Saturday night special: Drivers to watch in NASCAR Cup Digital 400 at Kansas Speedway
Nine active drivers, including six former series champions, have accounted for 15 wins in the 26 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup races at Kansas Speedway since it opened in 2001.
Let’s look at these nine drivers to watch Saturday night in the Digital Ally 400.
Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Ford
Harvick, the 2015 Cup champion, won Kansas races in 2013, ‘16 and ‘18, and is one of three three-time winners, along with Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon. Harvick, 43, also has a series-high four poles, three second-place finishes, eight top-threes, 14 top-10s and has led the most laps in his 26 career starts. He has a series best 9.7 average and 5.9 in his last 10 starts at Kansas.
Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Chevrolet
Johnson, the seven-time Cup champion, won at Kansas in 2008, ’11 and ’15. Johnson, 43, has averaged a 10.5 finish in 25 starts but 15.0 in his last 10. Johnson, in his first season without crew chief Chad Knaus, has started from the pole three times and has led 601 laps, third to Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. Johnson hasn’t posted a win since June 4, 2017 at Dover, a drought of 70 straight races
Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Toyota
Truex, 38, is the only driver to sweep both Kansas races — he did so en route to winning the 2017 Cup championship for underdog and now-defunct Furniture Row racing. Truex, in his first season with Joe Gibbs Racing, has averaged an 8.3 finish in his last 10 starts at Kansas and has led 726 laps in 21 starts. Truex has two wins in the last three races, at Richmond and Dover.
Joey Logano, No. 22 Ford
Logano, the reigning Cup champion, won the fall races at Kansas in 2014 and ’15. He has averaged a 17.6 finish in 19 starts and 12.1 in his last 10. Logano, 28, has started from the pole twice, including last fall when his eighth-place finish enabled him to advance to the Round of 8 in the playoffs. Logano won this year’s race at Las Vegas, like Kansas a 1.5-mile track.
Kyle Busch, No. 18 Toyota
Busch, the 2015 Cup champion, struggled mightily at Kansas early in his career, but broke through by winning in 2016. Busch, 34, has won a track record seven races at Kansas Speedway: one Cup, four Xfinity and two trucks events. Busch has finished in the Top 10 in his last eight Kansas races. He has won a series-most three races this year and has a record-tying 11 straight Top 10 finishes to open the season.
Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Ford
Keselowski, the 2012 Cup champion, won the inaugural spring race at Kansas Speedway in 2011. Keselowski, 35, has an average finish of 12.8 in 18 starts at Kansas. He has won two races this year, at Atlanta and Martinsville.
Chase Elliott, No. 9 Chevrolet
Elliott, 23, won last fall’s race for Hendrick Motorsports. He’s averaged a 14.3 finish in six career starts. Elliott succeeded Dale Earnhardt Jr., as the series’ Most Popular Driver, the same award won times by his father, Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, a record 16 times. Elliott won this year’s Talladega 500, his fourth career victory.
Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota
Hamlin, generally acknowledged as the best active driver not to have won a Cup championship, won the spring race at Kansas Speedway in 2012. Hamlin, 38, is a two-time Daytona 500 winner, including this year. He has averaged a 15.7 finish in 21 starts at Kansas.
Ryan Newman, No. 6 Ford
Newman, 41, won the 2003 race at Kansas Speedway — one of eight races he won that year — and is, along with Harvick and Kurt Busch, the only drivers to start all 26 Cup races at the track. Newman, in his first season with Roush Fenway Racing, also finished second in the first two Cup races at the track in 2001 and 2002 and posted top-10 finishes in 2010, ’14 and ’15 and ’16.