NASCAR Kansas Sunday, May 5, 2019

NASCAR Kansas Sunday, May 5, 2019

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES KANSAS STATS HIGHLIGHTS

• Most Kansas wins: 3 Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick & Jimmie Johnson
• Most Kansas 2nd-place finishes: 3 Kevin Harvick & Martin Truex Jr.
• Most Kansas top 3 finishes: 8 Kevin Harvick & Jimmie Johnson
• Most Kansas top 5 finishes: 11 Jeff Gordon
• Most Kansas top 10 finishes: 17 Jimmie Johnson
• Best Kansas average finish (active): 9.7 Kevin Harvick
• Most Kansas laps led: 774 Matt Kenseth
• Most Kansas laps led (active): 751 Kevin Harvick
• Most Kansas races running at finish: 25 of 26 Kevin Harvick
• Most Kansas lead lap finishes: 21 Kevin Harvick
• Most Kansas poles: 4 Kevin Harvick
• Aric Almirola, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch & Kevin Harvick only drivers to finish top 10 all 3 races on 1.5-mile tracks this season
• Best 1.5-mile track average finish this season: 5.3 Kevin Harvick
• Most laps led on 1.5-mile tracks this season: 142 Kyle Larson (All at Atlanta)
• Joey Logano only driver to lead laps all 3 races on 1.5-mile tracks this season
• Martin Truex Jr.: Dover winner (21st career win) – Never won back-to-back races (Won 2 of last 4 Kansas races – 4 Straight Kansas top 5 finishes)
• Denny Hamlin: 1 Win in last 40 races on 1.5-mile tracks – Texas March
• Aric Almirola: 8 Straight top 10 finishes on 1.5-mile tracks – Longest current streak
• Kyle Larson & Martin Truex Jr. only drivers to finish top 5 both Kansas races last season
• 6 Finished top 10 both Kansas races last season:
• Aric Almirola, Kyle Busch, Erik Jones, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano & Martin Truex Jr.
• Kevin Harvick led most total laps at Kansas last season – 155 Laps (79 in May & 76 in October)
• Kyle Larson led most laps at Kansas 5/18 (101) & Joey Logano led most laps at Kansas 10/18 (100)
• Kansas 5/18: 2 Speeding penalties by 2 drivers (Ty Dillon & Reed Sorenson)
• 3 Uncontrolled tire penalties (Buescher, Byron & Wallace)
• Kansas 10/18: 6 Speeding penalties by 6 drivers
• (Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Bubba Wallace, Kyle Weatherman & J.J. Yeley)
• Fewest cautions last season: 3 Sonoma, Richmond Sept. & Kansas Oct.
• Ryan Blaney: Finished outside top 15 last 4 races on 1.5-mile tracks – Average finish: 24.5
• Kyle Larson: 5 Career wins – Winless on 1.5-mile tracks (61 Races on 1.5-mile tracks)
• Brad Keselowski: 1 Kansas win (6/11) – 27 Wins since (Winless last 15 Kansas races)
• Kevin Harvick Kansas 5/18: 6th on final restart with 9 to go & made pass for win with 2 laps to go
• Kevin Harvick – Finished 12th in 2018 Kansas Playoff race:
• Started 2nd, finished 2nd in Stage 1, Stage 2 winner, 76 laps led (2nd most), lap 214 pit road speeding penalty
• Kevin Harvick after 2018 Kansas Playoff race: “Today wasn’t great from my standpoint. Our Busch Lite Ford was really fast and leading the race there, and I got a speeding penalty. That was my fault. I tried to get a little too much and wound up going too fast.”
• Chase Elliott 2018 Kansas Playoff race winner – Started 13th, finished top 10 in Stage 1 & 2, only final 44 laps led
• Chase Elliott finished 12th or better last 3 Kansas races – 2 Top 5 finishes (1 Win – 10/18)
• Martin Truex Jr.: 4 Straight Kansas top 5 finishes – 3 Top 2 finishes including 2 wins (5/17 & 10/17)
• Erik Jones: 2 Straight Kansas top 10 finishes – Finished 22nd or worse previous 3 races
• Kyle Busch: 8 Straight Kansas top 10 finishes – Only 2 top 10 finishes previous 14 races
• Kyle Larson: Started rear of field at Kansas 5/18 changing tires after practice spin, top 10 by lap 19, Stage 2 winner,
• most laps led (101), lap 248 incident with Ryan Blaney & post-race penalty (rear window) dropped from 10th to 11th in points
• Kyle Larson: 2 Straight Kansas top 5 finishes – No top 5 finishes previous 6 races
• Brad Keselowski: 1 Kansas win (6/11) – Winless last 15 Kansas races
• Aric Almirola: 3 Straight Kansas top 10 finishes
• Only 4 didn’t go a lap down during Kansas 5/18 race – Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Larson & Joey Logano
• Big crashes 3 of last 4 Kansas races:
• 5/13/17: Lap 200 – Aric Almirola
• 10/22/17: Lap 198 – Erik Jones
• 5/12/18: Lap 253 – William Byron head-on, airborne (Great miss by winner Kevin Harvick)
• Ryan Blaney: Kansas 5/18 Stage 1 winner – Finished 37th (Lap 248 crash)
• Kansas 5/18 post-race fireworks: Chase Elliott & Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
• Kansas 5/18: 11 Involved in crashes final 31 laps:
• Blaney, Bowman, Bowyer, Buescher, Byron, Ty Dillon, Kenseth, Larson, McMurray, Newman & Suarez
• Red flags 3 of last 4 Kansas races
• Ryan Newman had car crash on top of his car twice in 3 weekends – Talladega 4/18 practice & Kansas 5/18 race
• 15 Different winners in 26 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Kansas races
• Kevin Harvick: 3 Kansas wins – 1 Childress Chevrolet, 1 Stewart-Haas Chevrolet & 1 Stewart-Haas Ford
• Kevin Harvick leads all with 3 wins on Kansas reconfigured track (13 Races)
• Kevin Harvick won Kansas for first time in 16th try (10/13) – 3 Wins in last 11 races
• Kevin Harvick leads all with 4 Kansas poles – 2 Wins from pole (10/13 & 5/18)
• Kevin Harvick: 3 Straight Kansas poles (10/13, 5/14 & 10/14)
• Brad Keselowski passed for final lead change 3 Kansas races including 2018 Playoff race
• Worst starting position of Kansas winner: 25th – Brad Keselowski 6/11
• Jeff Gordon only driver to win Kansas in first try
• 3 Won Kansas race & championship in same season – Jeff Gordon 2001, Jimmie Johnson 2008 & Martin Truex Jr. 5/17 & 10/17
• 3 Won back-to-back Kansas MENCS races – Jeff Gordon (2001 & ’02), Matt Kenseth (10/12 & 4/13) & Martin Truex Jr. (5/17 & 10/17)
• Martin Truex Jr. won Kansas for first time in 18th try (5/17) – Most of all drivers
• Martin Truex Jr. led most laps 3 of last 8 Kansas races – 1 Win (5/17)
• Kyle Larson led most laps at Kansas 5/18 – Finished 4th
• Joey Logano led most laps last Kansas Playoff race (100) – Finished 8th
• No Stage 1 or 2 winner went on to win Kansas race
• Leader of most laps failed to win 7 of last 8 Kansas races
• Margin of victory less than 1 second 17 Kansas races
• 2 Kansas Overtime finishes – Jimmie Johnson won 10/11 & Joey Logano won 10/15
• 6 of 26 Kansas races won from pole including 2 of last 3
• Hendrick Motorsports leads with 7 Kansas wins
• Joe Gibbs Racing: 4 Kansas wins
• Roush Fenway Racing: 4 Kansas wins
• Team Penske: 4 Kansas wins
• Stewart-Haas Racing: 3 Kansas wins
• Richard Childress Racing: 1 Kansas win (10/13)