NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: SpongeBob SquarePants 400
Kansas Speedway Distance: 400.5 miles (267 laps)
The Date: Saturday, May 9 7:30 p.m. (ET) TV: FOX Sports 1, 7 p.m. (ET)
Radio: MRN, Sirius XM Ch. 90
NASCAR XFINITY Series Iowa 250
Iowa Speedway Distance: 218.75 miles (250 laps)
Sunday, May 17 2 p.m. (ET) TV: FOX Sports 1, 1:30 p.m. (ET)
Radio: MRN, Sirius XM Ch. 90
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Toyota Tundra 250
Kansas Speedway Distance: 250.5 miles (167 laps)
Friday, May 8 The Time: 8:30 p.m. (ET) TV: FOX Sports 1, 8 p.m. (ET)
Radio: MRN, Sirius XM Ch. 90
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
Car 24 Jeff Gordon Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet
Car 24 Chevrolet driver’s statistics at Kansas Speedway – site of Saturday’s SpongeBob SquarePants 400 (7:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1) are downright gaudy. Gordon boasts a track record with three wins. Additionally, he claims 10 top 5s in 18 starts at the 1.5-mile track – a whopping 55.6 percent.
Winless this year, Gordon picked up his first victory of 2014 at Kansas to jumpstart a 4-win campaign and arguably his best season since 2007 when he collected 6 checkered flags, 21 top fives and 30 top 10s on his way to a runner-up finish in the NSCS standings.
Car 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Nationwide Chevrolet
Earnhardt’s winless streak was rather peculiar considering he visited Victory Lane at Talladega a track-record four consecutive times from Oct. 21, 2001 to April 6, 2003. In the two following races, he placed runner-up before winning at Talladega on Oct. 3, 2004 – his last win before his weekend triumph.
Car 88 Chevrolet driver is now tied with Jeff Gordon for the active lead with 6 wins at Talladega. He only trails his father, the late Dale Earnhardt, for the most wins at the 2.66-mile track. The elder Earnhardt racked up 10 of his 76 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series wins at Talladega.
Earnhardt will attempt to begin a winning streak in Saturday’s SpongeBob SquarePants 400 at Kansas Speedway – a place he has never reached Victory Lane. Kansas has still treated “Junior” well. The 12-time most popular driver has eight top-10 finishes (47.1%) in 17 starts at the 1.5-mile track.
Big Name Drivers Near Last Chance To Land NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race Spot
That will be the case when the stalwarts of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series take the track at Charlotte Motor Speedway for a shot at $1 million in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race on Saturday, May 16 (7 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1).
At this point in time the field is still not set. Drivers who haven’t qualified have one last chance to get into the race by winning a points race – the SponeBob SquarePants 400 at Kansas Speedway on Saturday. Otherwise, they must win a Sprint Showdown segment or the Sprint Fan Vote.
Some of the big names that need to “get their game on” or risk missing the all-star race are Clint Bowyer, Greg Biffle, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Larson and Danica Patrick. Of the five, Biffle is the only one with a victory at Kansas. The No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing driver has two Kansas wins, but has not won there since 2010. Patrick placed seventh at Kanas last spring, while Larson and Truex finished second and fourth, respectively, at the Midwestern track in the fall. Bowyer’s last strong showing at Kansas was a fifth-place finish in spring of 2013.
NASCAR XFINITY SERIES
While the NASCAR XFINITY Series enjoys an off-weekend following another exhilarating spectacle of a race at Talladega Superspeedway, series points leader Ty Dillon will be in Kansas keeping his skills fresh in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on Saturday night, the SpongeBob SquarePants 400 (FOX Sports 1 at 7:30 p.m. ET).
Ty Dillon holds a nine-point lead over second-place Chris Buescher, and has led the series standings following six of the nine races this season. The 23 year old from Welcome, North Carolina has posted three top fives and seven top 10s this season, including his eighth-place finish last weekend at Talladega. Dillon leads all series’ championship contenders in average finish with a 7.6 through nine races.
But if you take a deeper dive into Dillon’s performance this season, the stats back his early success. He leads the series in pass differential (+71 positions gained) and is ranked first in the Loop Data category Closers, with the most spots gained in the last 10% of the races this season (+20 positions gained over 9 races). Dillon has a season-to-date Driver Rating of 96.5, an Average Running Position of 9.921, and has spent 97.58% of his laps completed on the lead lap.
This weekend at Kansas Speedway, Dillon will be making his second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start of the season in the No. 33 Chevrolet for car owner Joe Falk. Dillon’s first start this season was in the season-opening Daytona 500, where he finished 28th. This will be Dillon’s NSCS track debut at Kansas Speedway this weekend.
After dropping to third in the points following his 20th-place finish at Richmond two weeks ago, Chris Buescher masterfully raced his way to a sixth-place finish at Talladega and retook second-place in the NASCAR XFINITY Series standings from 2014 series champion Chase Elliott.
Buescher has excelled on the superspeedways this season (second at Daytona; sixth at Talladega) and in doing so has breathed new life into his championship hopes heading into the open weekend. In the first nine races he has posted four top fives and six top 10s. He is ranked second among series championship contenders in average finish (8.6) and has a season-to-date Driver Rating of 96.9.
Roush Fenway Racing’s Buescher is nine points back from the standings leader Ty Dillon, but also enjoys a 28-point cushion over third-place Chase Elliott in the standings following Talladega. Buescher will have his work cut out for him next week when the series returns to action at Iowa Speedway (May 17) – both Dillon (6.5) and Elliott (6.0) have better average finishes than Buescher (13.5) at the .875-mile track.
Sunoco Rookie Update: Standings Tight After Front Nine
Two drivers have risen to the top of the 2015 Sunoco Rookie of the Year class – rookie standings leader Darrell Wallace Jr. and second-place Daniel Suarez. A single point separates the two drivers and this season’s battle for rookie honors could come down to the final lap at the season finale in Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Darrell Wallace Jr. recaptured the rookie standings lead from Suarez this past weekend when he finished 20th at Talladega compared to Suarez’s 31st. Both Wallace and Suarez faced adversities at Talladega; as both were involved in incidents throughout the race. Wallace has posted two top 10s, an average finish of 11.9 (fourth-best among series championship contenders) and zero DNFs this season. While his counterpart, Suarez, has posted one top five, three top 10s, an average finish of 16.0 and one DNF this season.
Expect Wallace to have the upper hand over Suarez when the two rookie standouts get to Iowa. Wallace has made two series starts at the 0.875-mile track posting two top 10s, and it will be Suarez’s series track debut.
Sunoco Rookie of the Year Standings: Darrell Wallace Jr. (103), Daniel Suarez (102), Ross Chastain (80), Cale Conley (73), Harrison Rhodes (60), Peyton Sellers (23) and Josh Reaume (16).
NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES
Truck 88 Matt Crafton Hormel/Menards Toyota
2 Time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
In nine starts at intermediate courses dating back to Kansas last year, the No. 88 Toyota Tundra driver has tallied two wins, three runner ups and nine top-10 showings. His average finish in the nine starts – 3.4.
Crafton will attempt to continue his reign at 1.5-mile tracks in Friday’s Toyota Tundra 250 at Kansas Speedway (8:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1). He has started all 14 NCWTS races at Kansas, more than any other driver. He is also tied for the track record with three top-five finishes.
“We’re not in Kansas anymore” is a line James Buescher does not like to hear. The No. 31 NTS Motorsports Chevrolet driver clinched his first career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory at Kansas Speedway in 2012 and leads the NCWTS in average finish (7.8), average running position (6.9), fastest laps (84), laps led (159) and driver rating 112.9 at the 1.5-mile track. Currently fifth in the NCWTS standings, Buescher can narrow the 28-point deficit between him and leader Matt Crafton with a strong showing in Friday’s Toyota Tundra 250.
On Friday night, the crowd at Kansas Speedway will get to see some of NASCAR’s top young talent in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Toyota Tundra 250. Half of the competitors in the 28-driver field will be making their first career Kansas start, including a number of drivers in the top 10: Tyler Reddick (second), Erik Jones (third), Ray Black Jr. (seventh) and Cameron Hayley (eighth).
Credit: 307578Matt Sullivan/Getty Images. Cameron Hayley, driver of the #13 Cabinets by Hayley/Carolina Nut Co. Toyota, of Calgary Alberta leads a pack of trucks during the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Kroger 250 at Martinsville Speedway.
Truck 13 Cameron Hayley # Cabinets by Hayley/Carolina Nut Co. Toyota
There is sad news for fans of Hayley from Calgary Alberta, SPEED TV has changed to FOX Sports 1 Racing, which carries NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. There is no other Canadian network besides ROGERS carrying this channel at this time, which is in Eastern Canada. Most suppliers of this channel did NOT reimburse customers for loss of channel. There is no Canadian source for all of this programming such as FOX Sports Racing. TSN for instance carries NASCAR Sprint Cup Series & the NASCAR Exfinity Series. They do not offer the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series except for the race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Crappy if you are a fan of NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Truck # 13 Cameron Hayley Cabinets by Hayley/Carolina Nut Co. Toyota of Calgary Alberta.
As Canadians NOT in Eastern Canada to get FOX Sports Racing in Canada, this what you need to get the programming:
1. Contact your own TV/Cable & satellite provider & request FOX Sports Racing
If you are with Shaw: https://community.shaw.ca/community/forums/tv-forum/blog/2013/06/12/channel-requests-form
2. Contact FOX Sports Racing (1) tell them you want their program in Canada.
Link Fox Sports:
http://www.foxsports.com/motor/fox-sports-racing
http://www.nascar.com/en_us/sprint-cup-series.html
Graphics & Photos Courtesy of NASCAR