NASCAR Cup Series

In the past three Sprint Cup Series races, Martin Truex Jr. has driven his No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet to finishes of 14th (Chicago), 12th (New Hampshire) and seventh (Dover) for a three-race average of 11.0.

No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine driver Brian Vickers speaks of several objectives he’d like to reach in the final seven races of the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup season.

“I like Kansas a lot and have a couple of wins there. We haven’t been at the level we want to be but I feel like we learned some things testing Texas last week which will help us this weekend. We’ve got a brand new car for Kansas this weekend and I’m ready to get a good finish.”

“We have been working hard on our mile-and-a-half program and showed some improvement at Chicago so I am really looking forward to Kansas this weekend. Kansas is a fast, smooth track, which I like. We led there last year so I feel confident that we can have a strong run this weekend in our Cargill/Sam’s Club Ford.”

“This elimination race didn’t produce quite the excitement NASCAR had hoped,” Keselowski said. “In fact, it was yawn-inducing. It was so boring that fans didn’t give a hoot; it was so boring that I didn’t give a tweet.”

This weekend marks the beginning of NASCAR’s Contender Round, which includes the next three consecutive races in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. Harvick advanced into the Contender Round with the top-12 drivers following Sunday’s race at Dover International Speedway and is seeded third, behind drivers Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano.

TOP SEED STEED: Brad Keselowski and the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion have held the top seed in the Chase since winning the final race of the regular season. The 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship-winning squad has four top-two finishes in the last six races, including two victories.

In what is his last full-time season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Marcos Ambrose wants to enjoy the high-speed tracks left on the 2014 season schedule, including this weekend at the Kansas Speedway. Driving the STANLEY No. 9, Ambrose will make his 11th start at the Kansas Speedway this weekend.

Despite failing to advance to the Contender Round, Aric Almirola and the No. 43 team still have a chance to fight for points positions as high as fifth. Re-energized and focused after last weekend, the team heads to one of their best tracks, Kansas Speedway.

Roush Fenway Racing has registered all four of Ford Racing’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victories at Kansas Speedway. Greg Biffle leads the way with two wins (2007,’10) while Roush has also celebrated triumphs with Mark Martin (2005) and Matt Kenseth (2012).