{"id":22514,"date":"2018-10-20T13:45:13","date_gmt":"2018-10-20T18:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=22514"},"modified":"2018-10-28T18:41:00","modified_gmt":"2018-10-28T23:41:00","slug":"nascar-saturday-kansas-notebook-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2018\/10\/20\/nascar-saturday-kansas-notebook-2\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR: Saturday Kansas Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

 <\/p>\n

Joey Logano\u2019s pole run at Kansas defies logic\u2014or does it?<\/b><\/p>\n

KANSAS CITY, Kan. \u2013 Playoff driver Joey Logano bucked conventional wisdom with his pole-winning run in Friday\u2019s knockout qualifying session for Sunday\u2019s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway (2 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).<\/p>\n

\"\"

Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, poses for a photo after winning the pole award during qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway on October 19, 2018 in Kansas City, Kansas. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford was fourth fastest in the first round and third in the second round. In the final round, however, with the Busch Pole Award on the line, Logano ran the fastest lap of the day (191.646 mph) on tires that had already completed two hot laps.<\/p>\n

Logano wasn\u2019t shocked that he could sustain that sort of speed in the money round\u2014far from it.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot surprising, for multiple reasons,\u201d Logano told the NASCAR Wire Service. \u201cSun was going down. It was getting colder. It definitely seems like, as the sun goes down, the track picks up grip. It had so much grip today. From Lap 1 (teammate Ryan) Blaney and I were laughing about it. It was like, \u2018Oh my gosh, we’re going so fast.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely one of those race tracks that the more you go for it, the bigger the reward is. Also, the penalty is pretty big. We\u2019ve seen that for a couple cars, too (notably Kyle Larson\u2019s crash in opening practice). You get a little outside of it, and you are going for a ride, and it\u2019s hard to regain control. It\u2019s one of those places that the more risk you take the faster you go, but it is also more risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, practices for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway on October 19, 2018 in Kansas City, Kansas. (Photo by Matt Sullivan\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Just because Logano ran fastest on two-lap-old tires doesn\u2019t mean there won\u2019t be tire degradation in Sunday\u2019s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Round of 12 elimination event.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the race starts, there will be some tire fall-off, for sure,\u201d Logano said. \u201cThis place has definitely worn into a really good race track, one that you can run the top as fast as you run the middle or the bottom for that case.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt puts on a good race. That\u2019s probably what makes this one of the best repaves we\u2019ve had. The fact that, when they redesigned the race track and paved it to make the top really come in, they did a really good job with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

AS A GROUP, TOYOTA DRIVERS ARE SEARCHING FOR A LITTLE MORE SPEED<\/b><\/p>\n

Fast, but not fast enough.<\/p>\n

That was the consistent refrain from Toyota drivers after Friday\u2019s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Kansas Speedway.<\/p>\n

Led by Erik Jones, Joe Gibbs Racing drivers claimed the sixth through ninth spots on the grid for Sunday\u2019s Hollywood Casino 400 at the 1.5-mile track.<\/p>\n

The No. 78 Camry of reigning series champion Martin Truex Jr. was too loose in the first two rounds and too tight in the final round after an adjustment went too far. He qualified 12th.<\/p>\n

On a positive note, all five of the Cup series\u2019 top Toyotas made the top 12. On the other hand, they all qualified behind the five Fords that led the field. That defined the mission of the Camry drivers in Saturday\u2019s two practice sessions: find more speed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think our Craftsman Toyota had pretty good speed, but just not quite enough to get the pole,\u201d Jones said. \u201cWe\u2019ll keep working on it, but not a bad effort. We\u2019ll start up here in the top six and go from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seventh-place qualifier Kyle Busch, second in the series standings and likely a shoo-in to the Round of 8 in the Playoffs, hopes to make his task easier at Kansas than it felt during opening practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cFeels like I have to push too hard to make lap time to what I need lap time to be,\u201d Busch said. \u201cWe\u2019re struggling for free speed right now \u2013 you have to earn it. You just have to figure out what your car is doing, figure out the balance and try to get as much speed as you can.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the temperatures being cool, it\u2019s just so fast \u2013 just really, really, really fast. You\u2019ve got to be all but perfect in order to have a fast car.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denny Hamlin, who will start ninth behind teammate Daniel Suarez, echoed that sentiment.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust a little bit slower than what we had hoped for,\u201d said Hamlin, who is looking for his first victory of the year after scoring at least one win in each of his previous 12 seasons. \u201cOrganizationally, we\u2019re all kind of right there bunched together, and that\u2019s what we had for speed.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust have to make it a little bit better in race trim.\u201d<\/p>\n

Busch and Jones accomplished that objective in Saturday\u2019s first practice. Jones was second to Aric Almirola on the speed chart. Busch was fifth fastest but paced the field in consecutive 10-lap average.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Kyle Larson, driver of the #42 McDonald’s Trick. Treat. WinChevrolet, stands in the garage area during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway on October 19, 2018 in Kansas City, Kansas. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

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

Jamie McMurray will join Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Kyle Larson at the back of the field for the start of Sunday\u2019s Hollywood Casino 400. McMurray blew his engine 19 minutes into Saturday\u2019s early practice. With the change in power plants, McMurray must drop to the rear to start the race. Larson, hoping to keep his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series title hopes alive with a victory, went to a backup car after a crash in practice on Friday and consequently will start from the back\u2026<\/p>\n

Kurt Busch, last week\u2019s Talladega pole winner, was back on top of the speed chart in Saturday\u2019s final practice. Busch toured 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway in 28.997 seconds (186.226 mph) to edge Erik Jones (186.104 mph) for the fastest lap in Happy Hour. Aric Almirola, who paced Saturday\u2019s first practice at 186.683 mph in cooler temperatures, was third in the final session, followed by Kyle Busch, Paul Menard and Ryan Blaney. Alex Bowman, who needs a victory on Sunday to advance to the Round of 8 in the Playoffs, was ninth fastest, with 184.919 mph as his best lap.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service   Joey Logano\u2019s pole run at Kansas defies logic\u2014or does it? KANSAS CITY, Kan. \u2013 Playoff driver Joey Logano bucked conventional wisdom with his pole-winning run in Friday\u2019s knockout qualifying session for Sunday\u2019s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway (2 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":22528,"comment_status":"open","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":[213,16],"class_list":["post-22514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-kansas-speedway","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/358292.jpg?fit=3114%2C2076","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-5R8","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22514","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\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22514"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22531,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22514\/revisions\/22531"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}