Hollywood Casino 400

In racing there is one objective – to win. Does that mean that winning by any means is justified? I suppose that depends on your point of view.

Under clear blue Kansas skies, Brad Keselowski led the field to the green flag at 2:34 p.m. Drama hit the No. 4 car of Kevin Harvick early when he cued up his radio to say that there was a vibration in the car and, "it's going to blow up."

Joey Logano took the other Talladega golden ticket after scoring the victory in America's heartland.

The driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Team Penske Ford continued his run for a "perfect weekend" with a time of 28.427 and a speed of 189.960 mph.

Keselowski won the Coors Light Pole Award with a fast lap of 27.621 seconds (195.503 mph) in the final round of qualifying. It's his second pole of the season and his first at Kansas Speedway.

Brad Keselowski's pole-winning run on Friday at Kansas Speedway was an early Christmas present to second-place qualifier, Carl Edwards. Keselowski saved his best lap for the third and final round of knockout qualifying at the 1.5-mile track, touring the distance in 27.621 seconds (195.503 mph) to edge Edwards (195.454 mph) for the top starting spot by .007 seconds.

Brad Keselowski was fastest in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series opening practice on Friday at Kansas Speedway. The driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Team Penske Ford set the fastest lap in first practice with a time of 27.785 and a speed of 194.349 mph.

This week, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Kansas Speedway for the Hollywood Casino 400. It's the 31st race of the season, fifth of the Chase and second of the Contender Round. The motto for this weekend is simple: Win this weekend, or race for your life at Talladega.

Here's the weekend lineup for the NASCAR weekend at Kansas. The Sprint Cup Series hits the track first on Friday at 1:00 p.m. on NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra. The Sprint Cup practice sessions can also be heard on MRN.

With Kansas City Royals Manager Ned Yost commanding the drivers to start their engines, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the 14th annual Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.