Surprising: Weird and freaky things continue to happen at NASCAR races and the Kansas race was no exception. The lights went dark on the back stretch, the speedy dry truck lost a gear, and the car that was ‘Freaky Fast’, starting from the pole with a new track record, just could not pull off the victory, coming in second instead.
On the final set of pit stops, Jeff Gordon took the lead from Kevin Harvick during Saturday night's 5-Hour Energy 400 at Kansas Speedway and was able to hold off Harvick by two car lengths at the finish line and capture his 89th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career victory.
Kyle Busch threw the monkey off his back at Kansas Speedway by winning the SFP 250 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race. The race saw a series high number of cautions, with nine. Busch added to his 130 career win tally with the victory.
Kevin Harvick took the Coors Light Pole Award for the 5-hour ENERGY 400 Benefiting Special Operations Warrior Foundation with a new track record of 27.799 seconds or 194.658 mph. This is Harvick's eighth pole in 477 Sprint Cup Series races and his second in 17 races at Kansas Speedway.
The pole for the SFP 250 went to Kyle Busch with a new track qualifying record of 178.921 mph. It is Busch's 13th pole in 117 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) starts and his first in three races at Kansas Speedway.
Kansas is not as sexy as Talladega, I admit. It is not a Daytona, a Darlington, and it is no Indianapolis. I think having the race named after a series of sponsors instead of seeking a real identity might have something to do with that. Still, some big names have been among the 16 winners there since they first started up the engines back in 2001.
Clint Bowyer’s tenure in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series reaches a milestone this weekend when he makes his 300th career-start at an ideal place, his home track of Kansas Speedway.
The drivers of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series do not have to travel much further than their back yards to get to the track this week. A hometown race this week, and the only night race of the 2013 Chase for The Sprint Cup for the vast majority of teams this week. There have been 109 races at Charlotte Motor Speedway, everyone knows the history that has been made at the track, so I'll spare the history for some statistics this week.
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.
