DFS NASCAR: Hollywood Casinos 400 Track Breakdown

Sunday brings the second race in the Round of 12 at Kansas Speedway for the Hollywood Casinos 400. The 1.5-mile loop just outside of Kansas City, Kansas (and across the river from Kansas City, Missouri) is considered the home track for Carl Edwards, Jamie McMurray, and Clint Bowyer who all grew up just a few hours from where the track now sits. It is still a relatively new track, having made its debut in 2001, but the circuit tracks consistently with the others of a similar distance. Positional differential will be something to focus on this week as only five drivers in the field have a better than a +6.0 mark in the category.

TRACK BREAKDOWN

KEY DRIVERS ON 1.5-MILE TRACKS

Drivers to watch this week:

Martin Truex Jr: Truex is coming off a down week at Charlotte last Sunday after thoroughly dominating the earlier race there. He finished 13^th and posted just 31 points, but now is heading to Kansas where he leads the field in laps led, and has a respectable one top-five and two top-10s in five races there. He is steep this week at $11,100 but if he rebounds, he could be worth it.

Jimmie Johnson: J.J. logged his first win since April, ending his career long winless streak in the process, last week at Charlotte and now has eight wins at the 1.5-mile distance since the start of 2014. Part of that win total is the one at Kansas along with the three top-10s. His laps led total isn’t great at just 39 in five races but he does have one of the +6 positional differentials mentioned earlier at the top of this piece. Johnson comes in at $10,600 this week, which is the right spot for an elite driver on a roll.

Joey Logano: Logano has been the most consistent driver at the mid-west track in the last three seasons, with two wins, four top-fives and 259 laps led, good for second on the list.  He has been consistent in the last eight races overall too, posting 40+ points in six of them before crashing out early at Charlotte last week. He costs a tantalizing $9,200 this week, which could be a steal for a driver who has been so strong at Kansas in the past.

Carl Edwards: Mentioned above, Edwards’ home track is considered Kansas Speedway, having grown up in Columbia, Missouri, just two hours from KCK, as the locals call it. Despite that, he has no career wins at the track but has said that he would love to win at his home track. In the past five tries, he has one top-five and three top-10s with a subpar 24 laps led. Edwards costs $8,900 this week, which if he shows up like capable and pulls out a win or another top-five finish, would make him a valuable addition to a lineup.

Matt Kenseth: Kenseth has produced at his price point the last three weeks including a 98-point and 65-point race in two of the last three weeks coming from two runner-up finishes at Loudon and Charlotte. At Kansas, Kenseth owns one of the best positional differentials in the field at +7.8 and has three top-10s in the last five races despite an average starting position of 17^th. He also ranks fourth in laps led with 158. Kenseth is sitting at $8,700 this week, making him a possible 60-point performer for a mid-tier price.