NASCAR heeds the words of Horace Greeley and heads west for Kansas for race number three of the Chase. Searching for a clear cut favorite could prove to be tricky, as challenging as finding a set of car keys in a cotton field.
The track has had its share of unlikely winners (Joe Nemecheck, Michael Waltrip twice in the NNS), and wild finishes (see Greg Biffle, 2007 as one example). Six previous Kansas winners- Biffle, Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman, Mark Martin, Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson- are in the 2009 Chase. Two of the sport’s top drivers- Clint Bowyer and Carl Edwards- call Kansas Speedway their home track.
TRACK FACTS
Kansas Speedway made its NASCAR Cup debut on 
September 30, 2001 with the Protection One 400, won by that year’s champion, Jeff Gordon. The track has been home to one race date a year since.
The Kansas City track is a mile-and-a-half in distance. It draws comparison in the minds of some to Chicago. It’s got 15 degrees banking in the turns, 10.4 degrees on the front stretch and 5 degrees on the back stretch. The front stretch is 2,685 feet, while the back is 2,207 feet.
The grand stand seating capacity for Kansas Speedway is 81,687.
TOP PERFORMANCES
Jeff Gordon is the all-time leader in wins at Kansas with a pair of victories. 13 drivers have entered every NASCAR Cup race held at Kansas.
Jimmie Johnson really began catching fire here, by winning the Fall, 2008 event from the pole. Johnson is the pole leader at Kansas City with 3.
While racing in the #6 for Jack Roush, Mark Martin ran the fastest race in his 2005 victory with a speed of 137.774 miles per hour, in a time of 2 hours, 54 minutes, 25 seconds.
How about the fastest qualifying lap? Would you believe me if I told you it was Matt Kenseth? Yep, Matt the Brat turned a pole speed of 180.856 miles per hour in a time of 29.858 seconds.
The October 10, 2004 Banquet 400 offered fans 29 leads changes in the race Joe Nemechek won. There were only 13 in 2002.
The record for cautions is 13, which came in the inaugural race in 2001. The fewest? 7- that happened in 2008.
A track record 42 drivers finished the 2008 event. Only 27 did so in 2002.
WHEN AND WHERE TO TUNE IN
This 400 mile, 267 lap event occurs Sunday, October 4, 2009, with the green flag dropping at 2:16 PM Eastern, 11:16 Pacific.
Pre-race coverage on the SPEED channel kicks off at 11:00 AM Eastern, 8:00 AM Pacific- with John Roberts, Jimmy Spencer and Kenny Wallace.
ABC offers race coverage, with pre-race at 1:00 PM Eastern, 10:00 AM Pacific. Studio hosts are Allen Bestwick, Brad Daugherty, Rusty Wallace and Tim Brewer.
When the race gets underway- Dr. Jerry Punch is joined trackside by Andy Petree and Dale Jarrett. Dave Burns, Shannon Spake, Jamie Little and Vince Welch are pit reporters.
WHO WILL WIN?
OK, so there are certain driver who are good everywhere, and have to be considered as potential favorites to win at Kansas. Jimmie Johnson has a win and 5 top 10s in 7 starts. Jeff Gordon has two wins and 6 top 10s in 8 starts. Tony Stewart has a win and 5 top 10s in his 8 starts. Mark Martin’s numbers aren’t quite as high- but he does have a win and 3 top 10s. Let us also not forget that with the similarities Kansas bears to Chicago, that Martin fairly well dominated that race in the summer.
Greg Biffle is good here, too, with a win and 4 top 10s. To stay relevant, Biffle, Stewart, Gordon, Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman and Carl Edwards need to use this race to regain steam. Edwards had a shot at Johnson last fall, before the ill-fated "video game, ricochet trick."
Among non-chasers, Clint Bowyer are interesting possibilities .Lil Davey has an average finish of 12th, and it always seems like the Roush drivers have to be accounted for at the intermediate tracks, even though Ragan is a bit more of a superspeedway kind of guy. Bowyer almost (and some fans says he should have) won the 2007 race as Greg Biffle coasted to a win at the end.
While people have been expecting good chase runs by Johnson, Martin, Stewart, Hamlin and Gordon, Kurt Busch and Juan Pablo Montoya have made dark horse runs. It will be interesting to see if they can keep the good performance up as neither driver has been all that great at this track.
It’s a real temptation to pick Johnson as a winner, just because he seems to be on "one of those runs" at the moment. It’s also tempting to go with Mark Martin, because of his Chicagoland performance and his toe-to-toe with Jimmie start to the chase. Sentimentality would have me leaning towards Bowyer and Edwards, and Lord knows, Edwards really needs a god race now.
I’m going to edge just a bit outside the box and predict a win for Tony Stewart. I’d be very tempted to go with Gordon for his 83rd career victory, if I wasn’t so concerned about his team’s tendency to adjust his car of contention.
Stewart’s due. This chase hasn’t gone that well for him so far, and yet there’s no reason to believe his team has completely lost the mojo. I don’t think it has. Kansas is a bounce back opportunity, and though this isn’t one of those bumper-to-bumper thrillers, that works in the favor of a man who fell out of contention for a win due to heavy traffic.
While forecasters believe this has already come to a Johnson- Martin showdown, I really think this will be a week where Stewart and Gordon get themselves back in it, and I wouldn;t even be shocked by a good day for Ryan Newman.
But I can only pick one. Therefore, I go with Newman’s boss.
PHOTO CREDITS- Kansas Speedway, Rusty Jarrett./ Getty Images for NASCAR, Clint Bowyer at Kansas by Jason Smith/ Getty Images for NASCAR.
