Ten NASCAR drivers to watch in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway

By winning the first two races in the Round of 12, Chase Elliott (Dover) and Aric Almirola (Talladega) are locked into the next round of the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup playoffs.

The winner of Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 elimination race at Kansas Speedway plus the next five drivers in the points standings will join Elliott and Almirola in the Round of 8.

Here are the 10 who need to win on Sunday to guarantee a spot in the next round:

Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Ford, 3128 points

Harvick, the 2014 Cup champion, has won seven times this season, including the spring race at Kansas Speedway. Harvick, 42, also won at Kansas in 2013 and in a must-win in 2016. He has won three poles at Kansas and set the qualifying record speed of 197.772 mph in October 2013. Harvick’s average finish at Kansas Speedway is a series-best 9.6 in 25 starts.

Kyle Busch, No. 18 Toyota, 3111 points

Busch, the 2015 Cup champion, has been dominant at Kansas Speedway during the past five years, with seven straight Top 10 finishes, including his first win at the track in May 2016. Busch, 33, is tied with Harvick with seven wins this season, and he has won seven races at Kansas Speedway across all three national series — one Cup, four Xfinity and two trucks — the most by any NASCAR driver.

Joey Logano, No. 22 Ford, 3104 points

Logano, 28, won back-to-back races at Kansas Speedway in 2014-15 and qualified for the playoffs by winning the spring race at Talladega. He has 22 top-10 finishes in 31 starts in 2018, including a third-place finish at Kansas in the spring.

Kurt Busch, No. 41 Ford, 3095 points

Busch, the 2004 Cup champion, has made 25 career starts at Kansas (tied for the most) and is still looking for his first win at the track, though he finished second last fall and eighth in the 2018 spring race. Busch, 40, won the summer race at Bristol for his 30th career win but is apparently leaving Stewart-Haas Racing for Chip Ganassi Racing next year.

Clint Bowyer, No. 14 Ford, 3086 points

Bowyer, of Emporia, posted wins at Martinsville and Michigan this season but comes to his home track needing a win or podium finish in order to advance to the Round of 8. Bowyer, 39, has known mostly frustration at Kansas where he is winless in 20 career Cup starts. He finished 15th in the spring, and has one Top 10 finish (ninth in fall, ’17) in his last 10 starts.

Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Toyota, 3083 points

After a few years of heartbreak, Truex, the reigning Cup series champion, dominated Kansas Speedway in 2017, sweeping both races by impressive margins. Truex, 38, won four races this season and was second in the spring race at Kansas Speedway where he has led 726 laps in 20 starts, the second-most of any driver.

Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Ford, 3065 points

Keselowski, the 2012 Cup champion, was the sport’s hottest driver in September, winning consecutive races at Darlington, Indianapolis and Las Vegas but cooled off the last three weeks, dropping him to 18 points behind the cutoff line. Keselowski, 34, won the fall race at Kansas Speedway in 2011 and finished second in the 2017 spring race but was 14th last May and 17th last fall.

Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Ford, 3061 points

Blaney, son of former NASCAR driver Dave Blaney, reached the Round of 12 with his win at Charlotte, his second career win. Blaney, 24, led 54 laps in the spring race at Kansas Speedway, but a late crash consigned him to a 37th-place finish. Blaney won the pole and finished fourth at Kansas in the 2017 spring race and was third last fall.

Kyle Larson, No. 42 Chevrolet, 3047 points

Larson, a four-time winner in 2017, is looking for his first victory of this season. A year ago, Larson, 26, came to Kansas third in the playoffs, but an engine failure dropped him to a 39th-place finish and eliminated him from the post-season. Larson, 26, led 101 laps and finished fourth in the May 2018 race, was sixth in May ’17 and second in the fall of ’14.

No. 88 Alex Bowman, No. 88 Chevrolet, 3015 points

Bowman, 25, moved into the No. 88 Hendrick Chevrolet vacated by Dale Earnhardt Jr., began the season by winning the pole at Daytona, but he is still looking for his first career win. Bowman has made six career starts at Kansas Speedway with a best finish of seventh in the fall of 2016 when he subbed for an injured Earnhardt. He was 19th Kansas in May.

This story was originally published October 18, 2018 at 2:55 PM.