KANSAS LOTTERY 300 - KANSAS SPEEDWAY
Nationwide Series Race #30 of 34 for the 2011 season
Last Race - Dover
Next Race - Charlotte
Keselowski wins at Kansas: #22-Brad Keselowski won the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedwy for his 4th win of the season and his 16th overall in the Nationwide Series. #60-Carl Edwards was second followed by #2-Elliott Sadler, #33-Paul Menard, #6-Ricky Stenhouse Jr., #4-Kevin Harvick, #18-Joey Logano, #32-Brian Vickers, #16-Trevor Bayne, #20-Ryan Truex. There were 6 cautions for 30 laps and 9 lead changes among 5 leaders. Complete results are posted on the Kansas race results page.(10-8-2011)
Kansas Race Facts:
Brad Keselowski won the 11th Annual Kansas Lottery 300, his 16th victory in 164 NASCAR Nationwide Series races.
This is his fourth victory and 17th top-10 finish in 2011.
This is his first victory and fourth top-10 finish in six races at Kansas Speedway.
Keselowski led 173 laps, the second-highest total of his career, and highest in a 200-lap race.
Carl Edwards (second) posted his fourth top-10 finish in seven races at Kansas Speedway. It is his 23rd top-10 finish in 2011.
Elliott Sadler (third) posted his first top-10 finish in two races at Kansas Speedway.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. leads the point standings by 20 points over Elliott Sadler.(NASCAR Statistics)(10-8-2011)
Lucky Dogs - Who got a lap back on each caution at Kansas and their finish
Caution 1: No benefactor
Caution 2: #15-Timmy Hill, 34th
Caution 3: #01-Mike Wallace, 24th
Caution 4: #4-Kevin Harvick, 6th
Caution 5:#70-David Stremme, 14th
Caution 6:#20-Ryan Truex, 10th
(NASCAR Statistics)(10-8-2011)
Driver standings following Kansas:
1) #6-Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 1064
2) #2-Elliott Sadler, 1044, -20
3) #82-Reed Sorenson, 994 -70
4) #88-Aric Almirola, 984 -80
5) #31-Justin Allgaier, 972 -92
6) #38-Jason Leffler, 916 -148
7) #09-Kenny Wallace, 866 -198
8) #66-Steve Wallace, 839 -225
9) #11-Brian Scott, 838 -226
10) #62-Michael Annett, 832 -232
Complete standings are posted on the driver standings page.(Unofficial)(10-8-2011)
Owner Standings following Kansas are posted. The top 30 in owners points who have attempted all races are locked in at Charlotte.(Unofficial)(10-8-2011)
Edwards on pole at Kansas: #60-Carl Edwards won the Coors Light Pole for the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway with a speed of 171.521 mph. #22-Brad Keselowski will start second. The rest of the top ten; #20-Ryan Truex, #33, Paul Menard, #11-Brian Scott, #70-David Stremme, #88-Aric Almirola, #18-Joey Logano, #6-Ricky Stenhouse Jr., #38-Jason Leffler. Did Not Qualify: # 48 Dennis Setzer; # 42 Tim Andrews; # 04 Danny O'Quinn; # 13 Jennifer Jo Cobb #; # 49 Mark Green. The starting lineup is posted on the Kansas starting lineup page.(10-8-2011)
Kansas Qualifying Notes:
Carl Edwards won the Coors Light Pole Award for the 11th Annual Kansas Lottery 300 with a lap of 31.483 seconds, 171.521 mph.
This is his 27th pole in 240 NASCAR Nationwide Series races. Edwards is third on the all-time series poles list, one away from Tommy Ellis for second.
This is his sixth pole and 27th top-10 start in 2011.
This is his first pole in seven races at Kansas Speedway. His previous best start was third in 2007.
Brad Keselowski (second) posted his 19th top-10 start of 2011 and his second in six races at Kansas Speedway.
Ryan Truex (third) posted his first top-10 start at Kansas Speedway. It is his sixth in 15 races this season.(NASCAR Statistics)(10-8-2011)
Leffler fastest in happy hour: #38-Jason Leffler was quickest during happy hour for the Kansas Lottery 300 with a speed of 166.966mph. He was followed by: #31-Justin Allgaier, #66-Steve Wallace, #16-Trevor Bayne, #7-Danica Patrick, #88-Aric Almirola, #6-Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., #19-Mike Bliss, #33-Paul Menard, and #11-Brian Scott. #68-Jeremy Petty wrecked during the session. The team does not have a backup car so they have withdrawn. Complete results are posted on the Kansas practice results page.(10-7-2011)
Keselowski fastest in first practice: #22-Brad Keselowski was fastest during opening practice at Kansas Speedway with a speed of 166.677mph. #60-Carl Edwards was second, followed by: #33-Paul Menard, #6-Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., #38-Jason Leffler, #32-Brian Vickers, #2-Elliott Sadler, #4-Kevin Harvick, #70-David Stremme, and #20-Ryan Truex. Complete results are posted on the Kansas practice results page.(10-7-2011)
Entry List:There are 51 cars on the preliminary entry list for Saturday's Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway. Some notes:
Scott Riggs returns to the R3 #30;
Danny O'Quinn is back in the Go Green #04;
Kevin Harvick is in the KHI #4;
Danica Patrick returns in the #7 GoDaddy Chevy;
Jennifer Jo Cobb has the #10 entered with a driver TBA;
Robert Richardson returns to the R3 #23;
James Buescher will drive the Turner #30;
Joey Gase returns to the Go Green #39;
Dennis Setzer will drive the #48 for Jay Robinson;
Jeremy Petty will be in the #68 for Fleur DeLis;
Scott Wimmer returns to the #82 for MacDonald Motorsports.(10-3-2011)
UPDATE: Angela Cope will drive the #23. Jennifer Jo Cobb's #10 has withdrawn.(10-5-2011)
UPDATE 2: #74-Mike Harmon has withdrawn.(10-6-2011)
See the complete list on the Kansas entry list page.
Thursday, October 6th
4:00 PM 5:00 PM NNS HAULERS ENTER (TRUCK PARKING ONLY)
Friday, October 7th
7:30 AM NNS REGISTRATION OPENS
8:00 AM NNS GARAGE OPENS
12:10 PM NNS ROOKIE & SPOTTER MEETINGS & DRAWING FOR QUALIFYING ORDER
1:10 PM-2:15 PM NNS PRACTICE
2:45 PM-4:00 PM NNS FINAL PRACTICE
6:00 PM NNS REGISTRATION CLOSES
6:30 PM NSCS GARAGE CLOSES
7:30 PM NNS GARAGE CLOSES
Saturday, October 8th
6:00 AM NNS GARAGE & REGISTRATION OPENS
9:05 AM (10:05 AM/ET) NNS QUALIFYING (TWO LAPS, ALL POSITIONS)
12:30 PM . NNS DRIVER / CREW CHIEF MEETING (MEDIA CENTER)
2:00 PM NNS DRIVER INTRODUCTIONS
2:30 PM (3:30 PM/ET) NNS RACE (200 LAPS, 300 MILES)
3:00 PM NNS REGISTRATION CLOSES
Owners Championship: Edwards In It To Win It For Roush
With a NASCAR Nationwide Series career that has spanned seven years, 239 starts, one driver championship (2007), 36 wins (fourth all-time), 124 top fives, 168 top 10s, 24 poles and seven perfect Driver Rating performances, Carl Edwards has achieved almost everything. Except this season he has set his sights on the series championship that has eluded him – the owners championship.
With just five races remaining, the top two spots in the owner’s championship are separated by 13 points. The Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 team is still in the top spot, which is not surprising with the cast that has been driving the car this season - Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Drew Herring, Ryan Truex and Michael McDowell.
Joe Gibbs is going for what would be a record-setting fourth consecutive owner’s championship this season, but Jack Roush, Edwards and the No. 60 team have other plans for the title. Edwards is coming off a dominant victory at Dover, where he led 179 of the 200 laps and posted his second career perfect Driver Rating at the one-mile speedway.
Edwards has been the primary driver of the No. 60 this year, missing just one race. Billy Johnson replaced him at Road America – the first series race Edwards has missed since the June Nashville race in 2005 – and finished 33rd.
Unlike Busch, who is only scheduled for three of the remaining five races, Edwards is scheduled to start the remaining six events.
Edwards is a Missouri native, but he considers Kansas Speedway his home track, and though he has won at 19 different tracks in his career, he has yet to win there. He has made six starts at Kansas, posting one top five and three top 10s.
Logano will be in the No. 18 this weekend and in his three series career starts at Kansas he has posted one pole, two wins and three top 10s.
Confidence Is Key In The Quest For A Championship
One thing is certain, if you want to be the best you have to beat the best, and standings leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has done just that this season. Of the championship contenders, Stenhouse is the only one with two wins (Iowa sweep), 13 top fives and 21 top 10s this season. Stenhouse sits 22 points ahead of second-place Elliott Sadler.
Stenhouse returns to Kansas – the track where he made his series debut – just after celebrating his 24th birthday on Oct. 2, to continue his momentum in his championship run after his fifth-place finish at Dover.
As Stenhouse matures with age, his confidence grows.
“I think we are in charge for sure,” Stenhouse said. “But we got to control what we do. We need to not make mistakes and bring good, fast race cars to the racetrack and I got to do a good job of keeping it out of the fence and keeping the fenders on it. So far we have done that, and I think that we have a really good shot at this championship. I think we have a race team that is pretty determined to win this thing,” Stenhouse said.
Stenhouse has one start at Kansas Speedway, where he qualified 18th, led five laps and finished sixth. His pre-race Driver Rating for this weekend is 103.5. Sadler has only one series start at Kansas, and didn’t fare as well as Stenhouse. In that 2005 event, Sadler was caught in an accident and finished 42nd.
Danica Patrick Back In The Hot Seat At Kansas
Danica Patrick returns to the NASCAR Nationwide Series this weekend for the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway. This will be race No. 9 of her 12-race schedule this season. After this weekend she’ll be off until the final three races of the season at Texas, Phoenix and Homestead-Miami.
Patrick will move exclusively to NASCAR next season, running full-time in the NASCAR Nationwide Series for JR Motorsports in addition to a partial schedule in NASCAR Sprint Cup for Stewart-Haas Racing.
In eight races this season, Patrick has posted one top five and three top 10s with an average finish of 16.3. Patrick’s season-to-date Driver Rating is 80.3, which is 28.3 points more than what she finished the season with last year (51.7). This will be Patrick’s first series career start at Kansas Speedway this weekend.
NASCAR Nationwide Series Etc.
Timmy Hill and Blake Koch have been the mainstays in the 2010 Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award chase. Hill has had the upper hand most of the season and despite a summer comeback by Koch, continues to hold off his nearest challenger by two points. Now Ryan Truex, who was the odds-on-favorite to win the award at the start of the season, has worked his way back into the conversation thanks to a late-season surge with his new team, Joe Gibbs Racing. Truex, the two-time NASCAR K&N Pro Series East champion, picked up a six-race schedule with JGR in early August and has since worked his way back into the rookie conversation. Heading to Kansas, Truex – who will drive the No. 20 Toyota – is third, 20 points behind Hill. … Michael Annett will have a special guest at Kansas. Ryan, a nine-year-old patient at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, will spend race day with Annett’s No. 62 team. Earlier this week, Annett visited the hospital and toured the facility. He signed autographs, interacted with the patients and distributed T-shirts. … With the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in the midst of an open week, James Buescher will compete at Kansas in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race. Before he races, he’ll trade his driving shoes for cleats and work out with Major League Soccer’s Sporting Kansas City club.
Tire: Goodyear Eagle Speedway Radials
Number of Tires: Left-side -- 525; Right-side -- 525
Set limits: 6 sets for the weekend
Tire Codes:
Left-side -- D-4178; Right-side -- D-4408
Tire Circumference:
Left-side -- 87.4 in.; Right-side -- 88.4 in.
Technical Inspection Inflation:
Left Front -- 30 psi; Left Rear -- 30 psi;
Right Front -- 48 psi; Right Rear -- 45 psi
Minimum Recommended Inflation:
Left Front -- 22 psi; Left Rear -- 20 psi;
Right Front -- 47 psi; Right Rear -- 43 psi
Notes: This is the first time NASCAR Nationwide Series teams will run this tire set-up at Kansas, though they have run each of these two tire codes many times in the past . . . Nationwide teams have run this right-side code (D-4408) at Bristol (twice), California and Nashville (twice) in 2011 . . . these teams have also run this left-side code (D-4178) twice in 2010 -- at Bristol-1 and Iowa . . . while Nationwide teams will run the same right-side code as Sprint Cup teams at Kansas this weekend, they will run a different left-side code . . . as on all NASCAR ovals greater than one mile in length, teams are required to run inner liners in all four tire positions at Kansas . . . air pressure in the inner liners should be 12-25 psi greater than that of the outer tire.
