STEWART-HAAS RACING
Hollywood Casino 400
Date: Oct. 24, 2021
Event: Hollywood Casino 400 (Round 34 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Kansas Speedway in Kansas City (1.5-mile oval)
Format: 267 laps, broken into three stages (80 laps/80 laps/107 laps)
Race Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: William Byron of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
SHR Race Finish:
● Kevin Harvick (Started 11th, Finished 3rd / Running, completed 267 of 267 laps)
● Cole Custer (Started 22nd, Finished 18th / Running, completed 266 of 267 laps)
● Chase Briscoe (Started 19th, Finished 19th / Running, completed 266 of 267 laps)
● Aric Almirola (Started 20th, Finished 26th / Running, completed 263 of 267 laps)
SHR Points:
● Kevin Harvick (9th with 2,293 points)
● Aric Almirola (15th with 2,147 points)
● Chase Briscoe (23rd with 638 points)
● Cole Custer (27th with 533 points)
Playoff Standings (One race to go in Round of 8):
1. Kyle Larson (4,181 points) 2 wins
2. Chase Elliott (4,107 points) +34
3. Denny Hamlin (4,105 points) +32
4. Kyle Busch (4,074 points) +1
5. Ryan Blaney (4,073 points) -1
6. Martin Truex Jr. (4,071 points) -3
7. Brad Keselowski (4,068 points) -6
8. Joey Logano (4,048 points) -26
SHR Notes:
● Harvick earned his 10th top-five and his 23rd top-10 of the season.
● This was Harvick’s 11th top-three in 32 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Kansas. It was also his 12th top-five and 19th top-10 at Kansas, each of which are the most among NASCAR Cup Series drivers.
● This was Harvick’s third straight top-three at Kansas. He scored runner-up finishes in his prior two visits to the track.
● This was Harvick’s second straight top-five. He finished fifth in the series’ prior race at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.
● Harvick finished sixth in Stage 1 to earn five bonus points and fifth in Stage 2 to earn six more bonus points.
● Briscoe was the highest finishing NASCAR Cup Series rookie for the 29th time this season.
● Briscoe’s 19th-place result bettered his previous best finish at Kansas – 20th, earned in his first start at the track in May.
Race Notes:
● Kyle Larson won the Hollywood Casino 400 to score his 15th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his series-leading ninth of the season and his first at Kansas. His margin over second-place Chase Elliott was 3.619 seconds.
● There were seven caution periods for a total of 33 laps.
● Only 15 of the 40 drivers in the Hollywood Casino 400 finished on the lead lap.
Kansas Quotes
Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Subway Delivery Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“We were just getting tight at the end of the runs and the 5 (Larson), 9 (Elliott) and 1 (Busch) cars could really hold it wide open. I needed to get past the 5 so I was trying to hold it wide open and had a lot of wheel into it and got a little tight as we went to the last half of that run. I’m really proud of everyone on the Subway Delivery Ford Mustang. We closed a huge gap at 1.5-mile racetracks and everyone is doing a great job.”
Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Farmland/Hy-Vee Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“It was a pretty tough day. We had good speed early on, but our Farmland/Hy-Vee Mustang was just too tight, and I couldn’t get it to turn without it getting really tight on exit. The guys did all they could, it’s just tough to come back from being a few laps down. We’ll regroup and head on to Martinsville.”
Cole Custer, driver of the No. 41 Feeding America®/Wow Wow Classic Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“I felt like we had a good car, better than we’ve had, and our Feeding America®/Wow Wow Classic Waffles Ford team did a good job of making it better today. It wasn’t perfect, by any means, but we just needed a little better luck getting the Lucky Dog so we could go racing there at the end. But it was a good job by everyone today.”
Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 DEKALB Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“It was a tough day with the DEKALB Ford. The handling just was never where we needed it to be. The team did a good job of making something out of it, getting one of the laps back that we lost. We will just take it and look to Martinsville.”
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Xfinity 500 on Sunday, Oct. 31, at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. It is the penultimate race of the 10-race playoffs and the final race in the Round of 8. It starts at 2 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBC and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
-SHR-
