Chase drivers need right mindset for Kansas success
KANSAS CITY, Kan. - If attitude is everything to posting solid results in the Sprint Cup Series, one of the best indicators might be Kansas Speedway.
At few other tracks in NASCAR's premier series does there seem as strong of a correlation between feeling well and finishing well - and that might be a critical factor as the second round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup begins with Sunday's Hollywood Casino 400.
Six-time series champion Jimmie Johnson said a positive mental approach has been a key to his perennial playoff successes.
'We've had examples of tracks and drivers over the years that some people just don't like going to them, and that black cloud follows them around and they have a bad day,' Johnson said. 'It's one small piece of our championships is that the races in the Chase have been good tracks for us. We show up with smiles on our faces, and we kind of know what we're looking for if we're off base.
'There are some tracks in the middle of the summer that I go to, and I don't know where to lead the team, and I'm thankful that we don't have any of those tracks in the Chase.'
Johnson's affinity for Kansas will be tested Sunday at the 1.5-mile oval, where he will begin 32nd after spinning in qualifying. It's the worst starting position of a Chase race in nearly 10 years for the No. 48 Chevrolet, which also started 32nd in the 2005 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Johnson has qualified outside the top 30 only one other time in 104 Chase starts, a 39th at Homestead in '04).
But the Hendrick Motorsports driver has 14 top 10s in 16 starts at Kansas and has overcome poor starts here before (finishing seventh after qualifying 31st in June 2011). His 117.4 driver rating ranks first among the 12 remaining Chase contenders, which is why Johnson is relishing the beginning of the middle three-race segment featuring Kansas, Charlotte Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway that many are fearing (Brad Keselowski has labeled this the 'heartbreak round').
'These three tracks should be a lot of fun,' Johnson said. 'The first two, I feel that we really have a good chance of winning.'
The perspective is decidedly different for Kyle Busch, who openly has dreaded racing at Kansas - particularly since a 2012 repave turned the track into among the most treacherous in NASCAR.
Across the past two fall races at Kansas, 29 caution flags have gobbled 137 of 534 laps, and few have been more affected than Busch. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver crashed on the fresh asphalt in both events and essentially derailed any title hopes with his worst Chase finishes in '12 (31st) and '13 (34th).
He managed a 15th here in May and has modest expectations Sunday for his No. 18 Toyota.
'Definitely a track you don't necessarily look forward to going to, but you know it's coming,' he said. 'So you just get ready for it best you can and make yourself in the best position possible to have a decent day. That's all we need. I don't think we're out there to set the world on fire or win the race in Kansas. A solid top 10 is definitely what we need.'
Why has the track been such a menace to Busch, who has six wins on 1.5-mile ovals?
'I don't know,' he said. 'I thought I was just starting to figure out the old asphalt, and then they repaved it, and I haven't been able to find my rear with both hands.
'I can't particularly pick it out, but I've got to figure it out.'
It's always seemed to come easier for Carl Edwards and Clint Bowyer, who equally cherish Kansas Speedway perhaps more than any other drivers in Sprint Cup.
A native of Columbia, Mo., Edwards, 35, speaks longingly of driving by the property 15 years ago as it sprouted in a desolate section of Wyandotte County.
'I just couldn't believe there was a NASCAR track right here this close to home,' said Edwards, who has a 10.5 average finish at Kansas. 'To be driving a Sprint Cup Series car here is almost like a dream world. It is something I thought about every day. A win here would be so special.'
Especially this week for Bowyer, an Emporia, Kan., native who became a first-time father Wednesday shortly after wins by the Royals and Chiefs capped one of the more memorable 24-hour periods of professional sports in the Kansas City area.
'If somehow a Kansas City driver could win this race, that would be unbelievable,' said Bowyer, who led 43 laps in his Kansas debut and finished second in his second race at the track.
Can that hometown anticipation and enthusiasm impact their performance?
'I think it really probably doesn't,' Edwards said. 'All of us are professional enough and focused enough that it really doesn't matter what happens around the race or in your personal life. Once you get in the car, you go as fast as the car can go.
'But for me it is just neat. The whole weekend is fun. I am sorry some people don't like it, but it wouldn't matter how I ran here, I still enjoy coming.'
Dale Earnhardt Jr. said a solid history at a track can make a driver go in 'with a better attitude, more positive. But the competition changes so much. It really comes down to the competitiveness and the strength of the organization to be able to go anywhere and run good no matter what track it is.'
That is precisely where pole-sitter Kevin Harvick is entering the Kansas race. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver will start from the pole position for the third consecutive race at Kansas (his past two finishes are second and first) and on the heels of challenging for victories in all three races of the opening round (he led a race-high 223 of 400 laps at Dover International Speedway last week before a flat tire).
'I truly feel like we can win at every style racetrack at any point,' he said. 'It's just a matter of everything going right. Confidence is just a beautiful thing.'
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