{"id":17207,"date":"2018-05-12T21:25:20","date_gmt":"2018-05-13T02:25:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=17207"},"modified":"2018-05-12T21:25:20","modified_gmt":"2018-05-13T02:25:20","slug":"nascar-saturday-kansas-notebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2018\/05\/12\/nascar-saturday-kansas-notebook\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR: Saturday Kansas Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

Matt Kenseth\u2019s comeback hits a snag at Kansas<\/b><\/p>\n

KANSAS CITY, Kan. \u2013 On Friday afternoon at Kansas Speedway<\/strong>, Matt Kenseth\u2019s<\/strong> much-ballyhooed return to Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series<\/a> racing came to a grinding halt.<\/p>\n

Kenseth\u2019s No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford failed to make it through pre-qualifying inspection in time for the 46-year-old driver to make a qualifying attempt. That snafu sent Kenseth to the back of the field for Saturday night\u2019s KC Masterpiece 400, where he\u2019ll start 35th<\/sup> in a field of 38.<\/p>\n

Before that, Kenseth\u2019s comeback had gone swimmingly. There was a sense of closing the circle in a reunion with his old boss, Jack Roush, for whom Kenseth had won the last championship contested under the Winston Cup banner in 2003.<\/p>\n

Kenseth\u2019s ostensible role is to establish a baseline for the Roush Fenway cars of Trevor Bayne and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., which have been struggling with inconsistency for the past few years. Kenseth\u2019s presence in the No. 6 car comes at Bayne\u2019s expense, but the sport has welcomed the return of the 39-time Cup winner.<\/p>\n

Those 39 victories, by the way, are fourth among active drivers behind Jimmie Johnson (83), Kyle Busch (46) and Kevin Harvick (41)\u2014now that Kenseth is an active driver again.<\/p>\n

But Friday\u2019s inspection failure was the first real speed bump for the droll Wisconsinite. Kenseth is one of six drivers whose cars failed to make qualifying runs. Among them is Kansas native Clint Bowyer, who starts 33rd<\/sup> on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess Matt Kenseth\u2019s big debut being in the 6 car, not getting out on the race track, probably isn\u2019t very good either, but me being at home, that\u2019s a pretty good story,\u201d Bowyer said. \u201cNo, we\u2019re stuck back there in jail. I don\u2019t know. I have a pretty bad taste in my mouth right now. It\u2019s hard not to go off, because it\u2019s frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

JUSTIN ALLGAIER GETS A TASTE OF INTERNATIONAL RACING<\/b><\/p>\n

Who knew?<\/p>\n

The first hints that NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Justin Allgaier was off on an international adventure came on Friday in a pair of tweets.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a crazy week here in Barcelona, Spain with the @Brandt_co team and customers,\u201d posted Allgaier, who was off to a board meeting of the European arm of his primary sponsor, Brandt, and to Sunday\u2019s Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

\u201cExcited for Sunday to attend my first @f1 race @Circuitcat_eng (Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya)\u2026 really looking forward to seeing the differences between #F1 and @NASCAR,” Allgaier posted in a second tweet.<\/p>\n

The Spanish Grand Prix won\u2019t be the last stop for Allgaier during an off week for the Xfinity Series. He\u2019s already developed a fondness for Spain.<\/p>\n

\u201cLove it!!\u201d Allgaier said via text on Sunday. \u201cIt\u2019s been a blast so far. We have been only to Barcelona at the moment, but (will) travel to Sevilla and Madrid before we leave next Wednesday. It\u2019s my first time to Spain, so it\u2019s been fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

SHORT STROKES<\/b><\/p>\n

The Kansas Lottery has inked a multiyear deal to continue its sponsorship of the NASCAR Xfinity race at Kansas Speedway, the track announced on Saturday morning. \u201cI\u2019m thrilled that we are able to continue our partnership with the Kansas Lottery,\u201d said Kansas Speedway President Pat Warren. \u201cThey\u2019ve been a great partner since Kansas Speedway opened, and to have their continued commitment to support racing in Kansas is huge.\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n

Martin Truex Jr. entered Saturday night\u2019s KC Masterpiece 400 seeking to extend his winning streak at the track to three races. Truex swept both events at the 1.5-mile track last season on the way to his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship. \u201cThis track, for whatever reason, has been one that we\u2019ve been really successful at over the years,\u201d Truex said. \u201cNot sure why, but it seems like I\u2019m comfortable here, and I like the track. And for whatever reason, the way I like to drive my car around it usually produces some speed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Matt Kenseth\u2019s comeback hits a snag at Kansas KANSAS CITY, Kan. \u2013 On Friday afternoon at Kansas Speedway, Matt Kenseth\u2019s much-ballyhooed return to Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series racing came to a grinding halt. Kenseth\u2019s No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford failed to make it through pre-qualifying inspection in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17209,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[213,593,16],"class_list":["post-17207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-kansas-speedway","tag-kc-masterpiece-400","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/ks1_mencs_kybusch_051218-e1526186371720.jpg?fit=640%2C427","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-4tx","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17207"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17210,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17207\/revisions\/17210"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}