Information By: BRANDON LEE / RFK RACING – CONCORD, NC
Kansas II Event Info:
Date: Sunday, Sept. 29
Time: 3 p.m. ET
Series: NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Location: Kansas City, Kansas
Format: 267 Laps, 400.5 Miles, Stages: 80-85-102
TV: USA
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90)
Weekend Schedule:
Saturday: 1:05 p.m. ET, Practice (NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Saturday: 1:45 p.m. ET, Qualifying (NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Saturday: 3 p.m. ET, Race (USA, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Pace Laps:
Kansas Speedway hosts its second race of the 2024 season – the site of the famed photo finish this May where Chris Buescher appeared to secure win, but finished second in the closest finish in NASCAR history.
Jack Roush has four wins in the Cup Series at Kansas and nine overall, the most recent in 2012.
6 Team Info:
Crew Chief: Matt McCall
Partner: Solomon Plumbing
17 Team Info:
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Partner: Fastenal
Keselowski at Kansas
Starts: 29
Wins: 2 (2011, 2019)
Top-10s: 14
Poles: 2 (2015, 2021)
Keselowski makes his 30th start at Kansas this weekend, a track where he carries a 12.2 average finish. He’s coming off an 11th-place finish this spring, and a P9 finish last fall.
Keselowski has an average starting position of 12th with 17 starts inside the top-10. He most recently qualified 20th last spring and 12th in the fall, and has two career poles (2015, 2021) in Kansas.
He also made a combined 10 starts in the Xfinity and Truck Series with one win and five combined top-10s.
Buescher at Kansas
Starts: 17
Wins: —
Top-10s: 4
Poles: —
Buescher is coming off a positive – but heartbreaking – race this spring in Kansas where he finished second in the closest finish in NASCAR history. He won stage two and led 53 laps in that race in what was his fourth top-10 at the track.
He finished 27th in the 2023 fall race where he lost a tire with less than 10 laps remaining.
Dating back to the 2022 fall event, Buescher has qualified 14th or better in all four races, including a career-best 10th in that 2022 fall race. His average starting position stands at 19.1.
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 185 races across the three national series, earning nine wins, 42 top-five finishes, 78 top-10 finishes and has an overall average finish of 15th.
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 116 NCS races at Kansas, recording four victories, 21 top-five finishes, 38 top-10 finishes, an average finish of 16.5 and has led 1047 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
Bristol: Keselowski finished 26th and did not advance to the Round of 12 in the NASCAR Playoffs. Buescher led RFK with a 14th-place finish.