See who’s primed to conquer the last race prior to the NASCAR All-Star Race in the Go Bowling 400 at Kansas Speedway.
This spring stretch of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season is always an interesting one. A couple of short tracks and the unpredictability of Talladega lurk, even giving us a first-time winner this year. Before the show heads to Charlotte for All-Star weekend, the Go Bowling 400 promises to return things to some semblance of normalcy.
Yet Kansas Speedway hasn’t been part of the Cup Series circuit in the spring long enough to say exactly what normal might be. Some of the spring races have been decided by fuel mileage, others not. No driver has won more than once during the six previous editions of what is now called the Go Bowling 400, though Joe Gibbs Racing (three wins) and Hendrick Motorsports (two wins) have the place more figured out than most.
Those teams also aren’t as dominant this season as they often have been in the past. The Gibbs crew is famously still searching for a victory, while none of the Hendrick drivers except the one constant in NASCAR’s top series, Jimmie Johnson, have taken a checkered flag in 2017 either.
New contenders like Ryan Blaney, who sits on the pole, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., from a suddenly revitalized Roush Racing, have to be taken into account. Points leader Kyle Larson starts inside the top 10 and was fast in practice too.
Then there’s the group of potentially fast cars that didn’t even make it through technical inspection to attempt a qualifying run, a group that includes Johnson, Clint Bowyer, Erik Jones and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Some if not all of them will be racing their way toward the front, which could make the opening laps more interesting than most.
In fact for fans who generally shun the “cookie cutter” intermediate races, the Go Bowling 400 should be more intriguing on the whole. Not much more you can ask for than that until the green flag drops and it all plays out.
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Forecast
Though the Go Bowling 400 was plagued by rain two years ago, no such trouble lurks in tonight’s forecast. Weather Channel is calling for clear skies and sunshine when the race begins and no clouds even after the sun goes down. One thing to watch for is that the temperature could drop by a double-digit amount from the time the race starts until its conclusion, causing an extra headache for crew chiefs.
Three things to watch
- Can Kyle Busch break the JGR curse? Okay, curse is probably a little strong, considering the Gibbs cars have been running well and just haven’t found a way to win. Still, the talk will continue until someone breaks through, and considering Kyle Busch won this race last year and claimed victory in the truck race Friday night, all eyes are on him.
- Living on the edge. All those cars didn’t fail to pass technical inspection just because the process was particularly slow in Kansas. Teams are obviously looking for any edge they can get at this track, so don’t be surprised if that aggressiveness backfires on someone — or a car or two fail to clear post-race inspection.
- Stenhouse now a factor? Sometimes drivers who grab a victory at a plate race only do well at Daytona or Talladega or were the beneficiary of some good luck. But it doesn’t feel like Stenhouse’s win was a fluke, as both he and Trevor Bayne had been running well the past few weeks. If he’s a factor late in today’s race, it’s time to start taking the 17 much more seriously.
Prediction
A lot of signs point to Busch, but until a Gibbs car actually gets it done, we won’t look to them for a victory. Instead, we’ll go with points leader Kyle Larson, as the 42 camp seems to be most comfortable this season on intermediate tracks and the car looked excellent in practice. Hard to imagine he’s not vying for the win barring mechanical difficulties or getting caught up in a wreck.
As for a dark horse candidate, why not Daniel Suarez? He’s starting the in the best spot of any of the rookies, and while there’s no real reason to expect him to suddenly have the light bulb turn on at this track, that’s exactly what makes him a dark horse. He’s definitely talented enough, and it would be interesting indeed if he beat his JGR teammates to a win in 2017.