This week the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Drivers will be hoping to score a win at Kansas Speedway in the Hollywood Casino 400 Presented by Barstool Sportsbook.
Last week’s post-season opening race demonstrated that the 16 drivers on the Playoff grid will not necessarily be the dominant cars throughout the Playoffs. Many had issues and none scored the win.
NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Standings Heading to Kansas Speedway (9/11)
| Rank | Playoff Drivers | Points | Race Wins | Stage Wins | Playoff Pts | Pts From Cutoff |
| 1 | Joey Logano | 2,065 | 2 | 5 | 25 | 38 |
| 2 | William Byron | 2,059 | 2 | 4 | 15 | 32 |
| 3 | Denny Hamlin | 2,057 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 30 |
| 4 | Christopher Bell | 2,055 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 28 |
| 5 | Tyler Reddick | 2,050 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 23 |
| 6 | Ryan Blaney | 2,047 | 0 | 5 | 13 | 20 |
| 7 | Kyle Larson | 2,044 | 2 | 3 | 19 | 17 |
| 8 | Ross Chastain | 2,042 | 2 | 5 | 20 | 15 |
| 9 | Chase Elliott | 2,041 | 4 | 5 | 40 | 14 |
| 10 | Alex Bowman | 2,037 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 10 |
| 11 | Kyle Busch | 2,035 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 8 |
| 12 | Daniel Suarez | 2,029 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 2 |
| 13 | Austin Cindric | 2,027 | 1 | 1 | 6 | -2 |
| 14 | Austin Dillon | 2,025 | 1 | 0 | 5 | -4 |
| 15 | Chase Briscoe | 2,019 | 1 | 4 | 9 | -10 |
| 16 | Kevin Harvick | 2,016 | 2 | 0 | 12 | -13 |
The Kansas Speedway has multiple grooves to race in allowing for cars to get three and possibly four-wide at times. That can allow for advancing on the track OR crashing on the track. If the day is windy (which is often the case in Kansa), there will be a factor that teams and drivers really cannot account for in the set-up of the cars.
Here is the data for the track and race that the teams and drivers can account for.
Kansas Speedway Data:
Track Size: 1.5-miles
Banking/Turns: 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 #: 28 of 36 (10-11-22)
NCS Playoff Race #: 2 of 10
Race Length: 267 laps / 400.5 miles
Stage 1 Length: 80 laps
Stage 2 Length: 85 laps
Final Stage Length: 102 laps
Here are how the 16 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff drivers stack up at Kansas Speedway.
| Rank | Driver | Races | Poles | Wins | Top Fives | Top 10s | DNFs | Average Finish | Driver Rating | ||
| 1 | Joey Logano | 26 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 10 | 4 | 17.1 | 87.7 | ||
| 2 | William Byron | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 16.1 | 85.1 | ||
| 3 | Denny Hamlin | 28 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 11 | 2 | 13.7 | 92.0 | ||
| 4 | Christopher Bell | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 14.8 | 87.7 | ||
| 5 | Tyler Reddick | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 17.7 | 85.6 | ||
| 6 | Ryan Blaney | 15 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 16.9 | 95.0 | ||
| 7 | Kyle Larson | 15 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 14.6 | 101.1 | ||
| 8 | Ross Chastain | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 22.4 | 59.2 | ||
| 9 | Chase Elliott | 13 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 11.2 | 97.9 | ||
| 10 | Alex Bowman | 14 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 16.9 | 75.5 | ||
| 11 | Kyle Busch | 29 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 14 | 4 | 15.2 | 94.0 | ||
| 12 | Daniel Suárez | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 22.3 | 64.0 | ||
| 13 | Austin Cindric | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16.5 | 75.7 | ||
| 14 | Austin Dillon | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 16.3 | 73.8 | ||
| 15 | Chase Briscoe | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 55.9 | ||
| 16 | Kevin Harvick | 33 | 5 | 3 | 12 | 19 | 1 | 9.1 | 108.5 |
Will one of the Playoff drivers earn that automatic advance to the next round by scoring the win in Kansas?
Will there be another “spoiler” with a driver not playoff eligible winning the race?
Will more Playoff drivers have issues and make things harder to advance in the post-season as a result?
These questions and more will be answered when the winds blow and cars race at Kansas Speedway this Sunday, September 11th starting at 2 p.m. central time (3 p.m. eastern time) in the Hollywood Casino 400 Presented by Barstool Sportsbook
By: Buck Stevens
