Good news, bad news for NASCAR Cup drivers ahead of Kansas playoff race

For the first time since late May, the NASCAR Cup Series will race at a 1.5-mile track.

Kansas Speedway has provided many memorable moments in recent years from Kyle Larson beating Chris Buescher by .001 seconds — the closest finish in series history — to last year’s playoff race having 30 lead changes. Three of the last five races at Kansas had the pass for the win take place within the final two laps.

Pre-race coverage begins at 2:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

With help from Racing Insights, here is a look at the good news and bad news for Cup drivers and teams heading to Sunday’s race at Kansas Speedway.

23XI Racing — Good news: Organization has won three of the last seven Kansas races. Bad news: Tyler Reddick has had one top-10 finish in the four playoff races this season. … Reddick has finished 17th or worse in six of the last eight Kansas races. … Bubba Wallace has finished 26th or worse in four of the last six races. … Wallace has finished 33rd or worse in the last three races on 1.5-mile tracks (all due to accidents). … Wallace is last in the playoff standings, 27 points below the cutline with two races left in this round. … Rookie Riley Herbst has not finished better than 19th on a 1.5-mile track in his Cup career.

Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace are both more than 20 points below the final transfer spot, which is held by Chase Briscoe.

Front Row Motorsports — Good news: Noah Gragson’s average finish of 17.7 at Kansas makes it his third-best track by average finish (Watkins Glen is No. 1 at 16.0 and Talladega is next at 17.2). … Gragson’s 16th-place finish was his second top 20 in the last four races. … Zane Smith has three top-15 finishes in the last six races. Bad news: After scoring nine top-20 finishes in the first 13 races of the season, Todd Gilliland has had only three top-20 finishes in the last 17 races, including last weekend’s 19th-place result at New Hampshire.

Haas Factory Team — Good news: Cole Custer has finished in the top 25 in four of the last six races. Bad News: It has been 127 starts for Custer since his lone Cup win in July 2020 at Kentucky.

Hendrick Motorsports — Good news: William Byron ranks first in speed and restarts and ranks second in passing in Racing Insights’ season rankings. … Kyle Larson won the spring Kansas race, leading 221 of 267 laps. … Larson has won three of the last 10 races at Kansas. … Larson has scored the most points (212) in the series on 1.5-mile tracks this season, followed by Byron with 189 points and Chase Elliott with 155 points. …Elliott’s average finish of 10.4 at Kansas ranks as fourth-best all-time among drivers who have made six or more starts there. … Byron’s third-place finish at New Hampshire ended a six-race streak without a top-10 result. … Alex Bowman’s 11 top 10s at Kansas are his most at any track. … Bowman has finished in the top 10 in each of his last six starts at Kansas. … Elliott has two top fives in the last three races. … The organization has had a car finish in the top two in six of the last eight races. Bad news: Elliott has not started better than 16th in the last five races and has scored only one point in the first stage in that stretch. … Elliott has failed to score any points in 10 of the last 13 stages. … Larson and Byron each have had one top 10 in the four playoff races this season.

Hyak Motorsports — Good news: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished 11th in May’s Coca-Cola 600, the most recent race on a 1.5-mile track. Bad news: Stenhouse has one top-10 finish in 25 starts at Kansas.

Joe Gibbs Racing — Good news: Chase Briscoe is the only driver to finish in the top 10 in all four playoff races this season. … Briscoe’s average finish of 5.5 in the postseason is the best among all drivers. Christopher Bell has led in the last seven Kansas races, tied for the longest streak by a driver at that track. … Bell has finished eighth or better in seven of the last eight Kansas races. … Bell has scored three consecutive top-10 finishes. … Denny Hamlin has four wins at Kansas, most all-time. … Hamlin has six top-five finishes in the last eight Kansas races. Bad news: Ty Gibbs has finished no better than 22nd on a 1.5-mile track this season. … Gibbs ranks second in most laps led (831) among drivers in series history without a Cup win (Mike Skinner ranks first having led 1,029 laps without scoring a Cup win). … Hamlin has four finishes of 24th or worse in the last eight races. … Briscoe, who is in the final transfer spot to the next round of the playoffs, has qualified 18th or worse the last two races and failed to score a point in the first stage in both events.

Denny Hamlin raised questions about how Ty Gibbs drove him after their incident in Sunday’s New Hampshire playoff race.

Kaulig Racing — Good news: AJ Allmendinger has five finishes of eighth or better in his last seven starts on a 1.5-mile track. … Ty Dillon has finished in the top 20 in five of the last 12 races. Bad news: Dillon has seven finishes of 27th or worse in the last nine races. … It has been 50 starts since Allmendinger’s last win, which came at the Charlotte Roval in October 2023.

Legacy Motor Club — Good news: The organization’s 14 top-10 finishes this season between John Hunter Nemechek, Erik Jones and Jimmie Johnson, are 10 more than it had at this time last year. … Nemechek’s average finish of 17.8 at Kansas is his best among 1.5-mile tracks. … Jones has nine top-15 finishes in the last 20 races. Bad news: Nemechek has three finishes of 32nd or worse in the last seven races. … Jones has placed outside the top 20 in the last three races.

Richard Childress Racing — Good news: Austin Dillon has six top 10s at Kansas, his most among all 1.5-mile tracks. Bad news: Kyle Busch has one top-15 finish in the last nine races. … Busch’s eight top 10s this season is his fewest through 30 races in his Cup career. … Busch has not led a lap in the last 18 races, since Kansas in May, the longest drought in his Cup career.

Rick Ware Racing — Good news: The organization recently settled its lawsuit with Legacy Motor Club over the sale of a charter. Bad news: Cody Ware has not finished better than 29th in the last four races.

Their dispute was scheduled for a January 2026 trial.

RFK Racing — Good news: Ryan Preece’s four top 10s on 1.5-mile tracks are tied with Kyle Larson for most in the series this season. … Preece finished seventh at Kansas in May. … Chris Buescher has finished 11th or better in five of the last seven races. … Buescher has two top 10s in the last three Kansas races. Bad news: Brad Keselowski has one top 10 in the last eight Kansas races. … Keselowski has three DNFs in the last seven races on 1.5-mile tracks.

Chip Bowers moves into role vacated by Steve Newmark.

Spire Motorsports — Good news: Michael McDowell’s eighth-place finish last weekend at New Hampshire marked the fourth time in the last five races a Spire car has finished in the top 10. … Carson Hocevar has scored four consecutive top-15 finishes. Bad news: Justin Haley has finished 27th or worse in five of the last seven races. … McDowell has finished 23rd or worse in five of the last seven Kansas races.

Team Penske — Good news: Ryan Blaney’s victory last weekend at New Hampshire not only moved him into the next round of the playoffs but was his ninth top 10 in the last 10 races. … Blaney has won two of the last five races this season. … Blaney ranks first in passing, second in speed and fourth in restarts, according to Racing Insights’ season rankings. … Blaney has scored the most stage points (43) in the playoffs this season … Blaney has finished in the top five in the last two Kansas races. … Joey Logano has three consecutive top-five finishes, his longest top-five streak since 2019. … Since 2022, Team Penske has won 12.5% of the races in the regular season and 26.5% of the playoff races. Bad news: Austin Cindric’s average finish in the first four races of the playoffs is 19.5. … Cindric has not had a top-10 finish in eight Cup starts at Kansas and has finished 31st or worse in four of the last five races there. … Logano has finished 14th or worse in five of the last nine Kansas races.

Hendrick Motorsports closed the gap to Team Penske, while Joe Gibbs Racing was not as strong at the 1-mile track.

Trackhouse Racing — Good news: Ross Chastain won the most recent race on a 1.5-mile track, taking the checkered flag at the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte on Memorial Day weekend. … Chastain won last fall’s race at Kansas. … Chastain has six top 10s in the last nine races on 1.5-mile tracks, including two wins. Bad news: Daniel Suarez has finished 35th or worse in each of the past three races. … Suarez has finished outside the top 30 in nine of this season’s 30 races. … Shane van Gisbergen has placed 25th or worse in the last four races.

Wood Brothers Racing — Good news: Josh Berry overcame a spin to finish second last weekend at New Hampshire, giving him three top 10s in the last six races. Bad news: In those other three races in his recent stretch, Berry has finished 36th or worse.