Saturday Kansas Notebook

Saturday Kansas Notebook

Notebook Items:

-         Martin Truex Jr. eyes breakthrough victory at Kansas Speedway

-         Brad Keselowski has good reason for optimism

-         Stewart-Haas cars have issues in Final Practice

October 15, 2016

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

Martin Truex Jr. eyes breakthrough victory at Kansas Speedway

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – As well as Martin Truex Jr. has run at Kansas Speedway, it’s nothing short of remarkable that the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota has never won at the 1.5-mile track.

Truex has led laps in seven of his 16 starts at Kansas—in some cases, lots of laps. In the spring of 2012, while driving for Michael Waltrip Racing, Truex was out front for 173 circuits before finishing second to Denny Hamlin.

Most recently, Truex won the pole and led 172 laps at Kansas in May, only to finish 14th after a late-race pit road snafu. But with a berth in the Round of 8 of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup on the line in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 (on NBC at 2:15 p.m. ET), Truex couldn’t think of a better time to get a breakthrough victory.

“Yeah, I definitely get a positive vibe coming here – a positive feeling that we’ve been so close,” said Truex who won at Chicagoland and Dover in the Chase’s Round of 16. “We’ve done just about everything here but win, and I feel like it’s time for us to make that happen.

“And I don’t think there’s ever been a time where I’ve come here more confident and so, yeah, I mean I’m looking forward to seeing how the weekend goes and seeing if we can finally close the deal here. I feel like we can do it, and (I’m) just ready to go out there and give it a shot.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI HAS GOOD REASON FOR OPTIMISM

Like Truex, Brad Keselowski has a formidable history at Kansas Speedway.

It’s the track that gave the driver of the No. 2 Ford his first victory in a Team Penske car, the year before his 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship season.

Keselowski will start eighth in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400, his worst qualifying position in the last seven races here. In his last six events at Kansas, Keselowski has led laps, averaging 24 per race.

With four victories in the 26-race regular season, Keselowski hasn’t yet shown the speed necessary to win in the Chase, but he sailed through the Round of 16 with remarkable consistency—as the only driver to post a top-five finish in each of the three opening-round races.

A solid seventh-place run last Sunday at Charlotte put Keselowski in solid position to advance to the Round of 8, with the cutoff set to come next weekend at Talladega, one of the No. 2 team’s best tracks.

So even though the eighth-place qualifying effort was a slight tick down for Keselowski, he’s comfortable with his starting position heading into Sunday.

“You always want to be really high up but compared to where we were in practice that was a really good gain,” said Keselowski was ninth fastest in Saturday’s final practice and 10th on the speed chart in 10-lap average.

“I’m looking forward to making the most of that come race time, because I think we have a much better race car than a qualifying raw speed car.”

STEWART-HAAS CARS HAVE ISSUES IN FINAL PRACTICE

Kevin Harvick, who needs a strong finish on Sunday to climb out of the Chase cellar, brushed the outside wall ever so slightly in Saturday’s final NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice at Kansas Speedway. But the No. 4 car sustained some appreciable damage after recording the fastest 10-lap average in the session at 183.740 mph.

Kurt Busch, Harvick’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate, wasn’t as fortunate. After positing the third fastest single lap in happy Hour (185.797 mph), Busch blew his right front tire on the final lap of his closing run and dug the front of his No. 41 Chevrolet into the infield grass. Busch had to go to a backup car and will start Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 with no practice laps in the backup.

Pole winner Matt Kenseth was fastest in final practice at 186.361, an indication his car is equally stout in race trim.