Five drivers to watch in Saturday’s Nationwide Kansas Lottery 300
Ryan Blaney
No. 22 Mustang
Blaney, 20, will try to hold on to the owners championship-points lead for defending champion Team Penkse. Blaney, along with Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Alex Tagliani and Michael McDowell, have combined for four wins, 23 top-fives, 28 top-10s and eight poles this season. The team holds a 32-point advantage over the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 54 Toyota with five races to go. Blaney has made one Nationwide start at Kansas, finishing 11th in 2012 and was third in the 2013 Camping World Trucks Series race.
Kyle Busch
No. 54 Toyota
Busch, 29, is in the midst of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, but he’s the most prodigious winner in Nationwide Series history with a record 68 wins, including last week at Dover, his sixth win of the season. Busch won 12 Nationwide races last year with 10 poles. And while he has famously struggled in Sprint Cup races at Kansas Speedway, he has the most top-five Nationwide finishes, (five), top-10 finishes (seven) and laps led (304), including a win in 2007 as well as a win in the 2013 trucks series.
Regan Smith
No. 7 Chevrolet
Smith, 31, has scored a career-high 24 top 10s, including a win at Daytona, but he still trails teammate Chase Elliott by 26 points with five races to go. Smith’s experience at the final five tracks could give him a shot at overtaking Elliott. He dominated most of the race last season at Kansas, leading 81 laps and finishing third to Sprint Cup regulars Matt Kenseth and Paul Menard.
Kevin Harvick,
No. 5 Chevrolet
Harvick, a Cup regular, will join JR Motorsports teammates Elliott and Smith in the No. 5 car in which he has been almost unstoppable in Nationwide races. In the last eight series races that Harvick, 38, has entered, he has won four times — at Richmond, Kentucky, Atlanta and Chicago. He has made nine Nationwide starts at Kansas, posting one pole, one win (2006), five top fives and six top 10s.
Jennifer Jo Cobb
No. 87 Chevrolet
Cobb, of Kansas City, Kan., is a regular in the trucks Series, but she’s made the Nationwide race at Kansas Speedway an annual ritual. Cobb, who is 16th in the trucks series standings, finished a season-best 13th in the trucks race at Kansas Speedway in May. Cobb, 41, finished 22nd in the 2012 Nationwide race at Kansas Speedway and 26th last year.
To reach Randy Covitz, call 816-234-4796 or send email to rcovitz@kcstar.com. Follow him on Twitter at @randycovitz.
This story was originally published October 3, 2014 at 5:48 PM with the headline "Five drivers to watch in Saturday’s Nationwide Kansas Lottery 300."