All the things it’s essential know for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Sequence race at Kansas, the second playoff occasion of the 2022 marketing campaign.
The place: Kansas Metropolis, Kansas
Approximate begin time: 3 p.m. ET | Weekend schedule
TV/Radio: USA, NBC Sports activities App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio | Full TV schedule
The purse: $8,338,881
Forecast: Sunny, with a excessive close to 75 levels, in keeping with NOAA.gov | Climate tracker
Race distance: 267 laps | 400.5 miles
Levels: 80 | 165 | 267
Pit-road pace: 45 mph
Warning automotive pace: 55 mph
Kansas 101: Get the complete lowdown
Beginning lineup: The place drivers will begin Sunday
Pit stalls: See the place your driver pits Sunday
Playoff grid: Print yours now
Key issues to observe 🔑
Huge story line
Darlington Raceway shook up the playoff outlook. Many contenders and predicted locks for the Spherical of 12, together with title favourite Chase Elliott, discovered themselves off to a shaky begin of their pursuit of a championship. Sunday’s essential race at Kansas will set the stage for the primary elimination race, letting every group know what it wants to perform earlier than subsequent week’s daunting Bristol Night time Race. 4 drivers beneath the cutline must take the required dangers to have an enormous factors day. And people above must keep away from errors in any respect prices. Who will rise to the event?
Who’s scorching? Who’s not?
Christopher Bell is popping up the warmth on the proper time, rocketing up the playoff standings with a robust exhibiting at Darlington. Bell has completed high eight in three of the final 4 races, with the one non-top 10 coming at Daytona Worldwide Speedway. The excellent news for Bell and the No. 20 group is that his run-of-form ought to proceed at Kansas, the place the Toyotas have been on a tear within the spring and Bell completed fifth. If they will discover success once more this weekend, you may even see loads of people adjusting their playoff predictions.
What occurred to Ross Chastain? Chastain was arguably the quickest driver all through a number of factors this season, main him to a pair of wins and shut finishes on the high of the leaderboard. However these days, Chastain and the No. 1 crew have been reeling. The group has seven consecutive finishes of 18th or worse and is slipping down the standings a bit. An honest end — twentieth — at Darlington saved him within the hunt with misfortune for a handful of others. However he might want to proper the ship this weekend at Kansas.
Driving underneath the radar
Amidst the title discuss, Alex Bowman’s identify typically will get misplaced in dialog. However Bowman has the potential to be a critical wild card and shake up the playoff outlook completely. Although they ended the pre-playoff summer time stretch reeling, a Tenth-place consequence at Darlington could possibly be the spark this group wanted to make a run. Bowman has 5 high 10s within the final 9 Kansas races and has scored stage factors in eight of the 18 levels. It will not be stunning to see him have success on Sunday.
Saturday’s classes
Tyler Reddick confirmed up Saturday with unimaginable pace, roaring previous Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell and Bubba Wallace to take the highest spot within the lone observe session. Reddick put collectively a 32-lap run with a greatest time of 30.184 seconds. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. suffered from a blown rear tire, making contact with the wall and needing to make prolonged repairs after observe.
In a qualifying session with out many surprises, Reddick proved to be a well-recognized face on the high of the board. Reddick earned simply his second Busch Gentle Pole Award of the season, and first on an oval format, with a blistering 29.899-second lap time. Reddick was the chief of 5 Chevrolets within the high 10, adopted by Alex Bowman, Chastain, Kyle Larson and William Byron. Bell was the highest Toyota and Joey Logano, becoming a member of Reddick on the entrance row, begins second. | Full observe, qualifying recap
Race-day staples ✅
Our greatest items of the week — get coated for race day from all angles.
• Paint Scheme Preview: See the brand new schemes for Sunday | Decide a favourite
• Energy Rankings: Christopher Bell trying like an early contender | Up to date driver rankings
• NASCAR betting: Odds for 2022 Kansas playoff race | Underdogs, worth bets
• Fantasy Fastlane: Which group will discover the Yellow Brick Highway? | Prime performs, sleepers
• Title contenders: Analyzing the playoff drivers after Darlington | Learn extra
Catch the pack 💨
Learn up on the highest headlines from the week main as much as Sunday’s race.
• In-car: Cameras debut for full subject at Kansas | Learn extra
• Rule change: New modifications to handle fireplace problem from Darlington | Learn extra
• Suárez vs. Bell: Suárez nonetheless heated after Darlington | Bell will watch his again
• Alex Bowman: Hoping to shake off summer time struggles at Kansas | Learn extra
• Kyle Busch: Reportedly picks a group for 2023 | Full Jayski report
• 2023: North Wilkesboro set to carry All-Star Race | Learn extra
• Champion’s Week: Occasion returns to Nashville for 2022 | Learn extra
• Kyle Larson: Chimes in on Hendrick Motorsports vs. JGR at 1.5-mile tracks | Pay attention right here
• Stacking Pennies: Austin Dillon joins to recap the weekend | Full podcast
Get in on the motion 💰
Assume you understand NASCAR? Put your mettle to the take a look at with gaming, fantasy.
• BetMGM: Breaking down driver matchups for Kansas | Learn extra
• The Motion Community: Daniel Suárez battles Erik Jones | Matchup perception
• Play it LIVE: Full information to 2022 NASCAR Fantasy Reside recreation | New guidelines for playoffs
• Going all the way in which: 2022 Cup Sequence championship odds | See them right here
Coming again to Kansas 🌻
Heading again to Kansas is at all times a deal with, particularly within the playoffs. Check out some necessary historical past.
• Do you bear in mind?: Memorable moments at Kansas Speedway | Relive them right here
• Earlier this yr: Kurt Busch holds off Kyle Larson for electrical win | Race recap
• Race Rewind: Subsequent Gen takes on Kansas for the primary time | Watch highlights
Quick details ⏩
Laborious-hitting, race-relevant statistics, dropped at you by the specialists at Racing Insights.
• All six Toyotas entered in Might at Kansas completed within the high 10.
• The cross for the win got here within the last 10 laps in 15 of the 27 races in 2022.
• Kevin Harvick is the one lively driver with a median end within the high 10 at Kansas.
• The final seven playoff races have been gained by drivers underneath the age of 30.
• The final time Ford gained a playoff race was 15 races in the past in 2020 at Kansas, gained by Joey Logano.
Say what? 🎙
Notable quotes from the celebs of the game heading into Sunday’s race.
• “We’re trying ahead to Kansas this weekend. We really feel like this is a chance to run effectively primarily based on how our season has gone and the way we ran there within the spring. For us, we should be somewhat bit higher than what we have been then, however we really feel like we will definitely do this. It’s additionally an thrilling weekend welcoming Acumatica on board for his or her first NASCAR race, so we wish to placed on present for them and hopefully proceed constructing momentum right here within the playoffs.” — Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
• “Racing at Kansas earlier this yr, I felt like we made so many beneficial properties and discovered a lot as a group. Kaulig Racing has made some steps in the correct route over the previous few weeks, so I’m trying ahead to getting again within the No. 16 Camaro with CURE Token onboard this week and exhibiting the progress we’ve made collectively.” — Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
• “Fortunately, the factors scenario is significantly better than I anticipated, however we’ve nonetheless received to have two strong races. I felt like Darlington was the place we’d battle probably the most out of those first three tracks. The plan for Kansas and Bristol is to get some stage factors and be there on the finish. We don’t essentially want a win, though that might make it quite a bit simpler, we simply must have a extremely good factors day.” — Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford.
