This week, NASCAR heads to Kansas for the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway – one of the most competitive and anticipated races on the Cup Series schedule each year.
As we do every week, we submitted our burning NASCAR questions to the experts, Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi. Find out why Kansas is such a popular race, the drama unfolding in NASCAR negotiations, a look at a recent (very scary) accident, and who they’re picking to win at Kansas.
The race will take place Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on FS1.
Let’s go!
You wrote a fantastic in-depth story on the charter negotiations going on within NASCAR right now and I encourage all of our readers to check it out! Now…not to say the most disrespectful thing a writer can hear…can you explain to the TL;DR what this is and why it’s important (and why readers should go read the article most long !) ?
Jeff: Of course. The tl;dr here is that NASCAR used a divide and conquer strategy during its charter negotiations instead of meeting with the teams’ preferred negotiating council – and it seems to be working. Some teams are resigned to NASCAR CEO Jim France’s refusal to grant them permanent charters, which has created an uncertain environment. What happens if some teams agree to a new deal and others don’t?
Jordan: This is collective bargaining and, like many other professional sports like MLB and NBA, both sides want what they consider a fair share of the league’s revenue. Additionally, both sides are frustrated that a deal hasn’t already been reached and would much rather put this behind them and move forward.
We’re approaching a third of the way through the season: any surprise successes or surprise disappointments so far this year in terms of drivers?
Jeff: The pleasant surprises are two of the Stewart-Haas Racing drivers – Chase Briscoe and Noah Gragson – who have combined for eight top 10s so far this season (and Briscoe is currently in the playoffs based on the points standings). Additionally, rookie Carson Hocevar is 20th in the rankings and has been a very fun personality for the series. In terms of disappointment, that describes most Ford drivers, with the exception of Ryan Blaney and the two aforementioned SHR drivers. Ford is winless so far not only in the Cup Series but in all three of NASCAR’s national series.
Jordan: What SHR has done so far deserves praise. The team not only consistently performs at a level few expected, but they do so despite several notable changes and despite a Ford car that is clearly not in the same class as Chevrolet and Toyota.
Erik Jones had a scary crash and injury at Talladega and he will be out for an indefinite number of races. How often does such a serious accident happen? And what can you tell us about his replacement, Corey Heim? How did Heim fare at Dover?
Jeff: It was a pretty bad fall that resulted in a broken back, but Jones doesn’t think he’ll be out that long. This wreck would have resulted in a fatality 25 years ago, before the current era of safety innovations sparked by the loss of Dale Earnhardt Sr. in 2001. The fact that Jones was even able to escape is a testament to the car safety. However, motor racing will never be a safe sport and there is always a risk of injury in this way. It’s tempting to say, “Well, these things mostly happen on superspeedways,” but we’ve also seen drivers break their backs in places like Fontana and Kansas. Meanwhile, Corey Heim – currently second in the Truck Series standings – had a very strong debut at Dover replacing Jones (he finished 25th). Heim will fill in again at Kansas, where a top 25 finish would again be respectable for someone who had never driven a Cup Series car until last Saturday.
Jordan: It was a brutal accident, the kind you hold your breath hoping the driver escapes serious injury. Fortunately, Jones’ injury was not more serious and he will be back in the car next week at Darlington. As for Heim, he is one of NASCAR’s top prospects and a driver that Toyota is highlighting. The fact that he found himself in a difficult situation last week with no track experience behind the wheel of a Cup car and performed so well demonstrates why many believe he will soon be in the Cup full time.
NOOB follow-up: Does Corey Heim hear a lot of ‘Drivers License’ jokes from Corey Haim? Or is this too obscure a reference?
Jeff: Heim was born in 2002 (!), 14 years after the release of “Driver’s License”. So I doubt it makes sense to him. But I heard “Heim Time” a lot.
Jordan: This question makes me feel incredibly old. Let’s quickly move on.
Who do you like to win in Kansas?
Jeff: Obviously, the trend at this point is for a Hendrick Motorsports or Joe Gibbs Racing driver to win. But if not, you’ll have to watch the 23XI Racing cars of Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace. Half of the team’s six victories have come in Kansas (Kurt Busch and Wallace swept the 2022 races there and Reddick won last fall’s race). Toyota cars have won seven of the last nine Kansas races, including four in a row. So Denny Hamlin is probably the choice, although there are arguments to be made for Reddick (who has finished in the top five at the other two 1.5-mile tracks so far this season).
Jordan: Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson are both very good here, and the fact that they also come in the middle of a season where they have consistently had some of the fastest cars makes them the heavy favorites to win on Sunday. Between them, Hamlin gets a slight advantage due to Toyota’s dominance at Kansas, but let’s not forget that Larson was leading here on the final lap last spring when contact with Hamlin caused him to spin out. tail.
Who are you remotely like in Kansas?
Jeff: It’s not really a long shot, although going for a long shot in Kansas seems unwise anyway. But in terms of value, it’s certainly surprising to see Wallace at +1400 (only the ninth best odds). I would have thought he would be close to the top five because he can definitely win this race and he probably heads to the track with the mentality of doing just that. Beyond Wallace, you could consider an Alex Bowman or a Ross Chastain (both +2000), but going any lower seems like a waste of money.
Jordan: Bowman’s chances are high considering he drives for Hendrick, enters the weekend with a top 10 in five of the last seven races and Kansas is one of his best tracks. And even though Joey Logano has had an uneven season so far and Ford’s problems are well documented, the fact that Logano is +3500 is striking for a driver who usually runs well here – he finished sixth and fifth in both races last year and is a three-time winner.
NOOB Question of the Week: I have to ask again, as a newcomer to NASCAR, what should we look for at Kansas Speedway? Is there anything interesting or exciting about the track? Make us vibrate! (Or not!)
Jeff: For all the talk about where the Next Gen car isn’t so good (short tracks, road courses, and sometimes superspeedways), it shines at 1.5-mile intermediate tracks like Kansas. And Kansas itself has aged to the point where it has become one of the best – if not the best – intermediate tracks in NASCAR. The show has always been good and the Kansas spring race a year ago exceeded my expectations: “Was it a good race?” survey for all of 2023 (93.3 percent). So it’s definitely worth bragging about.
Jordan: Kansas has become one of the most competitive tracks on the circuit, with its two races now highly anticipated by fans. The action likely to take place on Sunday should provide a good clean-up after weeks of discussion about what’s wrong with the car and why it’s not performing as expected. Next Monday, there’s a good chance we’ll talk again about the great race Kansas delivered and how maybe NASCAR should go there more than once a year.
We can’t leave without asking about Fast Pasta. Is this the start of something big??
Jeff: Anthony Alfredo has been on a heater lately. He finished third in the Talladega eligible). And Alfredo now has three straight top-10 finishes in the Xfinity Series, all for an underfunded team, Our Motorsports, that has just 13 employees in the shop. Alfredo builds with a young organization that has no manufacturer support, no team alliances, and no simulation data to help with setups. The fact that it works so well with equipment that probably shouldn’t be in the top 10 is very impressive.
Jordan: It’s great to see drivers like Alfredo and teams like Our Motorsports having moments in the sun like the ones they’re having. They deserve the spotlight they received. The unknown, and the difficulty, is maintaining this performance over a prolonged period.
Odds for NASCAR to win Kansas race
Odds via BetMGM.
(Denny Hamlin Photo: Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)