NASCAR XFINITY Series

Next Race: Kansas Lottery 300

The Place: Kansas Speedway

The Date: Saturday, Oct. 17

The Time: 4 p.m. (ET)

TV: NBCSN, 3:30 p.m. (ET)

Radio: MRN, SiriusXM Ch. 90

Distance: 300 miles (200 laps)

 

Buescher: The Master of his Own Destiny

Roush Fenway Racing’s Chris Buescher is now leading the NASCAR XFINITY Series standings by 26 points over second-place Chase Elliott with just four races remaining in the season. Buescher does control his own destiny – but it’s tough, very tough. If he finishes second in the next four races, he’ll clinch no matter what any other driver does.

Buescher came to this point in the season by being impressively consistent. In 29 starts, he has posted two wins at Iowa and Dover with 11 top-fives and 19 top-tens – that’s a top-ten finishing percentage of 65.5%. And, his average finish this season is an 8.1 – best among championship contenders.

Buescher returns to Kansas Speedway to make his third career start at the 1.5-mile facility. In his previous two starts at Kansas he has had mixed results. In his series début at the track, he finished 16th and last season he was in an accident and finished 28th, 51 laps down. This season, expect him to turn it around at Kansas, because in 2015 he has the third-best average finish among championship contenders on 1.5-mile tracks with an 8.3.

New Territory for Chase Elliott with Four Races to Go

This time last season, Chase Elliott had a 38-point lead over second-place in the standings, three wins under his belt and the road to title town was all but paved. This season however, Elliott is voyaging into untraveled territory in his young XFINITY Series career. He is second in points with just one win at Richmond, and only has four races left on the schedule to overcome a 26-point deficit to become the series’ sixth driver to post back-to-back titles.

Elliott’s sophomore season could be considered a slump compared to his stellar rookie year, but by no means has his performance in 2015 been sub par. In 29 starts he has one win, 11 top-fives, and a series-leading 23 top-tens – that’s a top-ten finishing percentage of 79.3%.

Buescher’s chances at a title are not assured, especially with how well Elliott has run at the last four tracks on the schedule – among the two drivers, Elliott has an average finish of 8.7 and that is almost six spots (5.8) better than Buescher’s at 14.5.

Elliott made his series début at Kansas last season starting 12th and finishing tenth.

Five Former Kansas Winners Competing this Weekend

Experience is often thought of as one of the most important attributes in a successful driver. This weekend the XFINITY Series rolls into Kansas with five former series winners – Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, and Jeff Green.

Last season’s winner Kyle Busch is tied with Joey Logano with two each for the series-most wins at Kansas Speedway. Busch has made ten starts at Kansas posting two wins in 2007, 2014, six top-fives and eight top-tens. His average finish at Kansas is 9.2. Busch will be piloting the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota this weekend.

Matt Kenseth has one series victory in 2013 at Kansas. Kenseth will be piloting the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota this weekend. In eight starts at Kansas, Kenseth has posted, one win, five top-fives and seven top-tens.

Though Joey Logano shares the lead with Kyle Busch for the most wins at Kansas with two, he has not won at the 1.5-mile facility since 2010. Logano is the only driver in series history to win consecutive races at Kansas in the XFINITY Series in 2009, 2010. He also is the only driver to win at Kansas from the pole in 2010. Logano is in the series car owner points-leading No. 22 Team Penske Ford this weekend.

Harvick returns to the series this weekend after not competing for more than ten XFINITY races. This weekend Harvick will be in the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. Harvick has made ten series starts at Kansas, posting one win in 2006, six top-fives, seven top-tens and a pole.

Former Kansas winner, Jeff Green is also attempting to compete this weekend. Green is driving the No. 19 TriStar Motorsports Toyota for car owner Mark Smith. The 2000 series champ, Jeff Green, has made seven starts at Kansas posting one win in the 2001; inaugural race and two top-tens.

Sunoco Rookie: Suarez Chasing an Elusive Win

Following his seventh top-five finish of the season last weekend, Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings leader Daniel Suarez reflected on how close he and his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team are to their first series win together.

“We have to work a little harder, but I feel like we’re getting close (to their first win),” said Suarez, following his fourth-place finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway last weekend. “We’re competing with the big guys, which is great, but we have to be a little bit better and we’re going to get that win.”

Suarez is now seventh in the series driver standings 128 points behind series standings leader Chris Buescher. This season, Suarez has posted three Coors Light poles, seven top-fives, 14 top-tens with an average finish of 12.4.

Suarez is making a series début on two of the last four tracks on the schedule – Kansas Speedway this weekend and Homestead-Miami Speedway to close out the season.

Though time is short, Suarez is not giving up on getting his first win by season’s end.

“I want to be competitive one more time and, like I said before, we just need to put all the luck together and our stuff together to try to win a race. I feel like we’re close and we have the speed. We just need to put our pieces together.”

Suarez also leads the Sunoco Rookie if the Year standings by 29 points over second-place Darrell Wallace Jr.

XFINITY Series Tidbits

NASCAR In Kansas – NASCAR has held a total of 53 NASCAR national series events among two tracks including Kansas Speedway 48, and Heartland Park Topeka 5, in the state of Kansas. The first NASCAR national series event held in the state of Kansas was a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race held at Heartland Park Topeka in 1995 – the race winner was Ron Hornaday Jr. The XFINITY Series has competed 14 times in the state of Kansas – all 14 were at Kansas Speedway. The first XFINITY Series race at Kansas Speedway was held in 2001 and won by Jeff Green. Kansas Speedway has had 11 different pole winners and 12 different race winners in the XFINITY Series

Kansas Drivers In NASCAR – 17 different drivers that have competed in a NASCAR national series event have Kansas recorded as their home state. Of the 17 Kansas competitors, only six have competed in a XFINITY Series race. Of the six only one has ever won – Clint Bowyer has eight career series wins. The six drivers from Kansas to compete in the XFINITY Series are Clint Bowyer from Emporia, Rick Beebe from Shawnee, Ryck Sanders from Leawood, Jennifer Joe Cobb from Kansas City, Chase Austin from Eudora, and Randy Briggs also from Kansas City. Cobb is the only active Kansas driver participating in this weekend’s XFINITY Series race at Kansas Speedway.