Australian Supercars, at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb and in its own bespoke one-make series – Mustang Cup and Mustang Challenge – the platform has an unprecedented global reach. This weekend, 21 Mustang race cars are scheduled to race across all disciplines. Learn more at FordRacing.com.
