NASCAR Cup Series

Cole Whitt | No. 35 Speed Stick Ford - "We want to go for it because it's an opportunity for us to shine with some of the bigger names not out there. But at the same time, we don't want to tear anything up."

Reed has two starts in the NASCAR XFINITY Series at Iowa Speedway, both during his 2014 rookie season. At this race one year ago, Reed finished 16th after having to start in the back of the field because the team made a radiator change after qualifying. In the summer 2014 event at the .875-mile oval, Reed finished 15th after starting from the 11th position.

Chris Buescher makes his third NASCAR XFINITY Series start at Iowa Speedway on Sunday. In his two previous starts, which both came last season, Buescher’s best starting position was ninth (summer) and his best finishing position was 13th (spring).

Sunday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Iowa Speedway marks Bubba Wallace’s third NASCAR XFINITY Series start at the track. Wallace raced in both events in 2012. In the spring he started eighth and finished ninth, while in the summer he started second and led 36 laps before finishing seventh.

Elliott Sadler makes his ninth NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) start at Iowa Speedway this weekend in Newton, IA. In Sadler’s previous eight starts, he has one win in 2012, three pole awards, six top-five and eight top-10 finishes at Iowa. Sadler has also led 107 laps at Iowa in the NXS.

It was a fine weekend. Sure, you may think I say that due to Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhard, Jr. and Jeff Gordon coming across the line in that order in Kansas. Okay, there might be some truth in that.

With the hopes of attracting a younger crowd to the sport with appearances by Squidward Tentacles, Larry the Lobster, and Patrick Star, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the 5th annual SpongeBob SquarePants 400 at Kansas Speedway.

Richard Childress Racing teammates Ryan Newman, Paul Menard and Austin Dillon finished 10th, 18th and 22nd, respectively, in the SpongeBob SquarePants 400 at Kansas Speedway.

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 AAA Insurance Ford Fusion (Finished 5th) – “Passing all those cars was fun but the rest of it we just did a terrible job of executing this race. We made mistake after mistake. Whether it was me on pit road or everything we did it seemed. We had a fast race car and that is what saved us. Execution was not very good tonight and we all just have to raise our game a little bit and understand why we made mistakes and clean it up going forward.”

Matt Kenseth (sixth) was the top-finishing Camry driver in Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway that endured a nearly two-and-a-half hour rain delay. Jimmie Johnson was tonight’s race winner.