05/03/2023
RFK Advance | Kansas I
Kansas Event Info:
Track Info: Kansas Speedway, 1.5-mile oval
Date: Sunday, May 7
Time: 3 p.m. ET
Series: NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Location: Kansas City, Kansas
Format: 267 laps, 400 miles, Stages: 80-85-102
TV: FS1
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90)
Weekend Schedule:
Saturday: 5 p.m. ET, Practice (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Saturday: 5:45 p.m. ET, Qualifying (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Sunday: 3 p.m. ET, Race (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
6 Team Info:
Crew Chief: Matt McCall
Partner: King’s Hawaiian GoTG Vol. 3
- King’s Hawaiian’s scheme this week at Kansas features promotion of the new Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 movie that premiers this Thursday night.
17 Team Info:
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Partner: Fastenal / Body Guard
- The No. 17 this weekend will feature branding for Body Guard, distributed exclusively by Fastenal, as one of its top suppliers. Buescher’s scheme goes away from the traditional Fastenal blue to the orange colors represented by Body Guard.
Pace Laps:
- The NASCAR Series schedule heads to Kansas Speedway this weekend, where Jack Roush has nine wins all time and four in the NCS.
- RFK is coming off another strong showing in Dover this past Monday where Brad Keselowski finished seventh, and Chris Buescher finished ninth. It marks the first time since 2014 (Bristol & Atlanta) that the organization had back-to-back sets of top-10 finishes
Keselowski at Kansas
Starts: 26
Wins: 2 (2011, 2019)
Top-10s:
Poles: 2 (2015, 2021)
- Keselowski makes his 27th Cup start at Kansas on Sunday. He has victories there in 2011 and 2019, and overall carries an average finish of 12.1. He finished 25th last fall and 14th in the spring race in 2022.
- He has three top fives in the last six races at Kansas including a runner-up finish in 2020, a P4 finish that fall, and a third-place run in 2021.
- He has an average starting position of 11th with two career poles (2015, 2021).
- He made a combined 10 starts in the Xfinity and Truck Series with one win and five combined top-10s.
Buescher at Kansas
Starts: 14
Wins: —
Top-10s: —
Poles: —
- Buescher makes his 15th start at Kansas on Sunday. Overall he has three top-10s at the 1.5-mile track with a 15th-place finish last fall. His best result came in 2017 when he ran sixth that fall.
- He finished eighth in the spring race in 2021, and 27th last spring.
- Buescher has an average starting position of 20.4 at Kansas with a career best P10 starting position (2018, 2022).
- Buescher made three Xfinity starts at Kansas from 2013-15 with a best finish of sixth (2015).
RFK Historically at Kansas
Cup Wins: 4 (Mark Martin, 2005; Greg Biffle, 2007, 2010; Matt Kenseth, 2012)
- Follow the Yellow Brick Road: Overall, RFK has started 179 races across the three national series, earning nine wins, 41 top-five finishes, 76 top-10 finishes and has an overall average finish of 14.9.
- Winning at Kansas: RFK swept both the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NCS races at Kansas in the fall of 2012 with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Matt Kenseth. Stenhouse became the sixth driver to win at the track for the organization via his Xfinity victory. NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin earned RFK’s first NCS win at Kansas in 2005 and former driver Greg Biffle bested the 1.5-mile track in 2007 and 2010. RFK’s first overall win at Kansas came in 2002 via Jeff Burton in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Three drivers (Jon Wood in 2003, Carl Edwards in 2004 and Erik Darnell in 2007) have won in the NCWTS at Kansas for RFK.
- Tale of the Tape: RFK has started 110 NCS races at Kansas, recording four victories, 20 top-five finishes, 36 top-10 finishes, an average finish of 16.7 and has led 970 laps. Kenseth earned the most recent victory at Kansas in the fall of 2012.
RFK Kansas Wins
2002 Burton NXS
2003 Wood Truck
2004 Edwards Truck
2005 Martin Cup
2007 Biffle Cup
2007 Darnell Truck
2010 Biffle Cup
2012-2 Kenseth Cup
2012 Stenhouse NXS
Last Time Out & Where They Stand
Dover: RFK again put both of its Ford Mustangs in the top-10 Monday at Dover, the first time since 2014 (Bristol & Atlanta) that the organization had back-to-back sets of top-10 finishes. Buescher earned stage points in each of the first two stages and finished ninth, while Keselowski led the race two different times, finished fourth in stage one, and went on to finish seventh.
Points Standings (6: 9th, 17: 12th): Both RFK drivers saw a significant jump in the standings following solid runs at Dover. Keselowski is back inside the top-10 in ninth, just three points behind the No. 8 in eighth. Buescher sits 12th with a 20-point gap separating the No. 17 from 11th.
By the Numbers at Kansas
Race Win T5 T10 Pole Laps Led AvSt AvFn Miles
110 4 20 36 2 28121 970 17.2 16.7 42181.5
50 2 14 28 3 9699 383 12.9 12.9 14548.5
19 3 7 12 0 3059 229 9.9 11.0 4588.5
179 9 41 76 5 40879 1582 14.8 15.0 61318.5
