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Sprint Cup
CUP: Kansas – Undiscovered Country
Chase contenders set to battle on a new landscape…
Kansas Speedway features new pavement and new progressive banking both added since the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series' last visit. (Photo: Getty Images)
Talladega Superspeedway carries the unofficial designation as the wild card in the Chase for the Sprint Cup track lineup.
And rightfully so. The best of drivers, the best of cars and the best of strategies sometimes run into a gully at Talladega, and an apparent top-five finish easily can turn into a result deep in the 30s.
The point difference for championship hopefuls is obvious.
This year, however, despite the problems created by the massive last-lap crash that enveloped 25 cars, Talladega did not live up to its reputation as a killer of championship hopes.
Brad Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin entered the Talladega weekend 1-2-3 in points and left Alabama in the same positions – and basically with similar separations.
Fast forward two weeks, and the Chase has arrived at what now might be the new change-maker – Kansas Speedway.
The track 43 Cup drivers – and 11 of the dozen Chasers, Dale Earnhardt Jr. excluded – will tackle in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400, the sixth race in the Chase, is so different from the Kansas Speedway they have challenged in previous years that there is essentially no logical comparison.
In virtually every case in which a track surface is repaved, it becomes a new animal. That concept has been accentuated this week at Kansas with a facility that not only has been repaved but also has seen fairly significant changes to its landscape. The banking has been changed from 15 degrees to a progressive slant that runs from 17 to 20 degrees. The “newest” part of the track – near the outside wall – sits there waiting for exposure and use as drivers cling to the inside, preferred lane, as is usually the case after repaves.
“The track is just really slick outside the groove, so, hopefully, that moves up pretty quick,” said Trevor Bayne after Wednesday testing at the track. “I notice the transitions going off of pit road and onto the race track are pretty steep here, so that will definitely force us to blend later on the straightaway in the race, but, other than that, the track is pretty awesome. I think it’s going to be fun to race on and, hopefully, it gets widened out and really smooth.”
The situation is an imperfect storm of sorts. On one hand are the unknowns associated with an essentially new race track; on the other, in particular, are top Chase drivers who will be pushing matters to the edge to score fast laps.
And they will be racing against the background of two vicious crashes on the new surface in the past two months by two of the sport’s top drivers, including a serious championship contender. Dale Earnhardt Jr. hit the Kansas wall hard in late August during tire testing, an incident that ultimately led to his vacation from the Chase, and Denny Hamlin, still third in points, whacked the wall in Thursday morning’s testing session as most of the test field easily zoomed past the track qualifying record.
There also is a touch of the unknown associated with the tire Goodyear selected for the weekend. It’s a hard, conservative compound, the same tire ultimately used in the second race at Michigan this year after tire issues in the first Michigan weekend. The tire should be durable, but its impact on competition is a bit uncertain on the new surface.
Welcome to the wild card.
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 30 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
And rightfully so. The best of drivers, the best of cars and the best of strategies sometimes run into a gully at Talladega, and an apparent top-five finish easily can turn into a result deep in the 30s.
The point difference for championship hopefuls is obvious.
This year, however, despite the problems created by the massive last-lap crash that enveloped 25 cars, Talladega did not live up to its reputation as a killer of championship hopes.
Brad Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin entered the Talladega weekend 1-2-3 in points and left Alabama in the same positions – and basically with similar separations.
Fast forward two weeks, and the Chase has arrived at what now might be the new change-maker – Kansas Speedway.
The track 43 Cup drivers – and 11 of the dozen Chasers, Dale Earnhardt Jr. excluded – will tackle in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400, the sixth race in the Chase, is so different from the Kansas Speedway they have challenged in previous years that there is essentially no logical comparison.
In virtually every case in which a track surface is repaved, it becomes a new animal. That concept has been accentuated this week at Kansas with a facility that not only has been repaved but also has seen fairly significant changes to its landscape. The banking has been changed from 15 degrees to a progressive slant that runs from 17 to 20 degrees. The “newest” part of the track – near the outside wall – sits there waiting for exposure and use as drivers cling to the inside, preferred lane, as is usually the case after repaves.
“The track is just really slick outside the groove, so, hopefully, that moves up pretty quick,” said Trevor Bayne after Wednesday testing at the track. “I notice the transitions going off of pit road and onto the race track are pretty steep here, so that will definitely force us to blend later on the straightaway in the race, but, other than that, the track is pretty awesome. I think it’s going to be fun to race on and, hopefully, it gets widened out and really smooth.”
The situation is an imperfect storm of sorts. On one hand are the unknowns associated with an essentially new race track; on the other, in particular, are top Chase drivers who will be pushing matters to the edge to score fast laps.
And they will be racing against the background of two vicious crashes on the new surface in the past two months by two of the sport’s top drivers, including a serious championship contender. Dale Earnhardt Jr. hit the Kansas wall hard in late August during tire testing, an incident that ultimately led to his vacation from the Chase, and Denny Hamlin, still third in points, whacked the wall in Thursday morning’s testing session as most of the test field easily zoomed past the track qualifying record.
There also is a touch of the unknown associated with the tire Goodyear selected for the weekend. It’s a hard, conservative compound, the same tire ultimately used in the second race at Michigan this year after tire issues in the first Michigan weekend. The tire should be durable, but its impact on competition is a bit uncertain on the new surface.
Welcome to the wild card.
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 30 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
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