Race number three of NASCAR's 2009 Chase For The Sprint Cup championship moves to the beautiful Kansas Speedway this Sunday for the running of the Price Chopper 400. As in the case of the Dover race last Sunday, this event is expected to play a major role in the shaping of the Chase.
THE CHASE BREAKDOWN
Mark Martin, with five wins this year, continues to remain the top seed in the Chase rankings and has accumulated 5,400 points. Martin knows the fast way around the Kansas Speedway and won the race there in 2005. He has a driver rating of 99.4 at Kansas which places him fifth highest in that category.
Jimmie Johnson is second in the Chase standings,with four wins in 2009, and is only ten points behind his Hendrick Motorsports team mate Martin. Johnson is the defending race winner from last year and has a very strong Kansas driver rating of 123.1. He also holds the track record there for the most pole positions with three.
Juan Pablo Montoya is still looking for that first Cup win of the season but still continues to impress a lot of observers with his third place presence in the Chase just 65 points from the top. His driver rating may not be that high for Kansas but does that really matter? This team doesn't seem to want to dwell on past numbers and instead are focused on charging to the front.
Kurt Busch has a win this year and is ranked fifth in the Chase 75 points behind Martin. The car and the team has been good so far in the first two races for the Chase but one can't help but wonder about the potential distraction coming from the eminent departure of crew chief Pat Tryson. The fact that the media and the fans are constantly reminding the driver of that situation can't be helpful.
Three time race winner, and owner-driver, Tony Stewart holds down fifth in the standings and is 106 points out. He leads the list of drivers who have to make sure he doesn't lose any more ground to the points leader this Sunday. Kansas might be a good turn around race for Stewart. He won there in 2006 and has a healthy driver rating of 91.3.
Two time winner Denny Hamlin is ranked sixth, -108 points, and that's due to a very disappointing finish at last week's race at Dover. There is no room for another race like Dover and the lone hope for Joe Gibbs Racing winning another championship is going to have to make a dedicated charge to the front at Kansas.
Ryan Newman, the other half of Stewart-Haas Racing, is ranked seventh this week, (-110). Still looking for that first series win of the season, Newman is another driver who needs to launch a charge at Kansas so he won't lose any more ground to the points leaders. Kansas may be a great place for Newman to launch that charge. He won the race there in 2003.
Jeff Gordon, with one win this season, may be the driver to watch this Sunday. A surprise setback from a broken air gun last week at Dover cost the team a likely top five finish and they now find themselves eighth in the standings at -122. But the good news is the fact that Gordon owns all of the major stats at the Kansas Speedway. In the track's eight year history Gordon has the most wins with two. He also leads the top five and top ten finishes stats at five in each category. He also owns a healthy driver rating of 103 at Kansas. Gordon's plans to keep his "drive for five" championships potential going needs to start next Sunday.
Greg Biffle, ranked ninth at -138 points, is still looking for his first win of the series. He's also in the midst of dealing with up and down performance levels by Roush Fenway Racing as a whole. His championship effort is treading water but the good news is his past stats at the Kansas Speedway. He won the race there in 2007 and has a driver rating of 117.4 which means he knows the fast way around this speedway.
Michigan race winner Brian Vickers is tenth, -151 points, which is actually not that bad for a team that wasn't expected to be in the Chase line up to begin with. His championship hopes are fading but this team still has a lot to be proud of.
Carl Edwards won a series leading nine races last year and was expected to be a favorite to win the 2009 championship. Like team mate Greg Biffle, he has been feeling the sting of a disappointing season and is also watching his Chase hopes fading away. The good news is the fact that Edwards has a healthy driver rating, 95.8, at Kansas.
Any championship hopes held by Kasey Kahne and Richard Petty Motorsports were pretty much dashed by a early race blown engine during the first Chase event at New Hampshire. No matter how their Chase efforts turns out, this team won two races this year and made the Chase when no one expected them to do it. That's plenty to be proud of.
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THE RACE BREAKDOWN
The Price Chopper 400 is 267 laps,400.5 miles, around the Kansas Speedway's 1.5 mile oval.
The race has 45 entries vying for the 43 starting berths in the race. Ten of those entries are on the "go or go home" list meaning they are not guaranteed an automatic starting berth because they are outside of NASCAR's top 35 in owner's points. If qualifying gets rained out then drivers Kevin Hamlin and Max Papis will have to load up and go home early.
Inclement weather is a major possibility for disrupting Friday's qualifying day. The forecast calls for cloudy skies and a 40 percent chance of rain. The Saturday forecast calls for variable cloudiness and 63 degrees while Sunday race day calls for a return to sunny skies and a pleasant day time high of 69 degrees.
Jimmie Johnson is the defending race winner from 2008 and won the race from the pole position. In eight previous races at the Kansas Speedway there has been seven different winners. There has been six different winners in the last six years. Only Jeff Gordon has multiple wins, two, which were in consecutive order in 2001 and 2002. Five of the last eight races have been won by drivers who started within the top ten positions. Chevrolet has the most manufacturer's win at Kansas with five.
Matt Kenseth holds the track qualifying record, 180.856 MPH, which was set in October of 2005.
The track record for the most lead changes is 24 set in 2004. The record for the fewest lead changes is 13 set during the 2002 race.
13 is also the number of the most race leaders set in 2006. The fewest amount of race leaders is ten which happened three times with the most recent being in 2008.
The 2001 race set the track record for most caution flags, 13, and the most caution flag laps at 70. In comparison the 2008 race had both the fewest cautions, 7, and the least caution laps, 25.
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THE TRACK BREAKDOWN
Official groundbreaking for the Kansas Speedway occurred in May of 1999 with the official opening ceremonies held in 2001.
The first event was scheduled in June of 2001 and featured the ARCA ReMax Series and NASCAR's Camping World West Series. The first NASCAR Sprint Cup race was held in September of 2001 and was won by Jeff Gordon.
The speedway is a 1.5 mile quad oval. There is 15 degrees of banking in the turns, 10.4 degrees in the tri oval and five degrees of banking in the backstretch.
The speedway presently has 81,779 seats.
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THE LAS VEGAS BREAKDOWN
The Las Vegas based World Sports Exchange-WSE, to no real surprise, is solidly behind Jimmie Johnson and has placed him at 4 to 1 odds to win the race Sunday. His team mate, and main championship rival, Mark Martin is right behind him at 6 to 1 odds.
But the most interesting wager line, not to mention a chance worth taking, is Jeff Gordon at 8 to 1 odds. That ranking is a little surprising in light of the fact that Gordon owns most of the really impressive performance stats at this speedway. Yet another interesting wager is Tony Stewart at 10 to 1 odds.
Grouped together at 12 to 1 this week are drivers Greg Biffle, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards. Brian Vickers and Kurt Busch are rated 15 to 1, Kasey Kahne is set at 18 to 1, Matt Kenseth is at 20 to 1 odds while the WSE higher rankings close with Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt Jr at 22 to 1.
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THE NASCAR SPRINT CUP TELEVISION BREAKDOWN (ALL POSTED TIMES ARE EASTERN)
Friday, October 2nd.
12 pm. Speed. NASCAR Live at the Kansas Speedway
1 pm. Speed. Sprint Cup Practice.
230 pm. Speed. NASCAR Live
430 pm. ESPN2. Sprint Cup qualifying
7 pm. ESPN2. NASCAR Now
7 & 1030 pm. Speed. Trackside
Saturday, October 3d.
12 pm. Speed. NASCAR Live
1230 pm. Speed. Sprint Cup practice.
630 pm. ESPN2. Final happy hour practice.
Sunday, October 4th.
10 am. ESPN2. NASCAR Now pre race show.
11 am. Speed. NASCAR Race Day.
1 pm. ABC. Countdown show.
2 pm. ABC. Price Chopper 400
7 pm. Speed. The Speed Report
8 pm. Speed. NASCAR Victory Lane
9 pm. Speed. Wind Tunnel With Dave DeSpain.
10 pm. ESPN2. NASCAR Now. Post race edition.
Monday, October 5th.
3 am. ESPN2. Race re broadcast
12 pm.ESPN Classic. Race re broadcast
Wednesday, October 7th.
12 pm. Speed. Race re broadcast.
