In The Know – KANSAS
We’re bringing the sweet heat to Kansas Speedway, NASCAR’s Home in the Heartland. Get up to speed on everything you need to know for the race this weekend from broadcast info to driver soundbites.
The Details
NASCAR Cup Series Overview
● Event: AdventHealth 400 (Round 13 of 36)
● Time/Date: 3 p.m. EDT on Sunday, May 15
● Location: Kansas Speedway in Kansas City
● Layout: 1.5-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 267 laps/400 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 80 laps / Stage 2: 85 laps / Final Stage: 102 laps
● TV/Radio: FS1 / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
The BROADCAST
Ready to watch some racing this weekend? You can catch all the action from Kansas on FS1.
SHR FAST FACTS
Kevin Harvick:
Harvick has competed at the track for every one of its Cup Series races – one of only three drivers to do so (Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman being the others) – and has amassed quite the history in his 32 career starts. Three wins, five second-place finishes, 11 top-threes, 12 top-fives, 19 top-10s and 949 laps led make Harvick one of the most successful drivers in Kansas’ relatively young history. His average start is 13.1, his average finish is 8.9 and he has a lap completion rate of 98.7 percent.
Harvick’s recent history at Kansas amplifies his overall record at the 1.5-mile oval. Harvick has five straight top-10 finishes in his last five NASCAR Cup Series starts at Kansas. In his last four Kansas races, he has four consecutive top-fives. And in his last three Kansas races, Harvick has finished among the top-three, a run that includes two second-place finishes (May 2021 and October 2020).
Harvick scored his first NASCAR Cup Series win at Kansas in the 2013 Hollywood Casino 400 with a massive 1.140-second margin over runner-up Kurt Busch. Harvick scored his next Kansas win in the 2016 Hollywood Casino 400 with another impressive performance, crossing the stripe 1.183 seconds ahead of next best Carl Edwards. Harvick’s most recent Kansas victory came in May 2018 when he beat Martin Truex, Jr., by .390 of a second.
No one has led more laps at Kansas than Harvick. His 949 laps led around the 1.5-mile oval are 146 more laps than Truex, his nearest pursuer in this category.
Aric Almirola:
In 20 NASCAR Cup Series starts, Almirola has seven top-10 finishes and has led 69 laps.
Almirola arrives at Kansas 12th in the driver standings with 311 points, 142 out of first.
Chase Briscoe:
Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) is 13th in the driver championship point standings, 166 points out of first. With just 12 races complete, he currently holds a spot in the 16-driver playoff field by way of his March 13 win at Phoenix Raceway.
Briscoe racked up a pair of top-20 finishes in last year’s Cup Series races at Kansas with a best finish of 19th in the October event. Before he arrived in the Cup Series, Briscoe scored several strong runs at the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway in NASCAR’s Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series. Among his four Xfinity Series starts there, he has a pair of top-three finishes, including a win in opening race of the Round of 8 in the 2020 playoffs. He also placed fifth in his lone NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start at Kansas.
Kansas is also the site of the last of Briscoe’s six ARCA Menards Series victories in 2016, which propelled him to the series championship. He totaled 14 top-fives and 18 top-10s in 20 ARCA races that year. In the October 2016 Kansas 150, Briscoe started from the pole and led twice for a race-high 67 laps to secure the victory by 1.464 seconds over Austin Cindric.
Cole Custer:
Sunday’s 400-mile race will be Custer’s 88th Cup Series start and his fifth at Kansas. His Kansas debut resulted in a seventh-place finish in July 2020 en route to earning that year’s Rookie of the Year honors, best of his previous four Kansas outings. It was his fourth top-10 through his first 19 Cup Series starts.
Custer has four Kansas appearances in NASCAR Xfinity Series competition, the most recent three in the No. 00 SHR Ford and the first in the No. 5 entry for JR Motorsports, with a best finish of 11th in the 2019 event after leading a race-high 85 laps.
In his lone NASCAR Camping World Truck Series outing at Kansas, the 24-year-old from Ladera Ranch, California, qualified fourth and finished seventh in the No. 00 JR Motorsports entry in the May 2016 race.
OUR WEEKLY WRAPS
We’re truckin’ along to Kansas in our Ford Mustangs, and you’ll definitely want to check out our fresh wraps for the week.
What Our Drivers are Saying:
Kevin Harvick, Driver of the No. 4 Busch Light #ForTheFarmers Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
Your history at Kansas is impressive. Three wins, five second-place finishes, 11 top-threes, 12 top-fives, 19 top-10s and 949 laps led across 32 career NASCAR Cup Series starts. What makes you so good there?
“I think Kansas has been a great racetrack and, really from a driver’s standpoint, a fun racetrack because of the fact that it’s worn in so well. You can race at the top of the racetrack, which is the preferred groove as the tires wear out. It’s faster at the bottom of the racetrack on new tires. But as a driver, having options is something that is a lot of fun. With Atlanta having been repaved along with some of the other racetracks, Kansas has become one of the more unique racetracks because of the fact the asphalt and the shape of the racetrack is so driver-friendly, as far as where you can drive on the racetrack. You can literally drive from the wall to the apron all the way around the racetrack. So, it’s a fun racetrack. It’s been good to us and, hopefully, we can continue that trend on Sunday in our Busch Light #ForTheFarmers Ford Mustang.”
Aric Almirola, Driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Throwback Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
How would you assess the speed of your cars right now?
“The results have not shown it recently, but we have had top-10 runs every weekend. We got caught two laps down on pit road in Dover with at least an eighth-place car and, last weekend at Darlington, we had a top-10 car, but pit strategy is always tough there. The speed is there, the team is there, the pit crew has been on it. We continue to show speed no matter what the track configuration is, so I think we’re where we want to be. We just need to capitalize on those good days and stay out of trouble.”
Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers / Cummins Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
The last few races haven’t gone as planned, so is this Sunday’s race at Kansas a chance for the No. 14 team to turn things around?
“I’m excited to get to Kansas. I think we’ve shown a lot of improvement on the mile-and-a-halves this year and we’ve definitely and speed. If we can put everything together and get a good starting spot I think we should be able to turn things around. The last few weeks haven’t been the best but we’ve got a good group of guys who don’t give up and I know we’re capable of more, we just need everything to go right to put ourselves in position for another win.”
Cole Custer, Driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com / Production Alliance Group Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
You’re coming off a potentially strong finish that came to an abrupt end when you got caught up in a late-race accident at Darlington last Sunday. Do you feel there is momentum as you head to Kansas this weekend?
“Yeah, right when we had things turning around, we got caught up in the wreck on the backstretch. We’ve had a lot of things not go our way this year, but all you can do is move on to the next one, and that one is a pretty racey track at Kansas. Hopefully we can build on the positives from Darlington. Kansas is actually a tough racetrack. You have to move around and work the different lanes. You have to have the speed, as well, obviously. Track position is going to be huge and how you work the strategy is important. It’s a track where you have to put everything together. You have to make sure you can work the lanes good, and work them from the bottom to the top of the track.”
2022 SEASON UPDATE: FROM THE BOSS
At SHR, we’re focused on relentless progress. Hear from the boss Tony Stewart on our 2022 season so far and what he’s seeing from the team and the Next Gen car.
