Harvick win the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas
Kevin Harvick swept the weekend at Kansas Speedway and won the caution filled Hollywood Casino 400 from the pole. The victory was Harvick’s 22nd career victory and his third victory in 2013. This is his first victory at Kansas Speedway. “It was an interesting weekend with everyone battling tires and the track. It was like driving on a razor blade and I said we have to find consistency. It was like driving two different cars – one out front and no one else even close and a different one back in traffic,” said Harvick.
After having to go to a back up car and starting in the rear, Kurt Busch came back to take second. Busch would have an exchange with third place finisher Jeff Gordon. Both competitors discussed the situation and came away with an understanding of the situation according to Jeff Gordon. Busch said, ” Today is a small victory in my own mind. This was the last track I needed a top-5 at and we got that today.”
Third place finisher Jeff Gordon said, “We had a great car all day. These surfaces are too smooth. It doesn’t dissipate the heat. Goodyear is at the mercy of the track. But to me it’s the surface. We are paving these tracks like we pave new highway and this isn’t a highway, it’s a racetrack.”
Tires were the story of the day. With the new tire cording and blistering, the race teams struggled to find consistency and grip on the newly repaved racetrack.
Kyle Busch’s curse at Kansas continued. Busch who started in the rear in a backup car was wrecked three times in one race. Busch commented, “The race track is the worst race track I’ve ever driven on. The tires are the worst tires I’ve ever driven on and track position is everything. You can’t do anything unless you’re out front. You get back in traffic — Kevin Harvick couldn’t pass me — he led the first 80 laps of the race, so I’d say it’s pretty pathetic.”
The race had 15 cautions for 71 laps and there were 24 lead changes among 12 drivers. Harvick crossed the start finish line 1.140 seconds ahead of Kurt Busch.
Matt Kenseth took the points lead over Jimmie Johnson, who finished the race on 7 cylinders.
Finish Order:
1) Kevin Harvick 2) Kurt Busch 3) Jeff Gordon 4) Joey Logano 5) Carl Edwards 6) Jimmie Johnson 7) Paul Menard 8) Dale Earnhardt Jr. 9) Marcos Ambrose 10) Aric Almirola 11) Matt Kenseth 12) Jeff Burton 13) Greg Biffle 14) Clint Bowyer 15) Kasey Kahne 16) Jamie McMurray 17) Brad Keselowski 18) Juan Pablo Montoya 19) Martin Truex Jr. 20) A.J. Allmendinger 21) Casey Mears 22) Mark Martin 23) Denny Hamlin 24) David Gilliland 25) Dave Blaney 26) Travis Kvapil 27) JJ Yeley 28) Timmy Hill 29) Tony Raines 30) Ricky Stenhouse Jr 31) Cole Whitt 32) Brian Vickers 33) Landon Cassill 24) Kyle Busch 35) Ryan Newman 36) David Ragan 37) David Reutimann 38) Michael McDowell 39) Justin Allgaier 40) Josh Wise 41) Joe Nemechek 42) Reed Sorenson 43) Danica Patrick
Chase Points Following Kansas:
1) Matt Kenseth 2183
2) Jimmie Johnson 2180
3) Kevin Harvick
4) Jeff Gordon 2151
5) Kyle Busch
6) Greg Biffle
7) Kurt Busch
8) Dale Earnhardt Jr 2129
9) Clint Bowyer 2128
10) Joey Logano 2124
11) Carl Edwards 2123
12) Ryan Newman 2110
13) Kasey Kahne 2100
Matty’s Picks 2013 Race 30 – Kansas Speedway – October 6, 2013
Disclaimer: My column this week will be as exciting to read as I anticipate the race being on Sunday afternoon…scroll down for picks.
Kansas Speedway is certainly one of the cookie-cutter races that the Chase schedule has to offer. The variable 17 to 20 degrees of banking in the corners plus the 10 degrees on the frontstretch leaves much to be desired for those looking for an exciting Sunday afternoon of racing. Even though the last two races at Kansas (since the mid-season repave in 2012) produced more cautions than the previous four races combined, they also produced the least amount of lead changes at Kansas speedway since the second ever race at the track back in 2002.
One interesting statistic I was able to uncover this week has to do with Chase races being won by non-Chase drivers. There have been 14 Chase races won by non-Chase drivers in the history of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, that is now 93 total races. Three of those 14 races have been won at Kansas Speedway as Joe Nemechek became the first ever spoiler in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series winning the fall race of 2004 as a non-Chase driver. The other two races by non-Chase drivers were won by Tony Stewart in 2006 and Greg Biffle in 2007, so it has been a while, but with the parody we saw in the regular season, certainly anything can happen on Sunday. With 7 of the top 15 qualifiers for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 being non-Chase drivers, the possibility of a spoiler this week is certainly valid.
Winner Pick
It’s onto my picks already this week and no surprises here, I will be going with Matt Kenseth this week. I couldn’t find a single reason to not pick Kenseth this week, he’s won the last two races at Kansas, he also won at Chicagoland, Kentucky Speedway, and Las Vegas Motor Speedway this season, all which happen to be the tracks most similar to Kansas Speedway.
On top of all the wins at similar tracks this season, Kenseth is second, third, or fourth in 4 of the loop stats, the most important – Driver Rating- he’s third on the list at 110.0. Kenseth also qualified very well on Friday, important because 9 of the 15 Kansas races have been won from starting spots inside the top-10. Kenseth will start seventh on Sunday, and was second in the second practice session on Friday, fourth in Happy Hour earlier today, too much to like here about Kenseth, he’s my Winner Pick for Sunday.
Dark Horse Pick
It’s not every day you can take a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion as a Dark Horse, but because Brad Keselowski is not a part of this year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup, I’m going with him as a Dark Horse this weekend. This team has been fairly non-existent since that solid stretch of runs to start the 2013 season, since the series visited Kansas Speedway in particular. Brad was 7th at Chicagoland, the most recent cookie-cutter of the season, his 5th top 10 finish in that 19 race stretch since the April Kansas race, so I’m going on a bit of a hunch here, but I like Brad’s chances this week.
You can not look past the fact that he’s got an average finish of 9.2 in his 7 career races at Kansas Speedway. He’s qualified his Miller Lite Ford Fusion in the 4th starting position and has shown speed in all of the practice sessions at Kansas this week. He was a longer play to start the week, the odds have not shortened a bit, Brad is a solid longer play this week.
That’s all for this week, so until we turn the lights on in Charlotte…You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!
Greg Biffle’s Quest For A Championship Begins Sunday in Kansas
Many race fans have ignored the fact that Greg Biffle is in the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Chase. Don’t look now but Biffle is currently sixth in the overall series point’s standings and down a deficit of 41 points to series points leader Matt Kenseth.
Kansas marks the start of the road for Biffle if he plans on competing for this 2013 NSCS Championship. The only win of 2013 for “The Biff” came back in Michigan and that win has propelled him to being able to contend for this years title. Biffle is hoping for those few wins on these intermediate tracks and predominantly could give him an advantage in the battle for the championship.
“We’ve got a lot of speed in our cars and 1.5-mile tracks are our favorite type of tracks,” said Biffle, who has captured seven of his 19 career checkered flags in the series at 1.5-mile tracks. “I like Kansas and have a couple of wins there. We’ve been running well and we have a strong opportunity to get our first win of the Chase.”
Chicagoland wasn’t the best race for the No. 16 team as Biffle brought home a 16th place finish. A lot of fans believed that was the way Biffle’s chase would be, outside the top fifteen. Well if you were one of those fans then you have been proved wrong. Biffle went out to New Hampshire and posted a solid ninth place finish and then surprised many fans after a third place performance in Dover International Speedway.
Biffle will have to overcome a bad qualifying run on Friday. Biffle took to the track as the 29th qualifier and couldn’t find the speed, forcing him to start 26th for the Hollywood Casino 400 on Sunday.
Biffle has had success at Kansas though with 2-career wins coming in 2007 and 2010.
Biffle is hoping consistency will also win him this championship, that’s worked out pretty well considering he’s the only competitor to be running at the end of all the season’s races. So far through this chase consistency is winning nothing, it’s winning. Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson are the two that are winning, but this weekend in Kansas the Roush Fenway Racing Ford of Biffle is hoping to change that and make this a 4-man race between Kenseth, Johnson, Kyle Busch and Biffle.
“We’ve got to get a win this weekend to get back in the Chase,” Biffle said.
Kenseth wins the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas
The NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) Kansas Lottery 300 was a caution filled 200 lap race that ended with Matt Kenseth in victory lane.
This victory makes Kenseth sixth on the all time series win list. This was also his first victory in seven races at Kansas Speedway.
“When we got here yesterday we had a lot of speed right off the truck and I told Matt I thought it was the best car we had had all year. We had a fast car all the way through the race. We lost a lot of track position but it all worked out in the end.”
Paul Menard finished second, capturing his fifth top-10 finish in eight races at Kansas and his third top-10 finish in 2013.
Regan Smith finished third and captured his first top-10 at Kansas.
The drivers struggled with the new tires with everything from excessive wear to lack of grip. Austin Dillon reported tires giving up and blistering. Despite his tire issues, Dillon was able to finish sixth and take over the series points lead by eight points over Sam Hornish Jr.
After leading most of the race, Regan Smith would lose the lead on a late round of pit stops and come back to finish third.
A late race altercation between Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski while both were racing for the runner up spot, led Keselowski to issue a warning to Busch regarding tomorrow’s Sprint Cup race. Keselowski stated, “I got wrecked by a dirty driver. There is no other way of putting it. He is cool with that. I have raced him really cool over the last year to be respectful to him and try to repair our relationship. He has a lot more to lose than we do. That is one of the advantages to not being in the chase.”
Busch also had a run in with Trevor Bayne which cost Bayne numerous spots in the running order. Bayne remarked, “It was really crazy out there. We had a super fast car and I think we ran out of fuel there. I messed up on pit road and sped the last segment and got a penalty and Mike made great strategy to get up back up there then we went in one and two and got wrecked by the 54. He sent me up the race track. I think he got loose and slid up. It almost happened with me and the 18 when we were leading. It is unfortunate for our team to have this fast of a race car and not be able to capitalize. I am sure he was probably frustrated by that but I think it was just hard racing.”
Final Finishing order:
1) Matt Kenseth 2) Paul Menard 3) Regan Smith 4) Kyle Busch 5) Justin Allgaier 6) Austin Dillon 7) Parker Kligerman 8) Brad Sweet 9) Trevor Bayne 10) Elliott Sadler 11) Alex Bowman 12) Michael Annett 13) Mike Bliss 14) Travis Pastrana 15) James Buescher 16) Chris Buescher 17) Sam Hornish Jr 18) Brian Scott 19) Dakoda Armstrong 20) Nelson Piquet Jr 21) Ryan Sieg 22) Landon Cassill 23) Bryan Silas 24) Johanna Long 25) Joe Nemechek 26) Jennifer Jo Cobb 27) Eric McClure 28) Brad Keselowski 29) Brian Vickers 30) Kyle Larson 31) Mike Wallace 32) Ken Butler 33) TJ Bell 34) Carl Long 35) Hal Martin 37) Blake Koch 38) J.J. Yeley 39) Josh Wise 40) Jeff Green
