MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Sept. 21, 2026) – For most of this year’s NASCAR Cup Series schedule, intermediate-style racetracks have been interspersed across the calendar, with weeks and sometimes months between races at these 1.5- to 2-mile ovals where high speeds, aerodynamics and handling coalesce, forcing teams to find a balance between raw speed and cornering ability.
However, this weekend at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, a run of three straight races at intermediate-style tracks begins.
Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at the 1.5-mile oval at Kansas leads into the 1.5-mile oval next weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, followed by the 1.5-mile oval in two weeks at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway. Prior to Kansas, the last intermediate track the Cup Series raced at was nearly two months ago at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois.
“This gives us an opportunity to work on our overall package for intermediate tracks and especially our car’s balance at these places,” said Cody Ware, driver of the No. 51 Rocket Doctor Chevrolet for Rick Ware Racing. “Based off Chicagoland, which is one of the more challenging mile-and-a-half tracks we have on the schedule, we had decent pace, so that gives me confidence going into Kansas.
“Kansas is pretty smooth, pretty consistent, to where tire falloff is what you really need to pay attention to. The place is in great condition. No bumps, no wear. You can pretty much run that track from top to bottom. So it’s a good way to kick off a run at these intermediate tracks, and it gives us a chance to build a baseline for this stretch of races.”
Kansas has produced high speeds and daring, side-by-side racing since its Cup Series debut in 2001. Its sweeping, D-shaped layout allows drivers to explore multiple racing lines, and its smooth surface provides a consistent feel, instilling much-needed confidence when throwing a 3,400-pound racecar into a corner at around 170 mph.
“If you want to run the apron, you can run the apron. If you want to run the wall, you can run the wall. And you can run any combination of lanes in between,” Ware said.
Aiding Ware’s approach to Kansas is the increased amount of practice time. Since the Cup Series’ stop at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon five weeks ago, drivers have had 50 minutes of practice. Prior to New Hampshire, drivers had to split the 50-minute practice session, with two groups each getting 25 minutes of track time the day before the race.
“The added practice gives us a chance to really see where our long-run pace is. When practice was just 25 minutes, there were only so many laps you could make because you still had to work on the car,” Ware said. “You’d try to go out there and run long, but you’d come back onto pit road to make adjustments, which meant your tires cooled down, so you’d get a bit of a false read on where your actual pace was during those short practice sessions.
“But now, you can make a solid 25- or 30-minute run if you want to during practice, come in and make adjustments, and still do a mock qualifying run. That allows us to check a lot more boxes for the race while also working on our approach to qualifying.”
The simplicity of Kansas’ layout makes it deceptively complex.
“I feel like everyone typically unloads really, really well at Kansas,” Ware said. “Because the track allows you to move around, you can find a line that suits you and your racecar the best. You can get your car 99 percent there with where you want it to be.
“Those guys who get to 100 percent, or even 101 percent, they’re really pushing the envelope. You can drive on the ragged edge at Kansas because the risk is lower compared to other tracks. It’s a driver’s track. You can find speed because you’re able to turn quick, consistent laps.”
Without a plan of attack, assuming Kansas is simple can quickly become a liability.
“You need to go into Kansas with a plan,” Ware said. “What do you want to do as a driver? Do you want to dial your car in to rip the wall, and do it from start to finish? Do you want to try to work on building a car with some flexibility? Or do you want something where you’re running a more traditional line for a mile-and-a-half oval?
“Not everyone is Kyle Larson, who can just rip the wall lap after lap without making the slightest mistake. Versatility and being able to adapt are key to Kansas because track conditions there change.”
Ware’s Kansas plan gets put to the test starting Saturday with practice at 9 a.m. CDT/10 a.m. EDT followed by qualifying at 10:10 a.m. CDT/11:10 a.m. EDT. TruTV and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide live coverage of both. Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 goes green at 2 p.m. CDT/3 p.m. EDT with live, flag-to-flag coverage delivered by USA Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
About Rick Ware Racing:
Rick Ware has been a motorsports mainstay for more than 40 years. It began at age 6 when the third-generation racer began his driving career and has since spanned four wheels and two wheels on both asphalt and dirt. Competing in the SCCA Trans Am Series and other road-racing divisions led Ware to NASCAR in the early 1980s, where he finished third in his NASCAR debut – the 1983 Warner W. Hodgdon 300 NASCAR Grand American race at Riverside (Calif.) International Raceway. More than a decade later, injuries would force Ware out of the driver’s seat and into full-time team ownership. In 1995, Rick Ware Racing was formed, and with his wife Lisa by his side, Ware has since built his eponymous organization into an entity that competes full-time in the elite NASCAR Cup Series while simultaneously campaigning successful teams in the Top Fuel class of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, Progressive American Flat Track, FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX) and zMAX CARS Tour.
