This weekend is the Round of 12 elimination race in the NASCAR Playoffs. Four drivers will no longer have the chance to win the championship after the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.
Two drivers (Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney) have wins in the Round of 12 and have clinched a spot in the Round of Eight in the NASCAR post-season. Four drivers don’t need a lot out of Sunday’s race to move forward in the Playoffs. Two drivers have to have a pretty good day to ensure an advance. The bottom four need to have a really good day and some other drivers to have a really bad race if they are going to advance.
In fact, although the mathematics give them a chance to advance without it … it is likely those bottom four need a win to get in the Round of Eight. The bad news is that there can be only one winner in the race and there will be 39 other drivers racing each one of them to claim that #1 finishing spot.
Here is what every driver will be facing equally.
Kansas Speedway Data
Track Size: 1.5-miles
Banking/Turn 1 & 2: 17 to 20 degrees
Banking/Turn 3 & 4: 17 to 20 degrees
Banking/Frontstretch: 10 degrees
Banking/Backstretch: 5 degrees
Frontstretch Length: 2,685 feet
Backstretch Length: 2,207 feet
Hollywood Casino 400 Data
Season Race #: 32 of 36 (10-20-19)
Race Length: 267 laps / 400 miles
Stage 1 & 2 Length: 80 laps (each)
Final Stage Length: 107 laps
Here are the top active drivers at Kansas Speedway during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series careers.
Top 10 Active Driver Ratings at Kansas
Kevin Harvick ………………………… 109.5
Jimmie Johnson………………………. 103.2
Martin Truex Jr. …………………….…. 98.6
Chase Elliott………………………….…. 94.2
Ryan Blaney……..……………………… 94.0
Kyle Larson…………………………….. 93.1
Brad Keselowski..……………………… 91.9
Kyle Busch……………….……………….. 90.8
Kurt Busch……..………………………… 88.4
Joey Logano………………………….… 87.8
Note: Driver Ratings compiled from 2005-2019 races (23 total) among active drivers at Kansas Speedway. Driver names in RED above are currently in championship contention in the playoffs.
Active Drivers with Kansas Win(s)
Jimmie Johnson – 3 wins
Kevin Harvick – 3 wins
Joey Logano – 2 wins
Martin Truex Jr. – 2 wins
Brad Keselowski – 2 wins (including May 2019 race)
Chase Elliott – 1 win (this race in 2018)
Denny Hamlin – 1 win
Kyle Busch – 1 win
Ryan Newman – 1 win
Driver names in RED above are currently in championship contention in the playoffs.
We can only imagine what might happen on the track after last week’s race at Talladega. All the different needs by all the drivers led to a very eventful race for fans to watch. Will the action be similar this weekend?
Will one of the bottom four capture the win and shake up the NASCAR Playoffs picture? We saw what the length of a bumper did to post-season standings just days ago.
Will a non-Playoff driver get the win and relegate the Playoff drivers to the points they have earned to get eliminated or advance?
The story will be told when the green flag waives to start the Hollywood Casino 400 Sunday, October 20th at 1:30 PM central time (2:30 PM eastern time) from Kansas Speedway.
By: Buck Stevens
