Frontstretch Newsletter: April 17, 2026
Volume
XX, Edition LXIII |
And Now A Word From Our Title Partner, My Place Hotels! |
My Place Hotels is a proud to be the official hotel sponsor of Frontstretch. With plush beds, in room kitchens and Pet Friendly Hotels My Place makes for the perfect pit stop when traveling. Racing fans can use Promo Code: Frontstretch to save 10% on your stay at any of our nationwide properties. That’s 10% off nationwide with code FRONTSTRETCH. This racing season, be sure to
Make My Place Your Place! |
What to Watch: April 17-19 |
For more information on the NASCAR Cup Series AdventHealth 400, please see the Frontstretch Folio below. - NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series teams are scheduled to pull into the infield this morning in Kansas. Practice is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET with live coverage on The CW app and
website. Qualifying will be at 8:05 p.m. ET. Some CW affiliates will provide live coverage of practice and qualifying. Check your local listings for availability. Coverage of the Kansas Lottery 300 will begin with NASCAR Countdown Live at 6:30 p.m. ET Saturday night on The
CW. Race coverage will begin at 7 p.m. ET with the green flag around 7:10 p.m. ET. - ARCA Menards Series teams are also at Kansas. Practice will be at 4 p.m. ET this afternoon, while qualifying will be shortly afterwards at 5 p.m. ET. Neither session will be televised. Coverage of the Tide 150 will air live on FOX Sports 1 starting at 12:30 p.m. ET Saturday afternoon. The green flag is scheduled for around 12:35 p.m. ET. - The FIA World Endurance Championship starts their 2026 season this weekend at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Italy. Free Practice No. 1 is already complete, while Free Practice No. 2 is at 9:15 a.m. ET
this morning. Saturday has Free Practice No. 3 at 4:30 a.m. ET. There will be coverage available on the FIA WEC YouTube channel and on HBO Max. Qualifying coverage will stream live on HBO Max at 8:25 a.m. ET. Coverage of the 6 Hours of Imola will begin at 6:30 a.m. ET Sunday with
live coverage on HBO Max. The green flag will fly at 7 a.m. ET. - World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series teams will be at Jacksonvillle Speedway tonight for the Hy-Vee Perks 40. Coverage will begin at 6:15 p.m. ET on DirtVision. Tomorrow night, the series will move
to Tri-State Speedway for the Southern Indiana Showdown. Coverage from Haubstadt, Ind. will air on DirtVision starting at 6:30 p.m. ET Saturday night. - The Super DIRTcar Series, after a rain/snowout last weekend at Can-Am Speedway, will start their season tonight at Albany-Saratoga Speedway as part of that track's season opener. Coverage from Malta, N.Y. will begin at 5:30 p.m. ET on
DirtVision. FOLLOW THE FRONTSTRETCH THIS WEEKEND AT THROUGH OUR COLLEAGUES:
KANSAS: Landon Quesinberry LONG BEACH: Also, don't forget to follow our
Twitter page, @Frontstretch as well for updates on
Kansas! |
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| Donovan Strauss Running North Wilkesboro for
Niece Niece Motorsports announced Thursday that late model racer and sim racer Donovan Strauss will attempt to make his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut at North Wilkesboro. |
Have news for Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at [email protected] with a promising lead or tip. |
Around the World in Motorsports: April 17 |
- In FIA World Endurance Championship Free Practice No. 1 at Imola earlier this morning, Ferrari kept up their pace from the Prologue on Tuesday. AF Corse's Robert Kubica was fastest with a lap at 119.687 mph in his Ferrari 499P. The lap was .023 seconds faster than Ferrari AF Corse's Antonio Fuoco. Antonio Giovinazzi made it a Ferrari 1-2-3 in third. Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA's Will Stevens
was fourth, while Peugeot TotalEnergies' Malthe Jakobsen was fifth. In LMGT3, Racing Team Turkey by TF's Charlie Eastwood was fastest in his Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R with a lap at 106.936 mph. The lap was .170 seconds faster than the McLaren of Garage 59's Finn Gehrsitz. The Heart of Racing's Mattia Drudi was third in his Aston Martin, followed by the Ferrari of Vista
AF Corse's Alessio Rovera. Thomas Fleming was fifth in the second Garage 59 McLaren. There were no red flags during the session, but there were two full course cautions. The first saw Garage 59's Antares Au go off-course at Tamburello and bring gravel back onto the track. The other caution was due to a bollard going astray at the Variante Alta
chicane. |
Frontstretch Folio: AdventHealth 400
by Phil Allaway
This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series returns to Kansas for the first of two visits to Kansas Speedway.
Coverage of the AdventHealth 400 begins with NASCAR RaceDay at 2 p.m. ET on FOX. The green should fly around 3:10 p.m. ET. Radio coverage will be provided by local PRN radio affiliates and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90). Records and facts Last year's
AdventHealth 400 had 15 lead changes, but it was dominated by Kyle Larson. The two-time champion led 221 of 267 laps, including the final 55 en route to the victory. The margin of victory was .712 seconds over Christopher Bell. Ryan Blaney was third, then Chase Briscoe and Alex Bowman. Denny Hamlin has four career victory at Kansas, which is the all-time record. Larson, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano and Jeff Gordon each have three wins. Only Hamlin and Johnson have wins there that came before the track was reconfigured in 2012. Track Facts
Track / Race Length: 1.5-mile tri-oval, 267 laps (400.5 miles)
Banking: 17-20 degrees Frontstretch: 2,721 feet, banked 10 degrees Backstretch: 2,207 feet, banked 5 degrees Grandstand Seating: 64,000
Pit Road Speed: 45 mph
Pace Car Speed: 55 mph
Opened: 2001 Website: http://www.kansasspeedway.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KansasSpeedway Twitter: http://twitter.com/kansasspeedway Pre-Race Schedule: Practice: Saturday, April 18, 4 - 5:50 p.m. ET on Prime Video Qualifying: Saturday, April 18, 5 p.m. ET on Prime Video Say What?! "It’s been a really good racetrack. I love the fact that we have different lines. It moves around. Most of our mile-and-a-halves at this point have gotten to the point where we can run bottom, middle, top and have different lines and different opportunities to make speed. With that, I think that it’s gonna be a really good measure for us. We’re really optimistic about that one, just knowing how well Vegas went for us
and knowing what our program looked like at those style of racetracks last season." - Chris Buescher "Kansas is a cool track. It’s a mile-and-a-half racetrack that lends itself to two, three and even four-wide racing with progressive banking. You can race anywhere, high or low and set up moves where you slide up in front of a guy
and mess up his air. Aerodynamics play a big role with how fast we’re entering the corners, so there’s a lot of reliance on aerodynamic grip. You’ve got to get out front in clean air to get to victory lane." - Kyle Busch "Kansas is a mile-and-a-half track that’s in great condition. No bumps, no
wear, you can pretty much run that track from top to bottom. If you want to run the apron, you can run the apron. If you want to run the wall, you can run the wall. And you can run any combination of lanes in between. You’re not having to fight through bumps. You’re not dealing with a rough track surface. It’s really just a very good, solid, smooth, clean racetrack, which makes it easier to extract the car’s full potential. I feel like everyone typically unloads really, really well at Kansas.
Because the track allows you to move around, you can find a line that suits you and your racecar the best. You can get your car 99% there with where you want it to be." - Cody Ware Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at [email protected]. Photo is courtesy of NASCAR Media via Sean Gardner of Getty
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