KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The true battle for the Chase for the NASCAR Cup Series championship is set to tighten up even further this weekend at Kansas Speedway.
Entering Kansas, Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin are not only the top two drivers in the championship standings but are also the top two drivers at the track in the NextGen era.
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Larson and Hamlin are 1-2 for wins (2 vs. 1), laps led (577 vs. 461), average finish (5.8 vs. 7.1) and average points earned per race (46 vs. 43.6). They’re tied with a leading eight top-10 finishes, while Hamlin leads with seven top-five finishes and a recent edge lately at Kansas with the tire compound for this weekend.
In the last two Kansas races, Hamlin has led a total of 290 of the 547 laps run while Larson has led a total of 79. Hamlin led 131 laps and finished fourth in the spring after leading 159 laps and finishing second in the fall. Hamlin has also won three of the last four stages, with a stage win in the spring and sweeping the stages in the fall.
Larson led 78 laps and finished second in the spring after finishing sixth with one lap led in the fall.
However, the battle narrows. Larson won the other stage that Hamlin didn’t win in the spring and almost won, if not for Tyler Reddick passing him on the final lap.
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Hamlin had a similar spell in the fall when a move for the win let Chase Elliott get by for it. Still, neither Elliott nor Reddick compare to Hamlin and Larson.
While Reddick is tied with Larson for most NextGen Kansas wins, his two wins are the only top-five finishes he has scored in the NextGen era at the track. He has averaged a weighted 31.7 points per NextGen race, while Elliott has averaged 38.4 points per race and has just one other top-five finish besides his win.
Christopher Bell is the driver to watch, with an average of 37 points per NextGen race. He also has four top-five finishes, seven top-10 finishes, 287 laps led, an average finish of 10th and four poles. With the tire compound, he has also led more laps (90) than Larson.
Rain is in the forecast for Saturday morning, when Cup qualifying is set to take place. If inclement weather cancels qualifying, the metric will set the lineup based 70% on the Bristol finish and 30% on the points position. Here’s how the metric-set lineup would be:
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Shane van Gisbergen (19.1)
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John Hunter Nemechek (25.9)
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Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (29.7)
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