Good news, bad news for NASCAR Cup teams ahead of Sunday's race at Kansas Speedway
The Cup Series heads to Kansas Speedway this weekend for the first of two visits.
23XI Racing has won three of the four races with the Next Gen car at Kansas. Team co-owner Denny Hamlin has won the other.
Here’s a look at where things stand for each Cup organization heading into the 12th race of the season:
23XI Racing — Good news: Tyler Reddick won at Kansas last fall. … Reddick is the only driver to finish in the top five at both Las Vegas and Texas, the two most recent races on 1.5-mile tracks. … Reddick has started no worse than fifth at Kansas in four races there with the Next Gen car. … Bubba Wallace has finished in the top 10, including a win, in three of the four Kansas races in the Next Gen car. Bad news: Wallace’s second consecutive finish of 30th or worse last weekend dropped him out of a playoff spot. He has scored seven points in the last two races.
Front Row Motorsports — Good news: Dover is over. Bad News: Michael McDowell’s average finish in the last six races is 31.2. … The organization’s last top-10 finish at a non-drafting 1.5-mile track was a 10th-place finish by Zane Smith in last year’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Hendrick Motorsports — Good news: Hendrick drivers led 46% of the laps in the two Kansas races last year. Kyle Larson finished in the top five in both races. … Hendrick drivers have won both races at non-drafting 1.5-mile tracks this season. Larson won at Las Vegas. Chase Elliott won at Texas. … Elliott has gone a series-best 83 races without a pit road speeding penalty. … Larson has six stage wins, tied for the most after 11 races in a season. … Larson has four top-five finishes, including a win, in the last five Kansas races. … William Byron has had five consecutive top-10 finishes on 1.5-mile tracks, the longest active streak in the series. ... Alex Bowman has five top 10s in the last seven races. Bad news: The organization has not won the past two races. That ties for its longest winless streak this season.
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Joe Gibbs Racing — Good news: Dover winner Denny Hamlin has led laps in each of the last 15 races, the longest active streak in the series. The last driver with a longer streak was Kyle Busch. He led 17 races in a row in 2017. … Hamlin’s win at Kansas last spring is the only time there has been a last-lap pass for the lead there. Hamlin got by Kyle Larson after contact sent Larson into the wall. … Hamlin has finished in the top five in the last five Kansas races. … Martin Truex Jr. has a series-best average finish of 9.4 this season. … Truex has 12 top-10 finishes, including two wins, in his last 14 Kansas starts. … Bad news: A JGR car finished last in both Kansas races last year. Christopher Bell was last in the spring race because of an accident. Truex finished last in the playoff race after a punctured tire sent his car into the wall.
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JTG Daugherty Racing — Good news: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s average running position at Dover was 15.4 — his best of the season. Bad news: He finished 35th at Dover after an incident — his worst result of the year.
Kaulig Racing — Good news: Daniel Hemric’s ninth-place finish at Dover followed his ninth-place result at Talladega, giving him back-to-back top 10s for the first time in his Cup career. Those finishes have moved him from 31st to 25th in points. Bad news: Hemric started 38th at Texas and 34th at Las Vegas in the previous races this season at non-drafting 1.5-mile tracks.
Legacy Motor Club — Good news: The organization’s top finishing car has placed in the top 20 in four of the last five races. John Hunter Nemechek has two Xfinity wins and one Truck win at Kansas. … Jimmie Johnson is back in the No. 84 this weekend. Bad news: The organization has led 20 of 3,293 laps run this year. Nemechek has led all 20 of those laps for Legacy MC.
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Richard Childress Racing — Good news: Kyle Busch finished fourth at Dover, his best result since placing third at Atlanta in late February. … Busch also scored points in both stages for the first time in a race since the season-opening Daytona 500. … Austin Dillon has finished 10th in three of the last six Kansas races. Bad news: Austin Dillon was 27th at Dover. He has finished outside the top 20 in nine of the first 11 races of the season. The result is that Dillon is 31st in points.
Rick Ware Racing — Good news: Justin Haley’s 23rd-place finish at Dover is his best result in the last six races. … The organization’s top finishing car has placed in the top 25 in each of the last three races, the team’s longest streak of the season. … Bad news: The organization has not had a top-20 finish at Kansas.
RFK Racing — Good news: Chris Buescher moved into a playoff spot after Dover. Bad news: Brad Keselowski fell out of a playoff spot after Dover. … Buescher has not finished better than 15th in the Next Gen car at Kansas. … Buescher has one top 10 in his last 20 starts on a 1.5-mile track.
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Kyle Busch and Chris Buescher move back into playoff spot.
Spire Motorsports — Good news: Carson Hocevar has finished 17th or better in three of the last four races. Bad news: The organization has one top-10 finish in 74 career starts at 1.5-mile tracks.
Stewart-Haas Racing — Good news: Noah Gragson’s sixth-place finish at Dover followed his third-place result at Talladega, giving him back-to-back top 10s for the first time in Cup. … Chase Briscoe has started in the top 10 in seven of 11 races this season. He had eight top-10 starts all of last season. … Josh Berry moved up four spots in the points to 24th after his 14th-place finish last week at Dover. Bad news: Ryan Preece’s 37th-place finish at Dover ended a season-best streak of three top 20s in a row.
Team Penske — Good news: Team Penske stated that Ryan Blaney’s pit crew had an 8.7-second pit stop at Dover, the organization’s fastest four-tire pit stop of the season. Bad news: The organization has not had a top-five finish in the last three races, it’s longest drought of the season. … Blaney has not finished better than seventh in the last 12 races at Kansas. … Joey Logano has not had a top-10 finish in the last three races. That’s tied for his longest drought of the season.
Trackhouse Racing — Good news: Ross Chastain ranks fifth in laps run, completing all but four of the 3,293 laps run this season. … Daniel Suarez ranks seventh in that category, completing all but 13 laps run. Bad news: While Chastain has four top-10 finishes this season, he has only one in the last seven races.
Wood Brothers Racing — Good news: Harrison Burton’s 26th-place finish at Dover gives him three consecutive results inside the top 30, his longest streak of the season. Bad news: Burton has finished 30th or worse in his last three Kansas starts.