The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
May 6, 2016
What to Watch: Friday
by The Frontstretch Staff
Records and facts
Last year, Kevin Harvick looked to be in good position to pick up another win until a late caution for Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. hitting the wall in turn 2 came out with 11 laps to go. Harvick pitted, but Jimmie Johnson stayed out and took the lead. From there, Johnson held off Harvick to win the SpongeBob SquarePants 400, leading only ten laps all night. Harvick ended up second (again), followed by Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Jeff Gordon and Joey Logano.
The race was also the official Sprint Cup debut of Erik Jones, driving in place of the injured Kyle Busch. Jones ran in the top 5 late, but lost control and crashed exiting turn 4 with a little more than 100 miles to go.
Jimmie Johnson is the winningest active driver (and tied for tops all-time with former teammate Jeff Gordon) with three career wins at Kansas. Four separate drivers have two wins each. Since the track was reconfigured in 2012, both Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano have two wins each.
Track Facts
Track / Race Length: 1.5-mile tri-oval, 267 laps (400.5 miles)
Banking: 17-20 degrees
Frontstretch: 2,721 feet, banked 10 degrees
Backstretch: 2,207 feet, banked 5 degrees
Grandstand Seating: 64,000
Pit Road Speed: 45 mph
Pace Car Speed: 55 mph
Opened: 2001
Website: http://www.kansasspeedway.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KansasSpeedway
Twitter: http://twitter.com/kansasspeedway
Remaining Pre-Race Schedule:
Qualifying: Friday, May 6, 6:45 p.m. on FOX Sports 1
Say What?!
"The night race at Kansas is good for the fans. Saturday night racing is pretty exciting for our fan base. I know we all love a Sunday off every now and then too, and it's Mother's Day so I'm looking forward to spending the day with my wife Chandra and the girls. As far as the racing aspect, through our day practice sessions we will take into consideration some adjustability for the night race. I really like the surface of the Kansas track and looking forward to a great race. Last year (No. 48 team crew chief) Chad (Knaus) made a great call and we had a fast Lowe's Chevy and the gamble paid off." - Jimmie Johnson
"Since the repave, Kansas gets better each time we race there. You can move around a lot on the track and run multiple grooves. We've run well there in the past and finished top five at the last race there. Now we just need to put a mark in the win column, and I know I have a group of guys that can do that." - Kasey Kahne
"I'm ready to get to Kansas this weekend. Our mile-and-a-half program has been strong so far this season and I'm very confident we can have another great run this weekend with the AdvoCare Ford. We've had a lot of momentum here recently and hopefully we can continue to build off of that and stay up there in Chase contention." - Trevor Bayne
"With Kansas having the newer asphalt and the amount of grip it has, I don't really know what to compare it to yet. I'd say Vegas is going to be our closest comparison. I know at the Michigan test last year, when we were messing around with some of this low-downforce stuff, we had really high straightaway speeds and the corner speeds were starting to come down a bit. But, tires have changed since then, coming up with something different for a lot of the race tracks. So, I'm kind of along for the ride. We'll have to see how that one plays out with this new downforce package.
"Talladega obviously didn't go the way we wanted it to. Went for a bit of a wild ride there. So, we're ready to get back to an intermediate track and look forward to what we expect to be a calmer ride and keep all four wheels on the ground. We've made some progress on our mile-and-a-half stuff, and we'll keep working on getting even better." - Chris Buescher
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by the Frontstretch Staff
Q: Today, the Circuit de Spa-Francochamps is a completely closed course. However, that wasn't always the case. Prior to 1971, it was comprised solely of public roads. When Formula 1 returned in 1983 after running at Nivelles-Baulers and Zolder since 1972, the track was a mix of public roads and a closed-course section. Name the sections of the course at Formula One's return that were comprised of public roads.
Thursday's Answer:
Q: When Kansas Speedway first opened back in 2001 it was near the existing intersection of Interstates 70 and 435 but there really wasn't much around it. What major sports team now plays their games near Kansas Speedway today?
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