Tag: kansas speedway

Crafton Gets Kansas Win on Fuel Mileage

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Matt Crafton didn’t have the fastest truck in Friday night’s Toyota Tundra 250 at Kansas Speedway, but he had the best feel for fuel mileage and what his crew chief would call their lucky fuel cell. The result was Crafton’s seventh series career victory.

With truck after truck pulling to the inside of the 1.5-mile Kansas oval over the last five laps with empty fuel cells, Crafton cruised over the finish line with only a few drops of fuel left in his ThorSport Racing Toyota Tundra.

“It was not the winning truck,” Crafton said after getting to Victory Lane. “We were definitely a second-place truck.”

The truck that obviously was the fastest was the No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota Tundra of rookie Erik Jones. It led 151 of 167 laps and was comfortably in the lead with four laps to go.

But it was also one of those trucks which ran short of fuel at the end. It wound up 11th.

“It just sucks – we had by far the best truck,” Jones said after the race. “We were up to an 11-second lead at one point and it’s just so terrible for these guys when we bring that fast of a truck. We couldn’t bring the win home and I saved as much as I could most of the run. The 19 (Tyler Reddick) made us run pretty hard. Being eight laps short, I don’t know how the 88 (Crafton) made it. It’s too bad, we’ll have to bring another fast truck next weekend to Charlotte and we’ll go get a win there.”

Also running out of fuel while in contention for the victory in the final laps after Jones dropped out were Reddick and Daniel Suarez.

The victory was the second of the season for Crafton, the defending series champion, and his second in the last three NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races at Kansas. That made him the first driver to win more than once at the track located on the far west side of Kansas City.

“I heard somebody say that to me before the race,” Crafton, who led a total of six laps, said of the Kansas landmark win. “I said, ‘Two times’. ”

The victory allowed Crafton to pad his points lead to 17 points over Reddick as he attempts to win a third-straight series championship.

“You’ve got to be close enough to sneak one out once in a while,” Crafton said. “I’ve lost some like this so every once in a while when you steal one I don’t feel too bad about it.”

After the race, Crafton’s crew chief, Carl Joyner gave credit to a particular fuel cell which he said has given his trucks better fuel mileage for some reason.

Sprint Cup regular Ryan Newman, driving a truck owned by former Kansas Sprint Cup race winner Joe Nemechek and making his first truck series start since 2013, finished second.

Newman was in the seat as a favor to Nemechek, who is in the process of grooming his son John Hunter for the ride.

“Trying to teach John Hunter a little bit of what I’ve experienced on pit road, how to get everything you possibly can,” Newman said. “But that wasn’t my main goal. My goal was to come here and win.”

Johnny Sauter finished third.

Rounding out the top five were veteran Timothy Peters and rookie Cameron Hayley.

Jones, who won the pole earlier in the day with a lap at 179.396 mph, led the first 43 laps.

For the first 30 or so laps of those, Crafton stayed close to the young driver from Michigan. But then Jones began to pull away. On Lap 38, Jones’ lead over Crafton was 4 seconds.

But on Lap 41, a caution flag waved and on the ensuing stops, Crafton beat Jones out of the pits to take the lead.

On Lap 48, back came Jones to take the lead and once out in clean air again, he began to pull away. On Lap 60, his lead was 2.9 seconds. He would lose that margin – and the lead – as he was beaten out of the pits after yellow flag stops that began on Lap 67 by Newman.

But on the restart, he left Newman behind. By Lap 88, Jones’ lead was 6 seconds. By Lap 105, it was over 10 seconds on Newman.

On Lap 109, the caution waved again and, once again, Jones’ lead was erased as he was beaten off pit road by Reddick, who was involved in a crash with his Brad Keselowski Racing teammate and started the race from the back in his backup truck.

But once again the restart, Jones moved back to the front and began to move to a seemingly comfortable lead.

But only seemingly.

“I didn’t know how short we were, but I knew the fuel window,” Jones, who will make his first Sprint Cup Series start Saturday night in Kansas, said. “I knew we had to save and I couldn’t give the lead up to the 19 (Tyler Reddick) at that point. If a caution would have come out – losing track position is so big this year, if we would have lost the lead then we would have never been able to get it back. It’s just a shame. I saved as much as I could there later on and it just wasn’t enough. Eight laps short, we just couldn’t do it. We had a fast Tundra and it’s just a shame we couldn’t bring it home for these guys.”

May 9, 2015
Kansas Speedway Sprint Cup Preview – Milestones, Firsts and Driver Quotes

As the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Kansas Speedway, eight drivers are locked into the Chase for the Sprint Cup, provided they attempt to qualify for the remaining regular season races. Several prominent drivers are still searching for that elusive victory or the consistency needed to grab one of the eight remaining spots as the Chase approaches.

Milestones:

1) Jimmie Johnson is approaching two career milestones as he heads to Kansas Speedway.

A top-five at Kansas Speedway would give him 200 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series top-five finishes. He is currently tied with Benny Parsons for 12th on the all-time NSCS top fives list and only two top-fives behind Buddy Baker in 11th (201).

Johnson is also one away from 300 NSCS top-10 finishes. He is 16th on the all-time NSCS top 10s list and only two top-10s behind James Hylton in 15th (301).

In the 18 NSCS events held at Kansas Speedway, Johnson has finished among the top 10 a total of 14 times. Combine that with two wins, three poles and the Series-best driver rating (112.1) and it’s a safe bet that Johnson will quickly mark these two items off his to-do list.

2) Reigning champion and current points leader Kevin Harvick is 47 laps away from becoming the 10th driver in NSCS history to lead 1,000 laps or more in the first 11 races of a season.

He has three consecutive poles at Kansas (October 2013, May 2014, and October 2014), holds the track qualifying record of 197.773 mph and has the sixth best driver rating (100.4). Leading 47 laps is certainly within Harvick’s capabilities and Kansas Speedway may be the perfect track to accomplish yet another milestone in his career.

3) Matt Kenseth is only one checkered flag away from 33 NSCS wins. Another victory would move him up to 21st on the all-time wins list, tied with Fireball Roberts.

He has two wins, two poles, six top-fives, 10 top-10s and the second best driver rating at Kansas. After a frustrating finish of 25th at Talladega, Kenseth will be looking for redemption this weekend.

Firsts – Now and Then:

Erik Jones will make his first official start in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut at Kansas in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Although he replaced the ailing Denny Hamlin after the rain delay at Bristol, his drive to a 26^th place finish is credited to Hamlin. Jones has one XFINITY Series win and four victories in the Camping World Truck Series.

David Ragan will begin a new chapter in his career at Kansas in his first race driving for Michael Waltrip Racing in the No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota. His primary focus will be centered on securing a spot on the Chase Grid.

“Our expectations are very high,” Ragan emphasized. “At the end of the day, Michael Waltrip Racing has all the tools and resources that Joe Gibbs Racing has or that Hendrick Motorsports or Stewart-Haas Racing has and there’s no reason for us not to be able to win a race and have a shot at making the Chase. Certainly, that is our goal going forward.”

Jeff Gordon won the first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway on September 30, 2001. It was his sixth win of his fourth championship season. He made it two-for-two at Kansas with another victory at the track on Sept. 29, 2002.

Jason Leffler won the inaugural pole at Kansas Speedway in 2001 with a speed of 176.499 mph. He holds the track record as the youngest pole winner, at 26 years, 0 months and 14 days.

Jim Roper, a Kansas native, won the very first NASCAR Strictly Stock (now Sprint Cup) race in June, 1949, at Charlotte Speedway. The event was 1,200 miles away from his hometown in Halstead, Kansas, but neither the distance nor lack of a car would deter him.

He purchased a Lincoln Cosmopolitan and drove it from the showroom all the way to Charlotte to compete for the $2,000 purse. He raced with the best including Curtis Turner, the Flock brothers and Red Byron, the reigning modified champion. Roper finished the race, second to only Glenn Dunaway.

But Dunaway was quickly disqualified when the post-race inspection revealed modifications to the rear springs, a bootlegger’s trick to improve the car’s handling. Roper was declared the winner even though he only finished 197 of the 200 laps. He only competed in one more NASCAR race, retiring in 1955 after he broke a vertebra in a sprint car accident.

Noteworthy:

Jeff Gordon is winless in his last full-time Sprint Cup season, but that could change this weekend at Kansas Speedway where he will defend his 2014 win at the track. The victory secured his place in the Chase and was the first of four wins during the 2014 season. Gordon also holds the track record with three victories and leads the series with10 top-five finishes in 18 starts.

Martin Truex Jr. continues to impress, coming off a fifth place at Talladega to capture his ninth top-10 finish of the season. He is second in the points standings, 40 points behind leader Kevin Harvick, but needs a win to guarantee a position on the Chase Grid.

Outside Looking In:

Some of the biggest names in NASCAR are outside the top 16 and desperately need to make something happen, including Clint Bowyer (17), Carl Edwards (18) and Greg Biffle (22).

Bowyer and Edwards are winless at Kansas Speedway while Biffle has two victories. However, Biffle has only one top-5 in his last six outings at Kansas.

Kyle Larson is 24^th in the points standings, partly due to missing the race at Martinsville this season after he fainted following an autograph session. Larson will make his third Cup start at Kansas this weekend. He finished 12th in his first attempt and claimed the runner-up position last year in October. The race will also mark Larson’s 50th career NSCS start.

Tony Stewart heads to Kansas Speedway in 30^th place in the points standings. After a frustrating start to the season, the results of the last few weeks suggest that the team may have turned the corner. Stewart finished in sixth place, his best result of the year, three weeks ago at Bristol and looked to be headed for a top-10 at Richmond until an incident on lap 361 took him out of contention. He has two previous wins at Kansas in 2006 and 2009.

Driver Quotes:

Paul Menard is 12^th in the point standings and is looking for a win to claim his entry into the Chase. “Kansas is a pretty newly repaved track so it’s extremely fast,” Menard said. “Since it’s a night race it will be even faster than during the day. I enjoy night racing, I think it adds another level of excitement. You can see flames from the exhaust and sparks from under the car which makes it cool for the fans. The only downside is we have to wait all day for the race and there really isn’t much to do. I enjoy it, but I’ll be there ready to go whether it’s Sunday afternoon or Saturday night.”

Ty Dillon is looking forward to making his fourth Sprint Cup Series start and his debut at Kansas Speedway. “From all the practices, testing and races I’m starting to get very comfortable in the Chevrolet SS, “he said. “I’m fortunate to be put in the position to race as often as I do and I’m focused on going out and doing the best that I possibly can. Kansas will be a fun race this weekend, not only off the track, but on the track with the high speeds, different racing lines and competition. Our team will be ready.”

Ryan Newman is 15^th on the Chase Grid and looking for a win to solidify his position. He finished in sixth place in his last outing at Kansas Speedway. “Kansas is super fast, I am kind of excited to get back there after it has aged a little bit,” Newman explained. “With the new pavement we’ve had a few years back, it has still maintained its speed. It seems like we keep coming back here with softer tires. In general, the track has maintained the speed and I hope it’s gained some more character.”

Martin Truex Jr. counts Kansas Speedway as one of his favorite tracks. With four top-five finishes in the last six races at Kansas, Truex is hoping to grab the checkered flag this time around. “I love Kansas Speedway,” Truex says. “I don’t know what it is about the track, it’s not much different than any other mile-and-a-half track, but something about the way the corners are laid out there seems to fit my style. I’ve run well at Kansas, led a lot of laps (251) and feel I should have won a few times there. “We’re enjoying the top-10s this season, but we want to get up there and be fighting for a win,” he continued. “Cole (Pearn, crew chief), the engineering staff and all the guys at the track and at the shop have done an outstanding job. We’re having plenty of fun, but we want that victory really bad.”

By the Numbers:

Chase Grid

The following drivers are locked into the 2015 Chase provided they attempt to qualify for the remaining regular season races.

1) Kevin Harvick – 2 wins
2) Jimmie Johnson – 2 wins
3) Joey Logano – 1 win
4) Dale Earnhardt Jr. – 1 win
5) Brad Keselowski – 1 win
6) Matt Kenseth – 1 win
7) Denny Hamlin – 1 win
8) Kurt Busch – 1 win

The following drivers are currently in the Chase Top 16, but without any wins, are not locked in.

9) Martin Truex Jr.
10) Jamie McMurray
11) Kasey Kahne
12) Paul Menard
13) Aric Almirola
14) Jeff Gordon
15) Ryan Newman
16) Danica Patrick

Top 10 Driver Ratings at Kansas

112.1 Jimmie Johnson
105.6 Matt Kenseth
103.9 Kyle Larson
102.8 Greg Biffle
100.5 Jeff Gordon
100.4 Kevin Harvick
96.8 Carl Edwards
95.3 Tony Stewart
92.7 Kasey Kahne
91.3 Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Tune in to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series SpongeBob SquarePants 400 Saturday at 7:30 p.m. on FOX Sports 1.

May 6, 2015
NASCAR Racing Schedule for Kansas Speedway

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the Camping World Truck Series head to Kansas Speedway this weekend, while the NASCAR XFINITY Series is off.

All times Eastern.

Thursday, May 7:

On Track:

3-4 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series practice
4:30-6 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series final practice

Press Conferences (Watch live at NASCAR.com)

1:30 p.m.: Daniel Suarez
1:45 p.m.: Matt Crafton

Friday, May 8:

On Track:

Noon-1:25 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series practice – FOX Sports 1
2:30-3:25 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series final practice – FOX Sports 1 (Follow live)
4:45 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series Keystone Light Pole Qualifying – FOX Sports 1
6:45 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying – FOX Sports 1
8:30 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series Toyota Tundra 250 – FOX Sports 1 (167 laps, 250.5 miles) (Green flag approx. 8:49 p.m.)

Press Conferences (Watch live at NASCAR.com)

10 a.m.: Erik Jones
10:30 a.m.: Joey Logano
10:45 a.m.: Jeff Gordon
11 a.m.: Clint Bowyer
11:15 a.m.: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
1:35 p.m.: Carl Edwards
4 p.m.: SpongeBob SquarePants drivers
4:15 p.m.: Jamie McMurray
8:45 p.m.: NSCS post-qualifying press conference
11:15 p.m.: NCWTS post-race press conference

Saturday, May 9:

On Track:

7:30 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series SpongeBob SquarePants 400 – FOX Sports 1 (267 laps, 400.5 miles) (Green flag approx. 7:46 p.m.)

Press Conferences (Watch live at NASCAR.com)

4:45 p.m.: AJ Allmendinger
11:45 p.m.: NSCS post-race press conference

May 6, 2015
Corey LaJoie is ‘Taking One Leap of Faith at a Time’

Corey LaJoie is a third generation driver with one win in the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour series, three wins in the ARCA Racing Series and five wins in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East. In 2012 he was named as one of the NASCAR Next, “tomorrow’s stars, today.”

In June 2013, LaJoie took the next step in his career, signing a development deal with Richard Petty Motorsports. Since signing with RPM, however, he hasn’t seen as much on-track action as one might imagine.

His previous starts this year were a NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Kentucky in June where he placed 16th and two races in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series with a 17th at Kentucky (June) and a 10th at Bristol in August.

However, LaJoie is now poised to finish out the season on a high note, competing in four of the remaining five Nationwide Series races, as a result of a partnership agreement between RPM and Biagi-DenBenste Racing.

In his first race of the four race series, LaJoie finished 26th at Kansas Speedway in his No. 98 Medallion Financial Ford. The following week at Charlotte Motor Speedway, he completed the race in 24th, after getting caught up in a multi-car accident on the first lap of the race. He also made his second Sprint Cup Series start at Charlotte in the No. 77 Ford of Randy Humphrey Racing, finishing 35th.

After this weekend’s races, he tweeted, “It was great to race on my home track in front of family and friends. I learned a ton. Just taking one leap of faith at a time.”

I spoke to LaJoie in Charlotte and he expressed a similar sentiment of appreciation for the opportunities he’s been given at RPM.

“They’ve been working hard,” he said. “It’s tough to find the money right now but they felt the need to get me in some races before the year was over. They’re a great bunch of guys over there and I’ve learned a lot.”

Although this partnership is a one-time deal, he is hopeful that the alliance might extend into next year but for now, LaJoie is focused on this season.

“Hopefully we get some money rolling in and I’ll get a couple of good races in this year and we’ll see what the future holds but all that is for a later date,” he told me.

LaJoie is intent on using the crucial seat time to hone his skills behind the wheel.

“I need to learn how to slow down. In everything else I drove, I’ve had to make up for the lack of equipment,” he explained. “You can’t do that in the Nationwide Series. The drivers are too good and the cars you’re racing against are really good.

“The days of driving 110 percent and making up those extra couple of tenths are over,” LaJoie continued. “I’ve got to learn how to drive 95-100 percent within the boundaries of what the cars are giving me and try to work on that and get better.”

He’s looking forward to the two remaining races with Biagi-DenBenste Racing, “They’ve got some good cars and some really good people over there,” LaJoie emphasized, “so I’m excited to see what we can do.”

Next up for the 23-year-old LaJoie is the O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway on November 1 and the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 15.

October 16, 2014
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

Kyle Busch Captures Lady In Blue at Kansas Lottery 300

Kyle Busch took the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway after starting sixth and leading only 34 laps. The turning point came in the closing laps when Busch took command, passing Harvick with 20 laps to go. It was his sixth Nationwide series victory of the year. Kevin Harvick and Ryan Blaney crossed the line in the follow up spots.

Busch stated, “Great effort by (crew chief) Adam (Stevens) and all the guys on this 54 car. It was really awesome again today and should have won at Chicago just like we did here today. Missed out there, but we just keep doing things right, and you end up in Victory Lane, so you have to have it all match up for you.”

Kevin Harvick finished second and said, “They gave us a good opportunity with strategy there, (but) the 54 was quite a bit better as we got going into the run,” Harvick said. “We could hold him off for a short run, but in the end his car would maintain speed, and ours would slow down. We just got beat there today, but that happens.”

Ryan Blaney who finished third commented on his finish in the Penske Ford, “We started off really good and in the middle of the race we were really good. We had green flag stops and Kevin stayed out because he pitted a little before everybody on that previous caution. That caught everybody a lap down and that put us behind a little bit. Kevin had a fast car. We were just too loose the last run and we didn’t tighten it up enough and the track cooled off a little too much, more than we were prepared for. I couldn’t get in the corner. Not a bad day for us, we just need to adjust a little better.”

Chase Elliott holds on to the points lead despite a 10th place finish and leads Regan Smith by 38 points. Regan Smith crashed in qualifying and had to go to a back up car and struggled all day after being penalized to the rear of the field. He finished in 22nd place.

Ty Dillion had a strong day qualifying on the pole and finishing fifth and is currently third (-40) in the championship points standings, followed by Brian Scott (-57) in fourth and Elliott Sadler in fifth (-60).

The next event for the Nationwide Series will be in Charlotte, on October 10, 2014.

Finishing order of the Kansas Lottery 300:

1	54	Kyle Busch
2	5	Kevin Harvick
3	22	Ryan Blaney
4	33	Paul Menard
5	3	Ty Dillon
6	20	Matt Kenseth
7	11	Elliott Sadler
8	6	Trevor Bayne
9	2	Brian Scott
10	9	Chase Elliott
11	31	Dylan Kwasniewski
12	16	Ryan Reed
13	62	Brendan Gaughan
14	19	Mike Bliss
15	44	David Starr
16	40	Matt DiBenedetto
17	51	Jeremy Clements
18	28	J.J. Yeley
19	14	Eric McClure
20	39	Ryan Sieg
21	99	James Buescher
22	7	Regan Smith
23	70	Derrike Cope
24	87	Jennifer Jo Cobb
25	43	Dakoda Armstrong
26	98	Corey Lajoie
27	55	Jamie Dick
28	60	Chris Buescher
29	4	Jeffrey Earnhardt
30	42	Kyle Larson
31	25	John Wes Townley
32	52	Joey Gase
33	90	Martin Roy
34	01	Landon Cassill
35	72	Carl Long
36	10	Blake Koch
37	93	Kevin Swindell
38	74	Mike Harmon
39	23	Timmy Hill
40	29	Milka Duno

Updated Points Standings as of Kansas:

1	Chase Elliott
2	Regan Smith
3	Ty Dillon
4	Brian Scott
5	Elliott Sadler
6	Trevor Bayne
7	Chris Buescher
8	Brendan Gaughan
9	Ryan Reed
10	James Buescher
11	Dylan Kwasniewski
12	Landon Cassill
13	Dakoda Armstrong
14	Mike Bliss
15	Jeremy Clements
16	Ryan Sieg
17	J.J. Yeley
18	Jeffrey Earnhardt
19	Eric McClure
20	Joey Gase
21	Derrike Cope
22	Matt DiBenedetto
23	Tanner Berryhill
24	Jamie Dick
25	Blake Koch

October 4, 2014

Harvick Takes Pole for the Hollywood Casino 400

Kevin Harvick took the Coors Light Pole Award for the Hollywood Casino 400 with a speed of 197.621 mph or 27.325 seconds It is his third pole in a row at Kansas Speedway. The pole was Harvick’s eighth of the season and his 21st top-10 start in 2014.

Harvick also set a new track qualifing record of 197.773 mph in the second round. It broke the previoius track record of 194.252 mph which was his own track record. It was the ninth track qualifying record for Chevrolet in 2014.

“I’m just really proud of everybody on our Budweiser team. We’ve been dealt some bad luck throughout the year, but it hasn’t fazed them in continuing to work on the cars and the speed. The first three weeks we have led a bunch of laps and qualified well. Last week had them covered and a valve stem got knocked off by a lugnut. Keep doing the things that you are doing and that luck will all come full circle and as long as the cars continue to be fast that stuff all comes back to you. Hopefully it peaks at the right time,” stated Harvick.

The outside front row starting spot belongs to Brian Vickers. It is his ninth top-10 start of 2014 and his fourth in 11 races at Kansas Speedway.

“It’s fast — wow. A 27.50 second lap around here, that was a fun lap. All the guys on this team did an awesome job with the car. That was probably the best setup race car on the race track. You’re not going to get through the corners any faster than that. I was really proud of the guys. Hopefully we can take that and take it into the race,” Vickers said post qualifying.

Aric Almirola will start on the second row in third position after being eliminated from the Chase last week at Dover.

“That was really important for us,” he noted. “Even though we are out of it we still want to compete like we are in the Chase; prove we are capable of doing it and prove it to ourselves and everyone else out there. This is exactly how we need to do that. We need a good run Sunday. We still have a lot to race for. We can get as high as fifth in points and that should be our goal, to get as high in points as we can.”

Joey Logano, who will start in fourth, was happy with his qualifying effort.

“That was faster than we were in practice, so that is good,” he explained. “Overall it is a good starting spot. Fourth is good. The outside lane is good to be in. We will try to move up from there and make sure we make good use of that good starting spot. That is important. Track position is important here and qualifying is one of the most important things of the weekend here and I am glad we were able to capitalize and get a good starting spot.”

The Hollywood Casino 400 will be televised on ESPN Sunday at 2 p.m. ET.

The final starting order is as follows:

1) Kevin Harvick

2) Brian Vickers

3) Aric Almirola

4) Joey Logano

5) Jeff Gordon

6) Brad Keselowski

7_ Kyle Busch

8) Dale Earnhardt Jr.

9) Tony Sewart

10) Kasey Kahne

11) Greg Biffle

12) Carl Edwards

13) Paul Menard

14) Jamie McMurray

15) Martin Truex Jr.

16) Austin Dillion

17) Ryan Newman

18) Kyle Larson

19) Clint Bowyer

20) AJ Allmendinger

21) Justin Allgaier

22) Marcos Ambrose

23) Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

24) Kurt Busch

25) Denny Hamlin

26) Casey Mears

27) Matt Kenseth

28) Michael McDowell

29) Danica Patrick

30) Reed Sorenson

31) David Gilliland

32) Jimmie Johnson

33) Alex Bowman

34) Josh Wise

35) Landon Cassill

36) Michael Annett

37) David Tagan

38) JJ Yeley

39) Cole Whitt

40) Timmy Hill

41) Mike Bliss

42) Joey Gase

43) Mike Wallace

October 3, 2014
Leilani Munter Continues to Share Renewable Energy Message Through Racing

Racer, self-proclaimed vegan hippie chick, and passionate environmentalist Leilani Munter is continuing her efforts to share her renewable energy message through her racing.

In fact she will do just that at the next ARCA race in Kansas for Venturini Motorsports, in addition to making a special energy stop along the way.

“I’ll be running Kansas on October 3rd with Venturini Motorsports,” Munter said. “It’s called the Energy Freedom car to address all of the environmental issues that I am passionate about. I think the race will air on Fox Sports 2 at 7 PM on October 3^rd.”

“Prior to the race, I’m going to this really cool town, Greensburg, Kansas,” Muter continued. “They were hit with an F5 tornado and it basically took out the whole town. It was devastating and demolished the whole town.”

“But they did something really amazing,” Munter said. “They rebuilt the town on 100% renewable energy. The last place that you would expect is that this little tiny town could become an example to the world that you can run completely off of renewables. So, I’m going to sit down with some of the families that lived through that tornado and saw how the renewable energy has changed them. I’m going to document this and talk to the Mayor and we’re just going to produce a short film that we will share on line to tell the story of this amazing town and how they rebuilt. I want to show that Kansas is doing this as part of the race weekend. I think it’s a story that many have not heard. I’m really excited about it and will put that out after the Kansas race.”

Munter has also been sharing her renewable energy passion by taking electric routes to the race track. In fact, she has taken her new Tesla across the country to the race track to demonstrate just how easy and convenient that mode of transportation really is.

“I bought my Tesla about a year ago now,” Munter said. “It’s just a wonderful car and I haven’t been to the gas station for a year now. But I’ve also discovered in owning this car how many myths there are about electric cars. One of the many things that people don’t understand is that there is a charging network throughout the country that makes it possible for me to easily do cross country trips.”

“That’s the purpose of behind why I wanted to drive to Chicagoland Speedway because I wanted people to see and have an example that long electric road trips are possible and they are convenient,” Munter continued. “I was able to stop for 15 minutes, just long enough to get out of your car, use the rest room, have a cup of coffee, walk back to the car and go. And it is a free charge and it is also a very fast charge.”

“I think one of the myths that people have is that it is not convenient and that you cannot go long distances,” Munter said. “I felt like it was important to do that to show a real time example. I partnered with my friends from the Solution Project, an organization that I joined on the Board of Advisors. Their goal is to push forward with the notion that the US can be using 100% renewable energy by 2050.”

“The other thing I wanted to bring out with that road trip was to show that one of the problems with gasoline is that a large amount is coming from OPEC, from overseas and oftentimes from countries that don’t like us or countries where there is conflict, which makes gas prices go up,” Munter said. “When you are charging with electricity, there are several advantages. One is that all that money is staying locally in the United States. So, it’s very patriotic to drive an electric car because you are paying money to travel but all of the money stays where domestically. When you fill up with a gallon of gasoline, a large portion of what you are paying is going to OPEC. So, if you don’t want to fund or be part of the problem of spending dollars on foreign oil, then you would want to drive electric. Who in their right mind would argue about keeping money in the United States?”

While Munter has seen her share of resistance to her renewable energy message in the past, she has definitely seen some changes in recent years, with more understand and embracing of the technology.

“There are always going to be people that I’m not going to win over,” Munter acknowledged. “I understand that there are those who are resistant to change. I’ve been talking about this for many, many years and there was a great deal of criticism.”

“But I see that changing now,” Munter continued. “For example at the Daytona race that I ran last year, we actually had the Green Tea Party out there. This is the Tea Party, which is definitely conservative not liberal side of things. They were there because they are fighting for energy independence. They don’t think it is fair that the utilities are trying to stop Americans from putting solar on their homes. They can agree that we as Americans can choose the type of power we want.”

“That is the most important conversation to have.”

Munter also acknowledged that her environmental passions have at times negatively impacted her racing passion. But in the end, she has chosen to be true to her convictions and not compromise her strongly-held beliefs.

“I definitely did make a choice,” Munter said. “There were a few offers that I’ve had in the past to be in the car full-time at higher levels than I am at now. But those companies offering that opportunity to me were not in line with my environmental views.”

“In essence, I want to work with people that are trying to make the world a better place,” Munter continued. “Ethically I ended up making the decision to walk away from being in the race car full-time and possibly have a full-time career as a driver but possibly selling out in terms of who I was as a person personally.”

“That was probably a defining moment for me,” Munter said. “The racer in me thought ‘Oh my God, I could be in a car full-time.’ At the end of the day, I couldn’t do it. So, in that respect, the environmental front to my racing because I made that conscious choice did impact my racing career. I did choose to walk away and in some cases, yes it has hurt my racing career because I’ve had less races than I could have.”

“But I wouldn’t have felt good about it,” Munter continued. “I would have felt badly about not aligning myself with who I want to be and how I want to live.”

While it may have taken some time for her energy and racing passions to come together, Munter is most hopeful for the remainder of the 2014 racing season, as well as the new ARCA season ahead next year.

“Hopefully as the world has woken up to our environmental problems, I have definitely seen a lot more people recognize that what I’m doing makes sense,” Munter said. “And so I’m hoping that they are making choices and that I can find companies that understand why I did walk away and want to support the difference I’m trying to make.”

“Sponsorship is looking pretty good to race in Daytona and things are looking good for me to actually race full-time next year,” Munter said. “I feel like I have more momentum than ever but I will definitely be getting to Daytona in my Tesla.”

“As long as I’m in a race car, it gives me this amazing ability as a biologist and environmentalist to talk to a huge demographic of people that normally wouldn’t hear this message,” Munter continued. “The race car gives me a voice that amplifies my message to a group that we need to talk to.”

“I think we are seeing more and more people seeing that this is a good thing.”

September 27, 2014
Danica Patrick Scores Career Best Seventh Place Finish at Kansas Speedway

Danica Patrick made history in her first full season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series when she became the first female driver to start from the pole in a Cup race at the Daytona 500 in 2013. She finished the race in eighth place capturing her first top-ten in only her 11^th start in the series. Her next top-ten would prove to be elusive, taking another 46 starts to accomplish.

Patrick began the 5-Hour Energy 400 at Kansas Speedway this past Saturday in the ninth position and ran competitively in the top-ten for most of the race. She completed the event in seventh place for her career best finish. Patrick was ecstatic.

“I know that we haven’t had the best of times but its days like today that we work hard for,” she said. Patrick went on to say, “I’m just proud of everyone for working really hard and believing in me.”

Patrick has had more than her fair share of detractors but her team has always stood behind her. Teammate Kevin Harvick may have given her the inspiration for her career best run at Kansas.

“We talk a lot and I think for her it’s just the confidence in knowing exactly what the car is going to do,” Harvick said.

“As we went through the weekend,” he continued, “she kept her track position on the restarts. That’s probably the biggest thing. But I guess the one thing I did tell her was just to quit thinking about it and smash the gas.”

Harvick explained saying, “Sometimes your car is never going to be perfect and you just have to take what it’ll give you and expect that every time you pit, it’s going to be better, and if it’s not, you adjust and move on.”

Patrick’s seventh place finish at Kansas puts her in elite company. She has the fourth best finish by women drivers in Cup Series history. Sarah Christian had a fifth place in 1949 at Heidelberg Raceway and a sixth place at Langhorne Speedway the same year. Janet Guthrie had a sixth place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway in 1977.

However for Danica Patrick, the biggest thrill of the race was something quite different.

“I drove around the outside of the 48 on a restart,” she said proudly. “That was probably my most rewarding thing of the night. I say that with all the respect in the world because he’s Jimmie Johnson.”

Patrick is currently 27^th in the point standings, moving up two positions this week. It is only a slight improvement but it could be the motivation this team needs going forward.

“I’ve always believed in myself,” Patrick says. “I’ve always believed that in the right situation, that I can do it.”

There will be those who say this finish was a fluke that means little in the grand scheme of things while others will suggest that this could very well be a turning point in Patrick’s career. But if determination and faith in one’s abilities is any indication, we haven’t seen the last of Danica Patrick in the top-ten.

May 12, 2014
Surprising and Not Surprising: 5-Hour Energy 400 at Kansas

Even with the surprising but thankfully slight delay of the race start for thunderstorms and lightning in the area, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the first race at Kansas Speedway under the Saturday night lights.

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.

“What put us in second is I didn’t get down pit road very good there coming to the pit box,” Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Jimmy Johns ‘Freaky Fast’ Chevrolet said. “I kind of ran out of gas, and I was paying attention to the fuel pressure gauge instead of the pit road speed light.”

“I lost some time there,” Harvick continued. “It was a weird night.”

In spite of all the freakiness, this was Harvick’s eighth top-10 finish in 17 races at Kansas Speedway and his fifth top-10 finish in 2014.

Not Surprising: The race winner shed some pounds, had a blast, and felt like a kid again after scoring his first ‘w’ of the season. Jeff Gordon, behind the wheel of the No. 24 Axalta Coatings Chevrolet, became the ninth different driver to win for the year and scored his 89^th career victory.

“It just feels so good to get that first win of the season, especially this year with the point’s structure and how close we’ve been so many weekends,” Gordon said. “I think that that’s a huge weight off our shoulders.”

“I just feel so competitive out there, and that makes me feel young again,” Gordon continued. “I’m going to be 43 this year, but, man, if 43 is like this, I can’t wait for 50. This is all right. I’m having a good time. That’s why I feel young, because I’m just having a great time.”

Surprising: At least one Busch brother has felt that Kansas Speedway has been somewhat of a curse for him, however, this time it was not Kyle Busch but brother Kurt who felt that way after the race.

Kyle Busch, in the No. 18 Snickers Toyota, actually finished the race in the 15^th position, while Kurt, behind the wheel of the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet, spun not just once but twice and finished 29^th.

“We definitely didn’t get the finish we wanted in our Haas Automation Chevrolet,” Busch said. “It was a disappointing day all around. We had the best qualifying session of the season this weekend, and we had high hopes for the race.”

“It just didn’t work out the way we planned,” Busch continued. “The car was loose, and we couldn’t tighten it up no matter what we tried. It’s just frustrating. We need to do better, and hopefully we will do better moving forward.”

Not Surprising: Danica Patrick was certainly thrilled with her career best finish of 7^th in her No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet at Kansas. But what really got her going was what she managed to do while racing six-time champ Jimmie Johnson.

“Honestly, the most rewarding part of my night was probably when I drove around the outside of the No. 48 (Jimmie Johnson) on a restart,” Patrick said. “That was probably my most rewarding thing of the night.”

“I say that with all the respect in the world,” Patrick continued. “It’s a big deal because he is Jimmie Johnson.”

“Aside from that I was really just overall proud that we stayed up front all day. That was the biggest thing.”

Surprising: Sometimes Goodyear gets thrown under the bus for any type of tire troubles, but this time the third place driver Kasey Kahne gave them all the credit in the world.

In fact, Kahne scored his first top 5 of the season in his No. 5 FarmersInsurance/Thankamillionteachers.com Chevrolet thanks to the tire manufacturer and their recent Kansas tire test.

“I think the Goodyear test here, for whatever reason, we were able to try some things and just look at stuff a little differently than what we had been, and it helped the 5 team, my guys, myself and Kenny (Francis, crew chief) and our communication together,” Kahne said. “It’s helped us a lot since then.”

“I feel like that’s been the key, and ever since we tested here, we’ve ran much better and been a lot more competitive.”

Not Surprising: Given the high speeds at Kansas and the freakiness of the night, it was not surprising to see some really violent crashes, including Jamie McMurray up in flames and David Gilliland in a horrific wreck with Justin Allgaier and AJ Allmendinger.

“I just lost all the steering and got into the fence and had a little fire,” the driver of the No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet said. “I don’t know if I ran over something but I ended up crashing.”

“I don’t know what happened,” Gilliland, driver of the No. 38 Long John Silver’s Ford, said. “It looked like the 47 and 51 got together and the 51 came back up the track and I hit him and from there a lot of stuff happened.”

“We are alright though,” Gilliland continued. “Just a little sore obviously.”

“That is one of the hardest hits I have had in a while. Hopefully it will be the hardest one for a while to come too,” Gilliland said. “It was a hard lick. It was the hardest hit I’ve had in a long time.”

McMurray finished 39^th and Gilliland finished 37^th.

Surprising: Interestingly, there was only one Toyota in the top 10 when the checkered flag flew. Matt Kenseth, who had struggled for most of the race, managed to rebound and finish tenth in his No. 20 Dollar General Toyota.

“We were just pretty slow all weekend — as a group, really,” Kenseth said. “Lost that lap on that first run — I was in the ‘lucky dog’ spot a lot of times, just couldn’t catch a caution at the right times.”

“We were just off a little bit all week,” Kenseth continued. “Trying to figure out mile-and-a-half tracks — it was our strong suit last year. We’re really struggling this year as a group. We’re trying to figure it out.”

“We got lucky to finish 10th really.”

With his top-10 finish, Kenseth remains second in the point standings, now 15 points behind leader Jeff Gordon.

Not Surprising: Kyle Larson, to no one’s surprise, just keeps reeling off impressive finishes in spite of his rookie status. The driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet overcame obstacles to finish 12^th and score the Sunoco Rookie of the Race honors.

Surprising: Dale Earnhardt, Jr. surprisingly admitted it himself when he shared his frustration at finishing top five and leading nine laps, the same number as race winner and teammate Jeff Gordon.

“What stands out in the back of my mind was how fast the car was during the first half of the race,” Junior said. “We were just flying.”

“But I knew when the temps came down, the bottom was going to be faster and we were going to be in trouble because we were tight all weekend,” the driver of the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet continued. “We got real tight at the end of the race.”

“Just kind of frustrating there because we never really improved the front grip and struggled with it all weekend,” Junior said. “So, frustrated about that but a good result for us.”

Not Surprising: While it was not Darlington, a track where Mother’s Day has been traditionally celebrated by the sport, there was still a great outpouring of love and support for all mothers in the NASCAR garage.

In fact, driver after driver paid tribute to their mothers, as well as their wives, many of whom were mothers to their children.

So, as Mother’s Day comes to a close, the Cup Series will move next into its home track double header, with the All Star Race and then the Coca Cola 600, NASCAR’s longest endurance race, both at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the next two weekends.

May 11, 2014