This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series travels to Kansas for their second visit of the season to start off the Round of 8.  Coverage of the Hollywood Casino 400 begins with Countdown to Green on NBC at 2 p.m. Sunday.  Race coverage immediately follows with the green scheduled for around 2:35.  It can be heard on MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).

Records and facts

In last year's Hollywood Casino 400, Denny Hamlin dominated the entire second half of the race.  However, late cautions brought everyone back within striking distance.  Hamlin took the lead for good on lap 227 and held on as the race went 10 extra laps to win and advance to the Championship 4.  Chase Elliott was second, followed by the Busch brothers (Kyle in front of Kurt), then William Byron.

Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick each have three wins at Kansas, which is tied for the most all-time along with the now-retired Jeff Gordon.  Hamlin enters this weekend having won the last two Cup races in Kansas.  Six separate drivers have two wins each. 

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

Say What?!

(On the track celebrating their 20th year of racing) "It makes you feel old.  I did one of the first PR days at Kansas Speedway when it first opened and there was not one single thing around that racetrack other than the highway.  So, what’s been built has been neat to see and how it’s all developed and how it’s all changed.  It’s a fun racetrack because there is just so much to do around the racetrack and it’s been a successful racetrack for us.

"It’s definitely a little bit different just for the fact the [corner] entries are a little different than at most places.  Turns 3 and 4 remind me of turns 3 and 4 at Chicagoland Speedway, but there’s a lot more grip and fresher asphalt than what Chicagoland has nowadays. It’s a very high-speed racetrack.  You run the middle to the bottom of the racetrack.  But I’m sure, as time goes on, that the groove will move back up.  But, for right now, it’s very fast and very sensitive to your line and, with all the speed and how tricky the entrance is into turn one, you can miss your line easily.  So, you have to be very specific about where you put your car and pay attention to what you’re doing." - Kevin Harvick

"Kansas has not always been my strongest suit.  I was terrified of Kansas probably a few years ago, but I showed up to [the] playoff race there last year and my car was just absolutely incredible how well it was handling, how good it was.  I remember I started mid-pack, maybe in the 20s, and just drove to the front and dominated the day.  From that point on, once I created that good database for Chris Gabehart to work off of, it seems like when we go back to the track, he’s made the proper adjustments for weather and conditions and things like that, car changes.  He’s dialed in.  Hopefully I have another really good handling car like I’ve had in the last few races.  If so, I know it’s an important one for us.  We could go the next two weeks and really shift our focus from Texas and Martinsville to putting all of our resources towards Phoenix, and that would certainly be a benefit for whoever locks in right off the bat." - Denny Hamlin

"Kansas is one of the most dynamic tracks we go to in terms of how crucial lane choice and lane selection are.  It’s a tough track to figure out.  You want to be turning well but if you’re too loose it’s really hard to make good lap times because the track is so smooth.  It’s tough to manage and figure out how much freer you need to be to make time but also how much rear grip you need so you can stay in the throttle.  I think the Vegas races this year give us a good idea of how this weekend will go though.  I think those two tracks really correlate well to each other.  Vegas gives us a good idea of what we need to work on since we had a decent run there and, hopefully, we can apply some of those things." - William Byron