CONCORD, N.C. – This weekend, Hendrick Motorsports and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series compete under the lights at Kansas Speedway.
Last year, Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 team found Victory Lane at the 1.5-mile tri-oval. Johnson currently holds the record for all-time wins on 1.5-mile tracks. He has earned 25 victories, which includes seven at Charlotte Motor Speedway, six at Texas Motor Speedway, five at Atlanta Motor Speedway, four at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and three at Kansas Speedway.
“I really like the surface of the Kansas track and looking forward to a great race,” said Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS. “Last year (No. 48 team crew chief) Chad (Knaus) made a great call and we had a fast Lowe’s Chevy and the gamble paid off.”
Before the green flag drops at Kansas, check out these key notes to keep an eye on below.
BROADCAST INFORMATION: Saturday’s race will air live on FOX Sports 1 at 7:30 p.m. ET. Can’t make it to a television? Tune into MRN or SiriusXM to catch the Kansas radio coverage. Here is the full broadcast schedule:
Friday, May 6:
11:30 a.m. ET: Sprint Cup Series Practice, FOX Sports 1
1:30 p.m. ET: Sprint Cup Series Final Practice, FOX Sports 1
6:30 p.m. ET: Sprint Cup Series Qualifying, FOX Sports 1
Saturday, May 7:
7:30 p.m. ET: Sprint Cup Series Race, FOX Sports 1/MRN/SiriusXM
THIS WEEK’S PAINT SCHEMES: Kasey Kahne will drive the No. Farmers Insurance Chevrolet SS and NAPA AUTO PARTS will be the primary partner on board Rookie of the Year contender Chase Elliott’s No. 24 Chevrolet SS this weekend. Johnson pilots the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS and Dale Earnhardt Jr. will debut the No. 88 Axalta/CARSTAR Chevrolet SS.
HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS AT KANSAS: At Kansas Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports has amassed six wins, five pole positions, 28 top-five finishes and 47 top-10 finishes in addition to 1,071 laps led. Johnson, who leads active drivers in wins, top-five finishes and top-10 finishes at the track, most recently won for the organization at Kansas in 2015.
KAHNE AT KANSAS: In Kahne’s 17 starts at Kansas Speedway, he has led 102 total laps in six different races. That ranks him 13th in the laps led category among active drivers and 18th all-time. Two of Kahne’s top-five finishes resulted in him taking the checkered flag in the second position – 2011 and 2013. Kahne’s most recent start in the No. 5 Chevrolet SS at Kansas resulted in a fourth-place finish.
POLE POSITION: Three of Kahne’s 27 pole awards have come at the Kansas City, Kansas, track. He’s tied for the most poles at the 1.5-mile track with Johnson and Kevin Harvick.
TOP ROOKIE: Elliott leads the 2016 Rookie of the Year contender standings heading into Kansas by 27 points over second-place Ryan Blaney and 43 points over third-place Brian Scott. Elliott has accumulated a total of 133 rookie points this year through the first 10 races. Among active drivers, his six top-10 finishes rank second behind teammate Johnson's seven for the most top-10 finishes through the first 10 races of a rookie season.
#VOTECHASE: Elliott is one of 25 drivers still vying for the chance to race in NASCAR’s Sprint All-Star Race May 21. The All-Star Race boasts the very best drivers most deserving to race for a chance to win $1 million. Among those 25 drivers that are not yet locked in, Elliott is one of only two drivers that has claimed more than one top-five finish (three) and one of six drivers to have earned a top-five finish at all – the only rookie to accomplish the feat.
JOHNSON AT KANSAS: Johnson has the series-best driver rating at Kansas Speedway with a score of 112.0. He has an average finish of 7.3 at the 1.5-mile speedway and also has the series-best average running position of 9.383. Only once in the last 14 races at Kansas has Johnson finished worse than ninth, and in the two races last year, he finished first and third after starting 19th or worse.
EARNHARDT AT KANSAS: While Dale Earnhardt Jr. has yet to win a race at Kansas Speedway, he has earned solid stats at the 1.5-mile track. The driver of the No. 88 Axalta/CARSTAR Chevrolet SS has one pole (2002) at the speedway, and scored a third-place finish in the spring race last year. He’s earned top-five finishes in two of the last four races at Kansas, and in the other two he encountered issues unrelated to the speed of the car. According to NASCAR’s loop data statistics, Earnhardt ranks second among active drivers in the “closers” category, which represents the number of positions that a driver improves over the last 10 percent of the race. He has improved 24 positions, gaining an average of 1.6 spots in the last 10 races. He also ranks fourth on average speed late in a run at 167.819 mph.