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Logano versus Kenseth – What They Said After the Race

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.

In today’s event at Kansas Speedway, Logano captured the victory giving him back-to-back wins in the Contender Round of the Chase, but Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 was not without controversy

From Logano’s seat, both drivers raced each other aggressively. Kenseth had taken over the lead after a restart on Lap 248 and had already blocked Logano on the frontstretch as the pair approached lapped traffic. When it happened again as they were entering Turn 1 Logano gave Kenseth’s No. 20 Toyota a bump that sent him spinning, resulting in a 14th place finish for Kenseth while Logano claimed the checkered flag.

“It was good, hard racing,” Logano said. “We were racing each other really hard, and I got in the fence twice on the straightaways. He raced me hard, and I raced him hard back. That’s the way I race. If I get raced like that, I’ll race the same way.

“That’s how I’ve always been,” he continued, “and it will always be that way. I really couldn’t be more proud of this team. To be sitting in such a great position going into Talladega makes us feel really, really good.”

In the media center following the race, Logano was asked if he intentionally turned Kenseth. His answer was an emphatic, “No.”

“No, no, I think we both went for the same piece of real estate,” Logano explained. “We both went into that corner hard. I wanted to get position and get to the inside of him, and then he went for the same piece of real estate, as well. I wanted that second lane to be able to stay on the inside of him. You know, I ‘m thinking he may get trapped up behind one of those lap cars in front of him because they were running the top before, and they all hopped to the bottom, but you don’t know that until you’re in the corner, right?”

Kenseth, after finishing 42nd at Charlotte last week, desperately needed the win to ensure his advancement to the Eliminator Round and had a completely different opinion of Logano’s move.

“It was really cut and dry,” Kenseth said. “He (Logano) picked my rear tires off the ground and wrecked me, so there’s no debate about that one. He was a little bit tighter on that short run than I was, and I couldn’t get away from him.

“All day we had him pretty good. I still thought I was going to be able to stay in front of him and saw those lapped cars coming and tried getting a couple runs off the top there and I was plenty clear, got up in front of him and he just decided to take us out.”

Kenseth is currently 35 points out of the final transfer position (eighth place) and will probably need a victory at Talladega to advance to the next round.

Kenseth obviously upset after the race, said he has no plans to discuss the incident with Logano.

“I don’t think there’s anything to talk about,” he commented. “Anybody can see what happened. I know what happened. He knows what happened. Everybody watching knows what happened so I don’t really think there’s a lot to talk about.”

Kenseth went on to say that he did not feel Logano’s actions were warranted by anything he did.

“He just plain wrecked me. He cries on his radio a lot I guess about blocking or moving around, but I mean man, you’re leading the race you can pick whatever lane you want. It’s not like he was alongside of me. To wreck somebody for being in a lane you that you wanted to be in seems kind of risky and not very smart but it’s a decision he made.

Kenseth said he was not surprised by Logano’s actions, but that he was “really disappointed,” saying, “I’ve probably been one of his biggest supporters. It was an awkward thing, obviously, taking his ride, and I was excited for him when he started winning at Penske and when he got that ride and even found him today and congratulated him about racing against each other for a championship.”

He ended by stating, “That’s not the way I race people no matter what the stakes are.”

Is there a wrong way or a right way to win or is it as simple as the ends justify the means? You decide.

October 19, 2015
Kansas in the Rear-View

It’s time to put a nice little bow on everything that went down in America’s heartland.

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.” The vibration turned out to be a loose right-rear wheel weight. It certainly didn’t stop Harvick from driving to the lead on lap 29. The first caution of the race flew the next lap after J.J. Yeley suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall in Turn 2. He would go on to finish 42nd.

The race restarted on lap 40. Joey Logano drove past Harvick on the outside in Turn 4 to take the lead on lap 51. Exiting Turn 2, Tony Stewart got loose, spun out and brought out the second caution of the race on lap 64. Carl Edwards exited pit road with the lead after taking just right-side tires.

Three laps after the lap 70 restart, Matt Kenseth took the lead from his teammate. Kyle Larson spun out exiting Turn 2 and brought out the third caution on lap 109. Kenseth and Logano swapped the lead on pit road with the former being pitted behind the start/finish line, but Kenseth left with it.

After the restart on lap 115, the race went green for 40 laps before Austin Dillon slammed the wall in Turn 1 and brought out the fourth caution.

Ten laps later, Dale Earnhardt Jr. made an unscheduled stop for a loose wheel and would only rally to a 21st-place finish.

Speaking on the incident, he said that he felt, “pretty sure we had an issue. We had a lot of wheels shaking, tires shaking because of the wheels spinning inside the tire. Every set we had today except for one didn’t shake. Every set shook, but it’s a completely different kind of thing when the wheel is not tight. We don’t know which one it was. We came in so quick it didn’t beat up the wheel enough to give us a real indication of which one it was. I knew we needed to come down pit road. We had a fast car, just never really had good track position and got behind. We didn’t come here to run second or top five; we don’t need that we need a win. We had to try to go out there and win and we just got behind.”

Hometown favorite Clint Bowyer got loose in turn 2, overcorrected and slammed the wall in turn 2. Talking about the incident, he said that he was “”following Gordon there and I started to catch him back. I went in and he kind of took my line away and I tried to pull down and as soon as my headlight got out and got some air in it, man it turned me.”

After the restart with 89 laps to go, Kenseth and Joey Logano duked it out swapping the lead four times over the ensuing 18 laps. Championship and race favorite Kevin Harvick (9/2 race and 7/2 title according to Vegas Insider) was handed a stop and go penalty for removing equipment from his pit box. The cause of this was the fuel can getting stuck in the fuel receptor of the No. 4 car and it slid out of the box.

“That’s the first time that’s happened for us,” said Rodney Childers about the mishap. “You don’t want that kind of thing to happen, but I felt like we had a third or fourth–place car and our fuel mileage wasn’t very good and we had to pit a couple laps before those guys were, and then we were going to have to stretch it on the next one. Basically, you had to tell the gasman to try to stay with the car as long as you can and get absolutely as many drops of fuel in there as you can, and it just got hung up as we were leaving. Even what he did following the car out, it still wasn’t full, so that’s part of it.”

Martin Truex Jr. was hit with a pass-through penalty for an uncontrolled tire. During the stop, the right-rear tire that came off the car rolled out of the pit box.

Kenseth had a scary moment with 24 laps to go when Justin Allgaier slammed the wall in Turn 2 right in front of him. Jimmie Johnson made an unusual call to stay out when the rest of the lead-lap cars pitted. This prevented drivers like Harvick from getting back on the lead lap. I think Johnson was banking on a few other cars staying out so he’d have a cushion to hold off the guys on fresh tires.

To the surprise of nobody, Johnson was no match for Kenseth on used tires and lost the lead with 20 laps to go. Logano was hot on his trail in the closing laps. Kenseth blocked his advance on the backstretch with six to go. Coming to the tri-oval with five laps remaining, Kenseth ran into lapped traffic and had to move up the track to block Logano a second time. Logano scraped the wall going into Turn 1, got to the bumper of Kenseth and sent him spinning.

There’s an old saying in the racing world, “one block is fine, but any more and you’re at risk of being sent for a ride.” Hell, it was something the late Dale Earnhardt would’ve done. After the race, Logano said that the move was, “good hard racing. He raced me hard, so I raced him hard back.”

This led to an anti-climactic green-white-checker finish as Logano drove on to score his 13th career victory.

“It was a fun race,” said Logano after winning back to back races for the first time in his career. “What a great Shell/Pennzoil Ford. I couldn’t be prouder of what this team is doing now. That was good, hard racing. We race each other really hard. I feel like I got fenced twice down the straightaways. He raced me hard so I raced him hard back. It’s just hard racing. That’s the way I race. If I get raced like that I’ll race the same way. I just couldn’t be more proud of this team. To be sitting in such a good position going into Talladega makes us feel real, real good. The fact that we’re the only team that can relax right now is gonna pay big dividends once we get to Martinsville. Everyone is a little bit nervous. Our goal is to still win the race. Even though we’ve moved on to the next round, our goal is still to win that race and try to get some guys nervous for next week. That’s the kind of strategy of this Chase.”

“Not a bad run for us,” said Ryan Blaney after his seventh-place finish. “We started off pretty good We were running up front toward the start of the day and we kind of lost the track position a little bit towards the middle of that race. Our car kind of went away; some of that was traffic and the other part was kind of handling. But (the team) did a good job of getting us back where we needed to be, at the end of the race, where it mattered.”

After posting his 14th top-10 finish in his 20th and final start at Kansas Speedway, Jeff Gordon said that his car was, “absolutely horrible. We were absolutely as far off as you could be. I don’t know. The thing qualified amazing and ever since we put it in race trim it just is not comfortable, hasn’t felt good, and we’ve struggled with it. That was one of the hardest top-10s I’ve ever had to go through. I’m proud of the team. They fought hard and that’s why we’re where we’re at. But gosh, that was ugly.”

After finishing 14th, Kenseth said that Logano “was a little bit tighter on that short run than I was and I couldn’t get away from him. All day we had him pretty good. I still thought I was going to be able to stay in front of him. I saw those lapped cars coming and tried getting a couple of runs off the top there and I was plenty clear, got up in front of him and he just decided to take us out.”

Kenseth added that he (Logano) “pulled up in front of him and he lifted my tires off the ground and wrecked me. I won’t talk to Joey. I don’t have anything to talk to him about really. I mean, you make decisions every minute behind the wheel. To me, strategically, that doesn’t seem like such a great decision for him. But that’s how they wanted to win. I’m one of the only guys that hasn’t been into it yet with Joey. I always raced him with a ton of respect. I actually have been one of his biggest fans. I’m not anymore.”

Stats:

There were 21 lead changes among nine different drivers, as well as seven caution flag periods for 39 laps. The race lasted two hours, 58 minutes and 22 seconds at an average speed of 135.732 mph. Kenseth led the most laps at 153. He also ran the fastest lap of the race on lap 116 at 29.037 and 185.967 mph and was the Mobil 1 Driver of the Race with a driver rating of 134.1. Matt DiBenedetto was the Sunoco Rookie of the Race.

Well, I think that about sums up the events at Kansas. Next up for the Sprint Cup Series is the 2.66 mile Alabama roulette wheel that is Talladega.

Until next time, I’ll leave you with this fact. In the Arctic, the sun sometimes appears to be square.

October 19, 2015
Thanks to Logano, Nobody is Safe at Talladega

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

The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford scored the victory after sending Matt Kenseth for a spin with five laps to go.

“It’s just good hard racing,” he said of his racing with Kenseth. “He raced me hard, so I raced him hard back. The fact that we’re the only team that can relax now is going to pay big dividends going into Martinsville. To make a lot of these guys nervous going into Talladega is part of the strategy.”

After leading 153 laps, Matt Kenseth finished a disappointing 14th in his No. 20 JGR Toyota.

“It’s hard to drive a car with the rear tires off the ground. I was moving around the best I could, Joey (Logano) was a lot tighter, a lot faster on the short run, but we were so much better on the long run. I could still kind of get up to the top and get a run and get around him. We caught those two lapped cars, ‘Crazy’ (spotter) told me I was clear and I was, I pulled up in front of him and he just lifted my tires off the ground and he wrecked us,” Kenseth said.

Denny Hamlin drove his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) Toyota to a runner-up finish. Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne finished third and fourth and Kyle Busch rounded out the top-five.

Kurt Busch finished sixth, followed by Ryan Blaney in seventh, Carl Edwards in eighth, Brad Keselowski was ninth and Jeff Gordon rounded out the top-10.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. rounded out the Chase drivers with a 21st-place finish in his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

There were 21 lead changes among nine different drivers with seven cautions for 39 laps. The race lasted for two hours, 58 minutes and 22 seconds at an average speed of 135.732 mph.

Logano leaves Kansas with a 13-point lead over Denny Hamlin. Kurt Busch leaves in third 18-points back and Carl Edwards is fourth 19 points back. Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon and Brad Keselowski leave tied for fifth, 24 points back. Martin Truex Jr. leaves in eighth, 25-points back. Kyle Busch is ninth trailing the Contender Round cutoff by six-points. Ryan Newman leaves in 10th trailing the cutoff by eight points. Dale Earnhardt Jr. leaves Kansas in 11th trailing the cutoff by 31-points with Kenseth in 12th trailing the cutoff by 35 points.

Realistically, Earnhardt and Kenseth head to Talladega needing to win the race in order to advance to the Eliminator Round. Kyle Busch and Newman could race their way in without winning.

Next up is the Alabama roulette wheel (I really hope that catches on) known as Talladega Superspeedway.

October 18, 2015
Keselowski Leads the Field in Second Practice at Kansas

Brad Keselowski was the fastest in the second practice session. 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.

“We know the grooves and all of that is going to change, so we have some speed but we have to keep working on it because you’re gonna see comers and goers as the track changes and we don’t want to be a goer. We want to be one of those guys that comes to the front and stays in the front, so we’ve got to keep working.” Keselowski said.

Matt Kenseth was next in his Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) Toyota with a time of 28.539 and a speed of 189.215 mph. Joey Logano showed (horse racing reference) in his Team Penske Ford with a time of 28.562 and a speed of 189.062 mph. Ryan Blaney took his Wood Brothers Racing Ford to fourth with a time of 28.585 and a speed of 188.910 mph. Brian Scott finished his Hillman-Circle Sport LLC Chevrolet in fifth with a time of 28.587 and a speed of 188.897 mph.

Furniture Row Racing’s Martin Truex Jr., Roush Fenway Racing’s Greg Biffle, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick and Richard Childress Racing’s Ryan Newman rounded out the top-10.

Kurt Busch finished in 16th place followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 17th place. Kyle Busch finished in 20th place, Carl Edwards finished in 22nd and Jeff Gordon rounded out the Chase drivers in 28th place.

Denny Hamlin posted the best 10 lap average at 187.422 mph while Kevin Harvick posted the second fastest at 186.749 mph. Kurt Busch was fourth at 186.015 mph and Carl Edwards was seventh at 184.500 mph.

October 17, 2015
Starting Lineup for Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas

Here’s the complete starting lineup for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.

Row 22:

Will Kimmel

Row 21:

Reed Sorenson and Landon Cassill

Row 20:

Jeb Burton and Cole Whitt

Row 19:

Michael Annett and Casey Mears

Row 18:

J.J. Yeley and Brett Moffitt

Row 17:

Matt DiBenedetto and David Gilliland

Row 16:

Alex Bowman and Sam Hornish Jr.

Row 15:

Justin Allgaier and Danica Patrick

Row 14:

Jamie McMurray and A.J. Allmendinger

Row 13:

Clint Bowyer and Austin Dillon

Row 12:

Kasey Kahne and Aric Almirola

Row 11:

David Ragan and Jimmie Johnson

Row 10:

Kyle Larson and Trevor Bayne

Row 9:

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Tony Stewart

Row 8:

Brian Scott and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Row 7:

Joey Logano and Paul Menard

Row 6:

Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth

And now, the top-10 starters.

Starting 10th:

Ryan Newman

Starting ninth:

Kurt Busch

Starting eighth:

Ryan Blaney

Starting seventh:

Martin Truex Jr.

Starting sixth:

Jeff Gordon

Starting fifth:

Denny Hamlin

Starting fourth:

Kevin Harvick

Starting third:

Kyle Busch

Starting second:

Carl Edwards

And starting on the pole:

Brad Keselowski

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. However, Keselowski will be choosing his stall next to last with the penalty out of Charlotte and Edwards will most likely get the first pit stall.

Casey Mears hit the wall during the first the first round of qualifying and will go to a backup car. As a result, he’ll start the race from the rear of the field. Timmy Hill did not qualify for the field.

That’s the 43 starters for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway which will air Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.

October 16, 2015
Keselowski Earns Coors Light Pole at Kansas

By Reid Spencer | NASCAR.com

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — 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.

But in claiming his second Coors Light Pole Award of the season, his first at Kansas and the 10th of his career, Keselowski didn’t cash in on one of the primary perks that typically accrues to the pole winner.

Because his No. 2 Team Penske Ford had accumulated four written warnings for minor infractions discovered during the at-track technical inspection process, Keselowski forfeits the traditional right of first pit selection, and the choice goes to Edwards for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 (2 p.m. ET on NBC), the fifth race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

“It’s like getting a nice piece of cheesecake without the toppings,” Keselowski said. “It’s nice to be fast this week. We weren’t anywhere near as fast as we wanted to be at Charlotte (last Sunday), which was frustrating.

“And I’m not sure I could answer why we’re faster this week, but sometimes that stuff just comes and goes, and you don’t really understand why. But when you have speed, you’ve got to make the most of it.”

Getting the last pick of pit stalls won’t help Keselowski’s cause, but Edwards didn’t seem to mind the unexpected bonus.

“So we’ll get that first pit stall (closest to the exit from pit road),” a delighted Edwards said after time trials. “That’ll be huge. That’s a gift — and we’ll take it.”

Both Keselowski and Edwards are among 12 Chase drivers vying for eight spots in the Eliminator 8 Round of NASCAR’s 10-race playoff, with the cutoff looming Oct. 25 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Only 14th-place qualifier Joey Logano, who with Dale Earnhardt Jr. (15th) was one of two Chase drivers who didn’t make the top 12 on Friday, has already advanced to the Eliminator 8 Round, by virtue of last Sunday’s victory at Charlotte.

In addition to Keselowski, Edwards, Logano and Earnhardt, other Chase drivers will line up as follows: Kyle Busch, third; Kevin Harvick, fourth; Denny Hamlin, fifth; Jeff Gordon, sixth; Martin Truex Jr., seventh; Kurt Busch, ninth; and Matt Kenseth, 10th.

Ryan Blaney (eighth), running a limited schedule for Wood Brothers Racing, was the only non-Chase driver to crack the top 10. Blaney posted the fastest lap in the second round of qualifying at 195.164 mph.

Harvick had difficulty getting up to speed during Friday’s opening practice session, but the reigning series champion was relieved by his fourth-place qualifying effort.

“That’s a win for us,” Harvick said. “We thought we were going to have to race our way from 25th, so to be fourth is a big improvement.”

Notes: Timmy Hill failed to make the 43-car field… Casey Mears’ No. 13 Chevrolet broke loose and slammed into the Turn 4 wall seven minutes into the first round of qualifying, forcing him to a backup car for Sunday’s race.

October 16, 2015
“Bad Brad” Leads the Way in Opening Practice

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. Austin Dillon followed in second in his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet with a time of 27.803 and a speed of 194.224 mph. Matt Kenseth placed his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in third with a time of 27.814 and a speed of 194.147 mph. Ryan Newman timed his No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet in fourth with a time of 27.879 and a speed of 193.694 mph. Brian Scott rounded out the top-five in his No. 33 Hillman-Circle Sport LLC Chevrolet with a time of 27.885 and a speed of 193.653 mph.

Martin Truex Jr. of Furniture Row Racing, Jimmie Johnson of Hendrick Motorsports, Kurt Busch of Stewart-Haas Racing, Carl Edwards of Joe Gibbs Racing and Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing rounded out the top-10.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. of Hendrick Motorsports timed in at 11th while teammate Jeff Gordon timed in 13th.

Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing timed in 14th. Team Penske driver Joey Logano timed in 18th. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick was the lowest-finishing Chase driver in 27th.

October 16, 2015
Hollywood Casino 400 Preview

Sing a song about the heartland because the NASCAR convoy is rolling into Kansas.

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.

Kansas Speedway is a 1.5 mile (2.4 km) intermediate track located in Kansas City, Kan. It’s played host to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series since 2001. I recently re-watched that 2001 race and I forgot that it was a wreck fest. That first race had 13 caution flags for 70 laps (26.2 percent of the race), 19 lead changes among 11 different drivers, lasted three hours, 37 minutes and 19 seconds, an average speed of 110.576 mph and was won by one Jeffrey Michael Gordon – that is his middle name – on his way to his fourth Sprint Cup Series championship. It was also his last win for the next 31 races.

When NASCAR returned in 2002, it was just as much a wreck fest. There were 11 cautions for 52 laps (19.5 percent of the race), 13 lead changes among 10 different drivers, lasted three hours, 21 minutes and 16 seconds, an average speed of 119.394 mph and was won again by Jeff Gordon. This race stands out for two reasons: Sterling Marlin’s wreck on the backstretch that broke his neck and ended his time as a top level NASCAR driver and Jimmie Johnson became the first ever rookie to lead the Sprint Cup Series points.

Despite 19 races, Kansas hasn’t had that “marquee” moment that defines it or gives the track a personality. When you think of Daytona, you think speed, packs, carnage and glory. When you think of Bristol, you think small, fast and action-packed. When you think of Darlington, you think tradition, old school and black marks. But Kansas just doesn’t have the defining trait that makes it stand out. It’s basically just another track on the schedule.

However, I could argue that Kansas is close to being a track for carnage and mayhem. Since the in-season repave in 2012, the number of cautions we see in a race jumped into the double-digit average. In the last six races at Kansas, we’ve had 14, eight, 15, eight, eight and nine cautions for an average of 10.3 cautions per race. Of those 62 cautions, 51 have been for wrecks. The first caution of the race flies on average at lap 28. The earliest the first caution has come out in those six races has been on the second lap in the Chase race in 2013. The latest the first caution has flown has been on lap 72 in last year’s Chase race. The final caution flies on average with 35 laps to go. The furthest from the final lap the last green flag flew was with 64 laps to go in May of 2014. The closest to the final lap the last green flag flew was with six laps to go this past May.

It’s also worth noting that there’s only been one green-white-checker finish at Kansas Speedway.

As I mentioned in my piece on why the Contender Round favored Jeff Gordon, his top-10 average is his eighth best of any track and his top-five average is his third best. He finished fourth here back in May and I think Jeff Gordon could battle for the win this Sunday. Being at the bottom of the Chase grid, I could expect to see Matt Kenseth throwing caution to the wind and racing up front. I can’t discount Kevin Harvick. Hell, it would be wise for defending race winner Joey Logano to win this race to force his rivals to race for their lives next week at Talladega.

So who will win and not have to worry about Talladega? Find out this Sunday at 1:30 p.m. on NBC. You can also hear the radio broadcast on the Motor Racing Network and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.

Joe Moore, Jeff Striegle and Rusty Wallace will work the booth. Dave Moody will work Turns 1 and 2 from a billboard outside Turn 2. Mike Bagley will work turns 3 and 4 from a billboard outside Turn 3. Alex Hayden, Winston Kelley and Steve Post will work pit road.

*Lineup is always subject to change.

October 15, 2015
Weekend Schedule for Kansas

Here’s the weekend lineup for the NASCAR weekend at Kansas Speedway.

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. I’ve seen some conflicting reports on this with some outlets saying NBCSN and others saying CNBC. The XFINITY Series hits the track at 2:30 p.m. for their first practice session. That can be seen on NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra. They’ll be on track again for their final practice session at 4:30 p.m. on NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra. Sprint Cup Series qualifying begins at 6:00 p.m. on NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra. You can also hear the radio broadcast on MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio (subscription required for the latter). Forty-four cars are entered for the race, so one will fail to make the field.

The Sprint Cup cars hit the track on Saturday for their second practice session at 11:30 a.m. on CNBC and NBC Sports Live Extra. XFINITY Series qualifying starts at 12:30 p.m. on NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra. With 41 cars on the entry list, one will fail to make the show. Sprint Cup Series final practice starts at 2:30 p.m. on NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra. Countdown to Green for the XFINITY race starts at 3:30 p.m. on NBCSN. The green flag flies for the Kansas Lottery 300 at approximately 4:18 p.m. on NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra. You can also hear the radio broadcast on MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.

NASCAR Raceday hits the air Sunday at 11:00 a.m. on Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports Go. NASCAR America Sunday starts at 1:00 p.m. on NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra. Countdown to Green starts at 1:30 p.m. on NBC. Motor Racing Network hits the air at 1:30 p.m. Pre-race ceremonies begin at 2:00 p.m. The green flag for the Hollywood Casino 400 flies at approximately 2:31 p.m. on NBC and NBC Sports Live Extra. You can also hear the radio broadcast on MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. The post-race show starts shortly after the conclusion of the race on NBCSN. NASCAR Victory Lap starts at 6:30 p.m. on NBCSN. NASCAR Victory Lane starts at midnight on Fox Sports 1.

October 15, 2015
Surprising and Not Surprising: Kansas Hollywood Casino 400

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.

Surprising: There were surprisingly two drivers after the checkered flag flew that thought that they had won the race.

One driver, Joey Logano, did indeed end up in Victory Lane, securing his place in the Eliminator Round of the Chase competition, while Kyle Busch, who has so often had tremendously bad luck at Kansas, finished third in a run that felt to him more like a win.

“It’s a dream come true,” Logano said after winning his fifth of the season and his first ever at Kansas Speedway. “It’s a dream season so far. We’ve just got to keep finishing it off.”

“It is awesome to be back in victory lane again,” Logano continued. “We were able to capitalize and do what we needed to do. It was fun.”

“I won today, I just didn’t get champagne and a trophy,” Kyle Busch said after posting only his third top-10 finish in 15 races at Kansas Speedway. ““To get through Kansas feels nice.”

“I set my mind to it that there is no reason why we can’t run good here. There is absolutely no reason and other guys can do it so I can do it and my teammates can do it — there is no reason,” Busch continued. “We did that here today and it felt good.”

Both drivers also had winning days in the point standings as Logano is just six points ahead of Busch after the Kansas race.

Not Surprising: One of the first gestures after the race was over was from rookie Kyle Larson, demonstrating with about an inch between his index finger and thumb just how close he was yet again to winning.

This was Larson’s 15th top-10 finish of the season and he was again the highest finishing rookie, in fact for the 21st time.

“We were good all weekend long,” Larson said. “I thought me and Joey were dead even there at the end. It was hard for me to gain on him. We would go within a hundredth of each other it seemed like on every lap. I was able to close on him at one point, but just couldn’t do anything.”

“Good finish. We’ll get some wins here soon hopefully before the end of the year, and I think once we get one, we should be up here more often as a winner.”

Surprising: For at least one Chase contender, the Kansas race ended up being what has traditionally been defined as “a potentially lethal game of chance in which a “player” places a single round in a revolver, spins the cylinder, places the muzzle against their head, and pulls the trigger.”

“It was just Russian roulette and it was our turn,” Brad Keselowski said after a tire issue sent him into the wall for a 36th place finish. “We blew the right front tire. I am not sure why. We didn’t have an aggressive setup or anything, we just blew the tire.”

“We didn’t do anything,” the driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford continued. “Like I said, it was a game of Russian Roulette and it was our turn at the gun.”

Not Surprising: After the euphoria of welcoming his first born son into the world prior to the race, it was not surprising that Clint Bowyer was extremely upset with finishing 18th at a track that he considers part of his racing history.

“We just struggled all day,” Bowyer said. “Got damage early on and our pink lemonade 5-hour ENERGY Toyota was never the same. Hate it at my home track.”

Surprising: For once in a very long time, Richard Childress Racing had a better day at the track than Hendrick Motorsports, with the former having all three of its drivers in the top ten, while the latter had major issues of some sort for every one of its four drivers.

Ryan Newman, driver of the RCR No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet finished sixth, Austin Dillon in his RCR No. 3 American Ethanol Chevrolet finishing eighth, and Paul Menard, in the RCR No. 27 Quaker State/Menards Chevrolet finished ninth.

“Just a good run for the Caterpillar Chevrolet, it was nice to lead some laps,” Newman said. “First time in a long time we have done that.”

“That is good. That is a motivation for our company.”

“We fought hard all day,” Menard said. “We didn’t quite have the speed our teammates did. We made some really good adjustments to get the car balanced out good. I’m pretty happy with a top 10 after struggling most of the race. We hit on a couple of things throughout the race that got us better.”

Jeff Gordon was the highest finishing Hendrick Motorsports car, with a 14th place run. Kasey Kahne finished 22nd; Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson finished 39th and 40th respectively.

“It was a handful,” Jeff Gordon said. “We were having a pretty solid day with the Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet until the No. 1 car (Jamie McMurray) got loose and got into our left rear.”

“We had a little damage but we just lost all that track position,” Gordon continued. “It is so hard to get it back at this place.”

“A lot of people had trouble today. So today was a real survival day. We did that. It just felt like we could have finished a lot better than that. We had a good race car. We actually really had a great race car.”

Not Surprising: Pleased but not satisfied was how Brian Vickers felt after almost wrecking all day, throwing the kitchen sink at his race car, and finishing tenth in his No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota.

“I think we wrecked 15 times and didn’t hit anything,” Vickers said. “We didn’t get much practice yesterday — we had a couple shock issues that kind of messed us up for the two practices. Then we finally got that figured out on the last run of practice. Basically, today’s race was our practice.”

“It just took us until the end of the race to kind of get it figured out,” Vickers continued. “There were a few runs there where we were horrible and trying to learn and trying things that didn’t work and did work. Then that last run the guys said, ‘Screw it,’ and threw the kitchen sink at it with a couple changes where we were trying to learn something for the future and it was just awesome.”

“Considering everything we had to overcome this weekend I would say we’re pleased, but not satisfied.”

Surprising: In a race with so many blown tires, it was a bit surprising that Carl Edwards’ two tire call actually worked out for him. The driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford finished fifth, keeping his hopes alive in the Chase race.

“That was an awesome finish for us,” Edwards said. “I appreciate everyone coming out here and supporting this 99 team, it means the world. We did not run very well all day but that was awesome at the end, a lot of fun.”

“We put it on the top and ran around and it was a lot of fun,” Edwards continued. “You keep saying we are going to fall out of this and we will keep doing what we are doing. I am so proud of my guys, they did great on pit road. Everyone on the Fastenal crew did a great job and Jimmy Fennig made the right calls and we came home with a top-five, so it was a good day.”

Not Surprising: After another top-10 finish, there was no doubt that Denny Hamlin was in a smooth mood after his seventh place run.

“I’m proud of my team — no mistakes on pit road, just nice smooth day,” Hamlin said. “I saw those guys having a lot of issues. We don’t have a lot of the speed that those guys have, so maybe if we can get them out this round, then maybe there’s a fighting chance we’ll get to the end of this thing.”

“This is a good run for us and this is obviously the type of runs that we need to keep moving on. We’ll take sevenths all the way out.”

Surprising: This team just might have finally turned the corner after a struggle and back luck filled season to date. Martin Truex Jr. scored his best finish of the season with a fourth place run in his No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet.

Since the Chase began, Truex has an average finish of 9.25 and had the second best result at Kansas of all of the non-Chase drivers.

“A lot of effort and a lot of patience have gone into our resurgence,” said Truex. “Everything seems to be clicking much better right now and I look forward to taking advantage of what we have learned and trying to get a win.”

“As I said last week, we’re also getting ready for 2015 and right now we’re seeing the fruits of our labor.”

Not Surprising: He may not have advanced in the Chase but AJ Allmendinger was celebrating what he perceived as a stand-out weekend at Kansas.

“This is the best weekend we have had in a long time for sure,” the driver of the No. 47 Clorox Chevrolet said after finishing 11th. “Happy with the car throughout the whole race, we are just lacking a little bit of overall speed.”

“It was a good car, by far the best we have been,” Dinger continued. “That is the best 1.5-mile car I’ve had in over a year. Hopefully, we learned for the next race at Charlotte.”

October 6, 2014