NASCAR Fantasy Fusion: Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas

Ryan Blaney's No.12 car was strong right off the truck last weekend, earning a P2 position alongside his Team Penske teammate Joey Logano. Blaney treated the sold-out crowd at New Hampshire Motor Speedway to a glimpse of what a championship run looks like. With the checkered flag, he earned his third win of the season and punched his ticket to the Round of 8. Guess what? He is not too shabby at Kansas Speedway, earning the fifth-best average finish of 9.7 among active drivers since February 2022.

  

This Week's Pick Strategy: This week you can't go wrong loading up on Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing drivers. Kansas is a high-commitment track that favors drivers who aren't afraid to ride close to the wall. When making your picks this week, don't feel obligated to focus on Playoff drivers only. While there are definitely Playoff drivers who can and have dominated races here, there is major spoiler potential as well. Consider picking a couple of drivers who are winless and a bit wild this week.

Active Drivers with Most Top 10s 

By Race and Track (2020-2025)
Christopher Bell - 5
All with 4 - Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, William Byron, and Alex Bowman

All with 3 - Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, and Ryan Blaney

Active Drivers with Most Top 5s 

By Race and Track (2020-2025)

Denny Hamlin - 3
All with 2 - Alex Bowman, Kyle Larson, and Joey Logano

Last Year's Pole Winner: Christopher Bell

 

Last Year's Race Winner: Ross Chastain

The Likely Suspects: My Kansas go-tos are Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman, Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, and Joey Logano.

My 2 Cents: My no-brainer pick this week is a tie between Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson. My next picks are Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, and Ryan Blaney.. I will complete my roster with Ross Chastain and Ty Gibbs.

My Fabulous 5 (Drivers most likely to finish in the Top 5):
Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, and Alex Bowman.

NASCAR Fantasy Live Line-up: 
Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain, and Alex Bowman with Carson Hocevar in the garage. Featured Match-ups: Bubba Wallace over Chase Briscoe, Ross Chastain over Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott over Joey Logano, and Kyle Larson over Denny Hamlin.

Second-Look Driver: This week's second-look driver is Alex Bowman. In his last six Cup Series starts here, Alex has earned two Top 5s and six Top 10s, securing him the second-best average finish (6.8) among active drivers, one spot behind Kyle Larson (6.3), and one spot ahead of Denny Hamlin (8.3). With Kansas being Alex' best oval track and having a lot to prove since being eliminated from the Playoffs, playing Playoff spoiler is definitely doable. Stay tuned.

 

Points to Ponder:

• Christopher Bell (2022, 2023, 2024 sweep) leads all active NASCAR Cup Series drivers in poles at Kansas Speedway with four.
• Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing lead the Cup Series in poles at Kansas Speedway with six each.
• Denny Hamlin leads the NASCAR Cup Series in wins at Kansas Speedway with four victories (2012, 2019, 2020, 2023). He also leads in most Top 5s at Kansas Speedway with 14.
•  A total of eight of the 39 NASCAR Cup Series races at Kansas Speedway (20.5%) have been won from the pole or first starting position; the most proficient starting spot in the field.
•  Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson lead all active NASCAR Cup Series drivers in runner-up finishes at Kansas Speedway with three each. 
•  Chase Elliott (19 starts) leads all active drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series at Kansas Speedway in average finishing position with a 10.157. 
•  Kyle Larson leads all active NASCAR Cup Series drivers in laps led at Kansas Speedway with 924 in 21 starts.

Remember, if you're playing NASCAR Fantasy Live, make your final picks by 2:55 p.m. EST on Sunday, September 28th. Don't forget to select your bonus match-ups.

 

Enjoy the race!

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Carol D'Agostino has been playing Fantasy NASCAR for 18 years. She launched NASCAR Fantasy Fusion for Skirts & Scuffs in October 2011. Each week, Carol pores through statistics and combs through her personal notebooks to arm fans with analysis and picking strategies that will leave their friends wondering how they got so smart. Carol also does race coverage for Skirts & Scuffs at Richmond Raceway and occasionally at her home track, Dover International Speedway. She is also part of the distinguished NASCAR Expert Picks panel at frcs.pro. formerly called Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet. When she isn’t wielding her fantasy-racing superpowers, you’ll find Carol hammering out a news release or creating a marketing strategy at a small niche public relations firm she founded called Purple Cat, or she may be executing downtown revitalization projects for a small town on Maryland's Eastern shore.