Compiled by Roy J. Akers — www.skyviewsports.net
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| Michael McDowell – Driver, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| Michael McDowell will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 71 Delaware Life/Triad Partners Chevrolet ZL1 in Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway.In 29 NASCAR Cup Series starts at the 1.5-mile tri-oval, McDowell has posted an average starting position of 24.7 and an average finish of 26.3. Over his last five starts, he has a 13.6 average start, including two top-10 qualifying efforts, and a 20.4 average finish. He scored a top 10 in May 2024 and a top 15 last September. |
| OE GIBBS RACING JGR AT KANSAS: Joe Gibbs Racing owns eight NASCAR Cup Series wins at Kansas Speedway. In 139 combined starts at the track, the organization has recorded 45 top-five finishes, 69 top-10s, seven pole awards, and 2,045 laps led. Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, and Tony Stewart have all driven JGR entries to victory lane in Kansas. Most recently, JGR placed three drivers in the top five last fall at Kansas.JGR WINNERS: Ty Gibbs became the 13th driver to win a NASCAR Cup Series race for Joe Gibbs Racing with his victory last Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway. Gibbs joins Bobby Labonte, Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Erik Jones, and Christopher Bell on the list of drivers to score their first career win while driving for JGR. |
| DENNY HAMLIN No. 11 National Debt Relief Toyota Camry XSE HAMLIN AT KANSAS: Denny Hamlin is the all-time NASCAR Cup Series wins leader at Kansas Speedway with four victories (April 2012, October 2019, July 2020, and May 2023). He has recorded seven top-five finishes in the last nine Kansas races and leads all drivers with 15 top-five finishes at the track overall. Hamlin’s success at Kansas Speedway is not limited to his efforts behind the wheel as he has also visited victory lane three times at Kansas as a co-owner of 23XI Racing. NEAR MISSES IN THE NEXT GEN: Since the transition to the Next Gen racecar in 2022, Hamlin has won once at Kansas Speedway, but he has been close to victory lane multiple times. In September 2023, he was leading comfortably before a caution with eight laps remaining set up a late-race restart where he ultimately finished second. In May 2023, Hamlin was leading before a caution with seven laps to go once again set up a late-race restart where he ended up fifth. Last fall, Hamlin was leading again with 15 laps remaining before a pair of late-race restarts brought everyone to pit road. A hiccup on the No. 11 team’s pit stop put Hamlin sixth for an overtime restart. He rallied back into contention before having to settle for another runner-up finish. |
- Kyle Larson and the No. 5 HendrickCars.com team scored two stage wins and led 284 laps at Bristol Motor Speedway en route to a third-place finish last week. With the result, the team moved up four spots in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings to sixth.
- The No. 5 squad has scored the second-most stage points through eight races with 72.
- The 33-year-old returns to Kansas Speedway as the back-to-back spring race winner.
Chase Elliott heads to Kansas Speedway as the most recent NASCAR Cup Series winner at the track. He made a last-lap pass in the fall to secure his second victory on the 1.5-mile tri-oval.
Elliott’s 13 top-10 finishes at Kansas are his second most at active tracks behind Martinsville Speedway (15).
His average finish of 9.9 at Kansas is best all-time among Cup drivers with six or more starts.
Year Three, Driven Forward: In November 2025, Ryan Ellis was announced as Young’s Motorsports’ full-time driver in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series as the organization enters its third season of competition.
Ellis will pilot the No. 02 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro across the full 33-race schedule, continuing with Saturday night’s Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway and culminating with the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Championship Race at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway in November.
● About Ryan: A respected veteran in the NASCAR garage, Ellis joins Young’s Motorsports with more than a decade of experience across NASCAR’s national ranks, including competition in the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series.
