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In The Know – Kansas

NASCAR CUP SERIES OVERVIEW:

●  Event:  Hollywood Casino 400 (Round 28 of 36)

●  Time/Date:  3 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Sept. 10

●  Location:  Kansas Speedway in Kansas City

●  Layout:  1.5-mile oval

●  Laps/Miles:  267 laps/400.5 miles

●  Stage Lengths:  Stage 1: 80 laps / Stage 2: 85 laps / Final Stage: 102 laps

●  TV/Radio:  USA / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

SHR FAST FACTS:

Kevin Harvick:

Harvick is tied for the second-most wins at Kansas with Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, all of whom have three victories apiece. Denny Hamlin leads with the most victories at Kansas, as his win in the series’ previous race at the 1.5-mile oval in May gave him four triumphs to break what had been a five-way tie. Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 marks the 36th Cup Series race at Kansas.

Aric Almirola:

In 22 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Almirola has seven top-10 finishes and has led 69 laps. He finished 13th at Kansas earlier this year.

Chase Briscoe:

Prior to Briscoe’s Cup Series debut, he had only competed on pavement in 133 races across the ARCA Menards Series, the former K&N West Series, the NASCAR Truck Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Briscoe jumped straight from dirt cars to ARCA and, just last weekend at Florence (S.C.) Motor Speedway, he competed in his second pavement Late Model race. Briscoe drove his Mahindra Tractors-sponsored Chad Bryant Racing entry to a second-place finish.

Ryan Preece:

Sunday’s race at the 1.5-mile Kansas oval will mark Preece’s eighth career Cup Series start at the track. He has a best finish of 12th after starting 28th in the October 2019 race with JTG-Daugherty Racing. In this year’s first Kansas event in May, Preece and the No. 41 team had a tough weekend, qualifying 28th and finishing 27th. Preece has two NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Kansas (2016 and 2018) and one in the NASCAR Truck Series, when he started seventh and finished third in September 2022.

OUR WEEKLY WRAPS:

WHAT OUR DRIVERS ARE SAYING:

Kevin Harvick, Driver of the No. 4 SUNNYD Ford Mustang:

What will make this year’s playoffs a success for you?

“My goal was to be competitive, and we’ve been fortunate to do that, for the most part. There were a couple of weeks where we weren’t very competitive, but it seems that’s kind of the norm with this particular car. You just want to go as far as you can and do everything that you can to maximize each and every week, and that’s what we’re good it.”

Aric Almirola, Driver of the No. 10 Smithfield/Whataburger Ford Mustang:

Do you feel like you made a statement as a team after your solid run at Darlington? 

“Absolutely. I know we finished 14th, but that was with damage to the nose and splitter we couldn’t fix. All of our cars showed speed. Kevin (Harvick) had one of the fastest cars up there in clean air, too, and Chase (Briscoe) ran around the top-10, too. Our organization hit on something and I think you’re going to see more of that for the rest of the season.” 

Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang:

We’ve seen a lot of speed out of the No. 14 team the last few weeks before something gets in the way of a finish that reflects that. Do you feel encouraged by the progress that’s been made?

“Yeah, we’re definitely seeing improvement. I wish we had the results to reflect that, but we can look back and see that we are making progress and things are coming together. We just have to figure out how to close it out. We’ve had some weird things happen, like the lugnut at Watkins Glen, and some cautions that haven’t gone our way, but overall, it’s definitely encouraging to see we’re headed in the right direction toward the end of the season.”

Ryan Preece, Driver of the No. 41 United Rentals Ford Mustang:

What do you see as the biggest challenge at Kansas Speedway?

“Typically, Kansas is a track where you fight being loose and each corner can be so different. It’s going to be important to find a good balance between being too loose and too free. We’ve fought that battle before and me and my crew chief, Chad Johnston, know what to expect. We’ve been working really hard every week to put focus into certain things that we can control. And like I said, track position, it’s going to be the biggest thing.”