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What do Kansas Speedway, Brad Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin have in common? The three leading contenders for this year’s NASCAR Sprint Cup championship are the most recent winners at the Kansas City-area facility. Hamlin won in April – the last race conducted before the track was repaved and reconfigured. Johnson won last fall’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup™ event and Keselowski captured the spring race in 2011. Keselowski’s Kansas victory was his first as a driver for Penske Racing.

Johnson has Kansas Speedway’s best average finish (7.9) among active drivers.

Keselowski’s lead over Johnson is just seven points at the halfway point of the Chase. Hamlin is 15 points back in third followed by Bowyer and Kasey Kahne. Thirty-five points cover the top five.

Continue reading “Chase Leaders Swept Last Three Kansas Races”

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Joey Logano returns behind the wheel of the No. 18 Toyota at Kansas Speedway. He’s looking to capture his ninth NASCAR Nationwide Series win this season, and third consecutive win. In his previous four starts at Kansas he has two victories and hasn’t finished any further back than seventh. Logano has never won three consecutive series victories. Teammate Kyle Busch is the only other driver to have more than eight wins in a Nationwide Series season as a part-time driver.

Logano is also trying to win a record-tying fourth Nationwide Series Owners Championship for Joe Gibbs Racing. Richard Childress Racing is the Owners Championship record holder. Currently, Joe Gibbs Racing has a 19-point lead over Richard Childress Racing’s No. 2 Chevrolet with four races until season’s end.

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What would a victory at Kansas Speedway mean to Clint Bowyer, who grew up in Emporia, Kan., less than 100 miles from the track? In his own words: “To be able to win there some day … if we could possibly pull this off again in Kansas, it would be … more special than winning the Daytona 500.”

This could be the week that happens as Bowyer heads to the resurfaced and reconfigured 1.5-mile layout with an unprecedented head of steam. Bowyer comes off his victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway – a win that boosted him to fourth in Chase standings just 28 points behind leader Brad Keselowski. The Kansan already has posted career-best season numbers: three wins and eight top-five and 19 top-10 finishes. Although Bowyer finished 36th at Kansas Speedway in April, he was seventh in last fall’s Chase race and owns a second-place finish (2007).

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Oct. 18, 2012

By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Denny Hamlin was right.

His hard crash at Kansas Speedway during Thursday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup test session — and two subsequent trips to the Infield Care Center — probably wouldn’t have attracted much attention if it hadn’t been for Dale Earnhardt Jr.

On Aug. 29, Earnhardt likewise suffered a similar hit at the 1.5-mile track. Earnhardt admitted later that he had suffered a concussion during the crash, and after another wreck Oct. 7 at Talladega — and another concussion — Earnhardt sought medical attention and ultimately was sidelined from competition for at least two weeks, forcing him to miss races at Charlotte and Kansas.

“If Dale Jr.’s incident wouldn’t have happened,” Hamlin told reporters outside the care center, “I don’t think any of y’all would be here.”

Continue reading “Hamlin’s Crash At Kansas Underscores Vigilance Of Officials, Medical Staff”