GFT Facts and Stats Friday: NASCAR Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway
27 September 2024
By Bob Francis, Managing Editor
Go Full Throttle Racing News
KANSAS CITY, KS — After an eventful NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs’ Round of 16 elimination race at Bristol Motor Speedway, the 16 postseason contenders have been reduced to 12 and now have to turn their attention to the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway for the Hollywood Casino 400 Presented By ESPN BET on Sunday, September 29 at 3 p.m. ET on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Kansas is the first of three tracks in the Round of 12, alongside Talladega Superspeedway and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.
NASCAR Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400 Presented By ESPN BET
Kansas Speedway - Sunday, September 29
The Time: 3 p.m. ET
The Purse: $9,222,964
TV: USA, 2:30 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)
Distance: 400.5 miles (267 Laps)
— Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 80)
— Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 165)
— Final Stage (Ends on Lap 267)
Track Facts
Track Length: 1.5 Miles
Race Length: 400 Miles (267 laps)
Banking in Corners: 17–20 degrees (variable)
Banking on Frontstretch: 10 degrees
Banking on Backstretch: 5 degrees
Frontstretch: 2,685 feet
Backstretch: 2,207 feet
Qualifying & Race Records
Qualifying: Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 197.773 mph (27.304 sec.); Oct. 4, 2014 (Round 2 of 3)
Race: Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 152.057 mph (2:38:02); Oct. 21, 2018
Track Records
Most Wins: 4 — Denny Hamlin
Most Poles: 5 — Kevin Harvick
Most Top Fives: 13 — Denny Hamlin
Most Top 10s: 19 — Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick
Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson dominated the race at Bristol last weekend, winning both stages and leading a race-high 462 laps in the event — the most laps led at Bristol since NASCAR Hall of Famer Cale Yarborough led 495 in 1977. As a result, Larson banked seven more Playoff points and is back atop the point standings following the reseeding for the Round of 12, +15 points up on Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell in second.
Don’t expect Larson’s postseason success to slow this weekend, he returns to Kansas Speedway as the most recent winner at the 1.5-mile track, where he beat RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher in the closest finish in NASCAR Cup Series history (0.001-second).
At the other end of the Playoff outlook, four drivers find themselves under the Round of 8 cutline heading into Kansas — Team Penske’s Austin Cindric (-4 points), Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez (-6 points), Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman (-7 points) and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe (-7 points). Interestingly, since the introduction of stage racing in the series (2017–2024), only 36% of the drivers ranked below the Playoffs’ Round of 8 cutline entering the Round of 12 have moved on to the next round.
Playoff Round of 12 Clinch Scenarios: Kansas Speedway
Jump starting the Round of 12 this weekend is the Hollywood Casino 400 Presented By ESPN BET at Kansas Speedway (Sept. 29 at 3 p.m. ET on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) and since it is the first race in the round the clinch scenarios are quite simple — win and move on.
Already Clinched
No drivers have clinched a spot in the 8-driver field of the next round.
Can Clinch Via Win
The following drivers would clinch on their win alone:
- Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez, Alex Bowman, Chase Briscoe
Kansas Speedway is back to Race №4 in the Playoffs
The 2024 season marks the second-time the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 12 has opened at Kansas Speedway (2014, 2024), and it is the fifth-time Kansas Speedway has hosted the fourth race in the 10-race Playoffs (Race №30 of the season: 2004, 2005, 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2024).
Kansas Speedway (2004, 2005, 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2024), is one of seven different tracks to host the fourth race of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, alongside Talladega Superspeedway (2006, 2007, 2008, 2012), Auto Club Speedway (2009, 2010), Charlotte Motor Speedway (2015, 2016, 2017), Dover Motor Speedway (2018, 2019), Las Vegas Motor Speedway (2020, 2021) and Texas Motor Speedway (2022–2023).
Kansas Speedway has occupied seven different positions on the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff schedule:
- From 2004, 2005, 2011, 2013, 2014 and again in 2024 Kansas Speedway has hosted the fourth race in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
- From 2006–2010 Kansas Speedway hosted the third race in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
- From 2015–2016 Kansas hosted the fifth race of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
- Then in 2012, 2017, 2018 and 2019 Kansas Speedway hosted the sixth race of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
- In 2020, Kansas Speedway hosted the seventh race of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
- In 2021, Kansas Speedway hosted the eighth race of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
- From 2022–2023, Kansas Speedway hosted the second race of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
Since the inception of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs in 2004, Kansas Speedway has participated in the postseason each year — a total of 20 Playoff races (2004–2023). Kansas Speedway is one of four tracks to be scheduled in the Playoffs all previous 20 seasons, along with Martinsville Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway and Phoenix Raceway.
Several different drivers have visited Victory Lane in fourth Playoff race
Winning a Playoff race is not an easy task in the NASCAR Cup Series but heading into this weekend’s Round of 12 opener 15 different drivers have won the fourth race in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs., led by Jimmie Johnson with three postseason victories (2009, 2011, 2016).
Team Penske’s Joey Logano leads all active Playoff drivers this weekend with two wins (2014, 2015) in the fourth Playoff race.
Six of the 15 drivers that have won the fourth race in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs are active in the postseason this weekend — William Byron (2023), Tyler Reddick (2022), Denny Hamlin (2021), Kyle Larson (2019), Chase Elliott (2018) and Joey Logano (2014, 2015).
Which Playoff drivers to watch at Kansas Speedway
A total of 14 different drivers have won the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff races at Kansas Speedway, and five of the 14 are active in the postseason this weekend at Kansas — Joey Logano (three wins), Chase Elliott. Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson and Tyler Reddick (each have one).
Team Penske’s Joey Logano leads the NASCAR Cup Series in Playoff wins at Kansas Speedway with three postseason victories (2014, 2015, 2020).
23XI Racing drivers have won the last two Kansas Speedway Playoff races. Tyler Reddick, who is currently ranked third in the Playoff standings 20 points above the Round of 8 cut line, is the most recent Playoff race winner at Kansas Speedway (2023), and his teammate Bubba Wallace, currently not in the Playoffs, also won in 2022.
All the NASCAR Cup Series on-track activity at Kansas Speedway gets rolling with practice and Busch Light Pole Qualifying on Saturday, September 28 from 1 p.m. — 3 p.m. ET on the USA Network, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
This weekend, 10 of the 19 NASCAR Cup Series Kansas Speedway race winners are entered in Sunday’s event.
Playoff Driver Rankings for Kansas Speedway
Playoff Bubble: Three races to make the Round of 8
With the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs’ Round of 12 getting underway this weekend, four drivers find themselves in a point standings hole that they must climb out of to make it into the next round of the postseason.
The four drivers outside the Playoffs Round of 8 cutoff and chasing Team Penske’s Joey Logano in the eighth and final transfer position to the next round is Team Penske’s Austin Cindric (-4 points), Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez (-6 points), Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman (-7 points) and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe (-7 points).
GFT AI Race Prediction Model Picks for Kansas
(Will be updated after Practice and Qualifying)
**NOTE** Be sure to follow us on X (aka Twitter) to see the updated GFT NASCAR Fantasy Live picks AFTER our AI models ingest the Practice and Qualifying data. For a Sunday race, this usually happens overnight Saturday and is published Sunday morning at least 2 hours before the green flag.
