NASCAR Preview for Kansas Speedway

2007 NASCAR visits Kansas Speedway which first opened in 2001. Most drivers have equal experience here so they may still be learning this speedway, although there are two other tracks, Las Vegas and Chicagoland, that are the same shape and size as Kansas. There may be some references to Michigan and California, similar tracks also.

My picks for this week are based mostly on the combined statistics of all three tracks more than just from Kansas. Matt Kenseth was the previous master at these tracks, even though not as much Kansas, but Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart have good success.

Dover had many accidents that dulled the end of last weekend's race, but Kansas is wider and longer and may have at least two green flag runs of 40-70 laps or more. But, only once has there been less than 9 cautions here.

I am taking you inside the race.

1st Jimmie Johnson has led 82 or more laps in each of the last three tri-oval track races, a total of 34% of the laps. He has won 3 of the last 8 races on these track and has led a total of 497, third to Kenseth and Stewart. This season he has top six finishes in 5 of the last 7 races with 2 wins. At California he has 2 wins and 6 top three finishes in 10 races.

2nd #17 Matt Kenseth had a four-race stretch on the tri-oval tracks, from the 2005 race at Chicago until the 2006 race at Chicago, in which he led 505 of the 1068 laps, almost 50% of the laps. He leads all drivers on these tracks with 746 laps led. In 5 of the last 14 races at these tracks he has finished first or second, and without bad luck those stats would be even better. At Kansas in 2005 he led 71 laps and finished 5th. This season he has top ten finishes in 7 of the last 12 races. Again, without bad luck it would be better. Last week at Dover he led 192 laps, but blew the motor late in the race. He has won 2 of the last 4 races at California.

3rd #20 Tony Stewart finished in the top five on these tracks in 9 of 13 races from 2001 to 2005 and only one was worse than 14th. He has led 569 laps at the tri-ovals, second to Kenseth, but only 6 laps at Kansas. But, he has top four finishes in 3 of the last 4 here and his 6.5 average is tops among drivers. He has led 569 laps on these tracks, second to Kenseth. He is the hottest driver over the last 10 races this season, with 3 wins, 6 top four finishes and a 5.0 finish average. He won here in 2006 despite running out of gas on the final lap.

4th #5 Kyle Busch had top three finishes in 3 of his first 5 tri-oval track starts. In the next race, at Kansas in 2006, he led 64 laps and ran in the top five all day, but ended up in 7th place. At Chicagoland this year he again ran in the top five all day, but finished 13th. His 9.0 average on the tri-ovals is best among all drivers, and it should reflect even better. He has finished in the top four in 3 of the last 4 races this season, and in the last 15 races he has only one finish worse than 13th.

5th #24 Jeff Gordon won the first two races at Kansas then finished 5th in the following race. He has 4 wins and 12 top five finishes in 23 tri-oval track starts, second in percentage to Stewart. He has led 448 laps at these tracks, fourth among drivers. He led 111 laps this year at Vegas, finishing second to Johnson.

6th #16 Greg Biffle led 64 laps and finished 3rd in 2004, then led 47 laps and finished 2nd in 2005. His worse finish in the last 4 races here is 13th. He has averaged 9.0 on the tri-oval tracks over the last 9 races and his lowest finish is 16th.

7th #99 Carl Edwards finished 6th and 3rd the last two races at Kansas and has finished in the top six in 4 of the last 6 tri-oval track races. At California, a similar track to the tri-ovals, he finished in the top six in 6 of 7 races. He has two wins and a second in the last 5 races this season.

8th #07 Clint Bowyer has finished in the top ten in 3 of his 4 starts at the tri-oval tracks. He finished 9th in his only start here, but was running second to Johnson with 100 laps to go before spinning. He led 43 laps that race. He has a 1st and 3rd in the last 5 races this season.

9th # 01 Mark Martin finished 3rd and 1st the last two races here, and led 139 laps in his win in 2005. His 141 laps led at Kansas is second to Jeff Gordon. He has finished in the top six in 4 of the last 6 races at the tri-ovals.

10h #1 Martin Truex Jr ran second in the early part of the race at Chicago this year, but blew a motor late in the race. He finished 2nd in both races at Michigan this year, 6th at California and 11th in his only start at Kansas. He has finished in the top six in 4 of the last 7 races this year, with a low finish of 15th.

Top ten contenders

Ryan Newman had 2 wins, 2 second-place finishes and top ten finishes in 6 of his first 8 starts on the tri-ovals. But, 8th place has been his highest finish in the next 11 races

Casey Mears has finished in the top ten in 6 of the last 8 races on the tri-ovals.

Dale Earnhardt Jr finished in the top ten at Kansas in 3 of 6 starts.

Brian Vickers had an 8th and 11th in 3 starts at Kansas.