A Daily SportsLine Betting Podcast
Compared to the other tracks in the Round of 16, the Kansas Speedway -- a product of NASCAR's track-building boom a quarter century ago -- cannot boast nearly the same depth of history or significance to stock car racing's fabric that Darlington Raceway or even Bristol Motor Speedway can. But in the 22 years it's been on the Cup Series schedule, it can boast that it's grown into a favorite annual stop in the fall, one of the midwest's great major speedways, and a worthy venue in determining the Cup Series championship. Quilted Heat Resistant Fabric
The NASCAR playoffs moves on to Kansas for the Hollywood Casino 400, the second race of the Round of 16 and the second race of the season at this 1.5-mile speedway. After a thrilling race here back in May, the stakes have been raised considerably and even more is on the line as the playoff field tries to join Southern 500 winner Kyle Larson in advancing to the next round.
Date: Sunday, Sept.10 Location: Kansas Speedway -- Kansas City, Kan.Time: 3 pm ET TV: USA Network Stream: fubo (try for free)
The second race of the year at Kansas has an extremely tough act to follow, as the spring race at this speedway proved to be one of the best races of the entire 2023 Cup Series season. 37 lead changes occurred between 12 different drivers, with the final lead change taking place on the last lap as Denny Hamlin got into Kyle Larson on the backstretch, sending Larson into a slide along the wall as Hamlin drove away to victory.
THE FINISH EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT! pic.twitter.com/xVd07BYjE2
As Kansas' current configuration has matured (the track was repaved midway through 2012, with the banking increased from 15 degrees to a progressive 17-20 degrees), its propensity for exciting racing and exciting finishes has increased. But this track has a long history of dramatic finishes since it opened in 2001.
The beginning of May proved to be a turning point in Ross Chastain's 2023 season, influenced in large part by what happened at Kansas. One week after triggering an accident that angered both Kyle Larson and Brennan Poole at Dover, Chastain used up Noah Gragson on his way to a fifth-place finish and then had to defend himself from an angry Gragson in post-race, winning some street credit by warning Gragson to back off before delivering a well-executed punch to the face.
Here's what happened on pit road between @NoahGragson and @RossChastain. pic.twitter.com/MMcOLASlgq
Things came to a head for Chastain the next week at Darlington, which led to car owner Justin Marks having to pull the reins in on his star driver . And since then, Chastain's performance was noticeably off. If you take his win at Nashville out of the equation, Chastain's fifth-place run last week at Darlington was his first top five since all the way back in Kansas' spring race.
Chastain's swoon in the second half of the regular season, though, always had a feel like it could turn upon the start of the playoffs. And if Chastain backs up his Southern 500 finish with another run at the front this weekend, it could prove indicative of exactly how well Chastain and his team have prepared for the playoffs and exactly how deep they're capable of going.
Kyle Larson (+500): A win at Kansas in 2021 put Kyle Larson in that year's Championship 4 on his way to his first Cup title, and he's remained among the best at this track since given that its multiple grooves -- particularly the speed you can gain by running the wall -- fits right into his skillset as a driver. In his last three Kansas races, Larson has two runner-up finishes as well as an eighth-place finish last fall, and he enters this weekend on the strength of his Southern 500 triumph.
Larson won back-to-back races twice during his championship season, both of which were three-win streaks. While I'm not going to go as far to suggest that Larson sweeps the Round of 16, I will suggest he earns his second-straight win to open the playoffs.
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