The NASCAR Cup Series will return to the Heartland to race at Kansas Speedway. The race at Kansas in May was one of the best is NASCAR history. At least it had the closest finish ever in the Cup Series. The Gen-7 car has been at its best on the 1.5-mile tracks and there is a lot on the line for the 12 playoff drivers this weekend. I expect another exciting race at Kansas Speedway. The Hollywood Casino 400 can be seen Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.
The Fantasy Live picks have outscored 99% of the entries in both the regular season and playoff games for over a decade. It did not take long for the picks to climb to the top this year. The picks rank No. 41 overall out of 352K entries. The race at Kansas is typically easy to predict, so we are going to need to get this race right Sunday so we can climb even higher in the standings.
CUP SERIES PRACTICE
The Cup Series had their normal practice session for the race at Kansas. The teams were broken into groups and they had 20-minutes to dial in their cars for the Hollywood Casino 400. Kansas Speedway is a high-speed intermediate track. The teams must be able to get their cars to race over the bumps in the track without losing speed. There is some tire-wear at Kansas, but not as bad as it is at some of the other intermediate tracks. We need to look at the single-lap speed and the long-run speed for our picks Sunday.
Here are the practice speeds for the Hollywood Casino 400…
FANTASY LIVE STRATEGY
DO NOT WORRY ABOUT ALLOCATIONS AT KANSAS. The cream rises to the top at the 1.5-mile tracks. The drivers from Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing have a history of running up front and winning the races at Kansas Speedway. I was surprised to see that 23X1 Racing has won the last two fall races at Kansas Speedway (Bubba Wallace in 2022 and Tyler Reddick last year). You need to play the top drivers at Kansas, Las Vegas and save an allocation for the championship race in Phoenix. We do not need to use many of the drivers from Hendrick Motorsports or Joe Gibbs Racing at Talladega or the Charlotte Roval in the Round of 12.
FANTASY LIVE PICKS FOR KANSAS
CHRISTOPHER BELL (4): Bell is my pick to win the championship, so of course I have him finishing up front at Kansas Speedway. Bell has led laps in every race in the Gen-7 car at Kansas and he has scored Stage Points in three of the last four Stages at the track. The No. 20 will start on the pole Sunday, so Bell has the track position to score a lot of Stage Points and a good chance to win the race. Bell said after qualifying, “This is the best car I have ever had at Kansas.”
DENNY HAMLIN (4): Kansas Speedway has been one of the best intermediate tracks for the No. 11 team. Hamlin has an average finishing position on 4th in his last six races at Kansas. He has led laps and scored Stage Points in every Stage in the last three races in the Heartland. Hamlin slept-walked through the Round of 16. I expect Hamlin to finish up-front and maybe win the race Sunday so he does not need to worry about the races at Talladega or the Charlotte Roval (not very good tracks for Hamlin).
KYLE LARSON (4): Larson should be the best pick in the field this week. He won two of the four races on the intermediate tracks this year (Las Vegas and Kansas) and he has an average finishing position of 3rd in his last six races at Kansas Speedway. Larson has a lot of momentum after he destroyed the field last week at Bristol. It is going to be tough to keep Larson from leading the most laps and winning the race in Kansas.
WILLIAM BYRON (4): Hendrick Motorsports always runs well at Kansas Speedway, but the No. 24 team looked lost in the May race at the track. Byron qualified an unbelievable 36th and finished 23rd. It looks like the No. 24 team used the notes from their teammates this week. Byron posted the fastest speed on the long-runs in practice and qualified 6th for the race. I expect a bounce-back race from Byron Sunday at Kansas Speedway.
KYLE BUSCH (5): I typically like to stick to the playoff drivers in this game, but Busch has a lot to race for Sunday. He is trying to keep his streak alive of seasons with a win. Busch finished 8th at Kansas in May and 7th in this race last year. He starts 3rd, so he has the track position to score a lot of points for your Fantasy Live lineup Sunday.
(GARAGE PICK) ALEX BOWMAN (4): Guess who scored the most points in the first round of the playoffs. Yes, it was the No. 48 team. Bowman has a lot of momentum right now. He has never finished outside the top-10 in the Gen-7 car at Kansas. Bowman should be a safe pick to have as an insurance policy in your Garage Sunday.
* If you are out of allocations and need to know which driver to use Sunday night, simply look at the Driver Rankings for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race…
Good luck and be sure to follow me on X (Twitter) @MrFantasyNASCAR. I will send out a Tweet during the race to let you know if I plan to swap out one of my drivers for my Garage pick.