Kansas Speedway is up next for the NASCAR Cup Series

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After a wild race at the behemoth that is Talladega Superspeedway last weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series prepares for this Sunday’s Buschy McBusch Race 400 (3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Kansas Speedway, its fourth event of the 2021 season on a 1.5-mile track.

Groundbreaking for Kansas Speedway was held on May 25, 1999. The official opening of Kansas Speedway was in 2001, with the first NASCAR Cup Series race being held on Sept. 30, 2001. The event was won by Hendrick Motorsport’s driver and NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon (Chevrolet). Gordon would actually win the first two NASCAR Cup Series races held at Kansas (2001, 2002).

During the 2012 season, between the April and October events, the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway track underwent a repave, adding variable banking in the corners bringing them to 17-20 degrees. 

In total, there have been 30 NASCAR Cup Series races at Kansas Speedway, one event from 2001 – 2010 and two races per year since 2011. The 30 Cup events have produced 16 different pole winners and 15 different race winners. 

Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick leads the series in poles at Kansas Speedway with five (fall 2013, 2014 sweep, spring 2018, spring 2019).

Jeff Gordon (2001, 2002, 2014), Jimmie Johnson (2008, 2011, 2015), Kevin Harvick (2013, 2016, 2018), Joey Logano (2014, 2015, 2020) and Denny Hamlin (2012, 2019, 2020) lead the NASCAR Cup Series in wins at Kansas Speedway with three victories each. This weekend, eight of the 15 NASCAR Cup Series Kansas winners are active.

Race Winners (8)WinsSeasons
Denny Hamlin32020, 2019, 2012
Joey Logano32020, 2015, 2014
Kevin Harvick32018, 2016, 2013
Brad Keselowski22019, 2011
Martin Truex Jr22017 sweep
Chase Elliott12018
Kyle Busch12016
Ryan Newman12003

This weekend’s Buschy McBusch Race 400 at Kansas Speedway is scheduled for 267 laps (400 miles) and will be broken up into three stages. The first two stages are 80 laps each and the final stage will be 107 laps.

This weekend’s starting lineup for the Buschy McBusch Race 400 was determined by Metric Qualifying and as a result last weekend’s winner and Team Penske driver Brad Keselowski will start from the pole and Hendrick Motorsport’s William Byron will join Keselowski on the front row.

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