It’s getting to be crunch time. In the sixth of 10 NASCAR playoffs races, this Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at the Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas, will reduce the field in the Monster Energy Cup playoffs from 12 cars down to eight. Which four drivers will go is not close to being clear as just 68 points separate Martin Truex Jr., who is currently the last one in, from 12th-place driver Alex Bowman.
Two drivers who don’t have to worry are Chase Elliott and Aric Almirola. Elliott won two weeks ago at Dover to take the first exemption, while Almirola broke a 149-race winless streak last Sunday at Talladega. This week Elliott is at 20/1 to win, while Almirola is at 30/1.
“I’ve been so close so many times this year, whose last victory was the 2004 Daytona Invitational. “Four or five times this year I thought we had a shot to win but haven’t been able to seal the deal. I came in with the mind-set that we were going to give ’em hell, we were going to go for the win, and if we wrecked, we wrecked.”
Winning Mindsets
That will be the philosophy of several of the drivers outside the bubble, hoping to advance. There should be plenty of jockeying for position at Kansas Speedway as drivers will be making charges to drive and save their season.
One of those will be Kyle Larson. He is 26 points behind the eighth and final spot. If he could win the Hollywood Casino 400, he would be assured of advancing.
“I definitely think we have to go there and win,” Larson told the Kansas City Star. “But I’m actually kind of excited to go there and know what we have to do. The two previous years that I’ve been knocked out of the playoffs, each of the rounds I’ve gotten knocked out in, I felt like we were pretty safe to make it through to the next one.”
That was certainly the case last year. Larson came into Kansas with a 29-point lead from the final spot, but engine failure knocked him out of the playoffs. Still his record at this layout has made him the second pick at +350. Kevin Harvick is the favorite at +250. Larson has finished in the top 6 in two of his last three races here.
“Kansas suits our team very well,” Larson told the Star. “I feel like we do pretty good with the smooth, high-grip tracks. Also, at Kansas, you can get going right around the walls. Any time we can run the top, that suits my driving style. I’m pretty confident for this weekend and confident anytime we go to Kansas.”
What about Harvick, Busch, Truex?
After dominating the regular season, the Big Three of Harvick, Kyle Busch, and Truex have been MIA during the playoffs. The conventional thinking is that they were not trying win, but survive to the next round.
For Harvick and Busch it shouldn’t be a problem. Harvick is No. 1 in the standings, while Busch is 17 points behind him in second. But Truex, who is the defending champion, is just on the right side of the bubble, and will need a strong finish to advance to the round of eight.
