Ten NASCAR Cup drivers to watch in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway

The Hollywood Casino 400 is the second race in the NASCAR Cup playoffs, and Kyle Larson, by winning last week at Darlington, is the first driver assured of advancing to the Round of 12 that starts in two weeks at Bristol.

Here’s a look at 10 of the 15 other drivers in the playoff field who need to win Sunday at Kansas Speedway (or next week at Bristol) to assure transfer into the next round. That, or they need to total enough points to advance.

William Byron, No. 24 Chevrolet

Byron, 25, won a series-best five races during the regular season, including at upcoming playoff tracks in Las Vegas and Phoenix, for Hendrick Motorsports. Byron, who burst onto the scene by winning the trucks race at Kansas as an 18-year-old high school senior in 2016, has yet to win a Cup race at Kansas. In 11 starts here, he has seven Top 10 finishes, including a career-best third last May.

Joey Logano, No. 22 Ford

Logano, the 2018 and 2022 Cup champion for Team Penske, is one of five drivers to win at least three times at Kansas Speedway. And for Logano, all three of those wins came during fall playoff races. That’s more than any other driver. Logano, 33, has 32 career victories, including Atlanta this season. Logano, who was sixth at Kansas in May, also has second-place finishes in the Daytona 500 and at Martinsville and Loudon this year.

Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota

Hamlin, 42, became the first four-time winner at Kansas in May when he shoved Larson into the wall with 12 laps remaining in the AdventHealth 400. Hamlin, considered the best active driver not to have won a Cup championship, just signed a new contract with Joe Gibbs Racing. He has 50 career wins, including at Kansas and Pocono this season. He also has 12 Top 5 finishes at Kansas, including a second in 2022.

Chris Buescher, No. 17 Ford

Buescher, 30, has caught fire for RFK Racing, winning back-to-back races at Richmond and Michigan at mid-summer and the August race at Daytona, putting him fourth in the standings and squarely into the championship conversation. Buescher has made 15 career starts at Kansas with just three Top 10 finishes, including a career-best sixth in 2017. He was 17th in May.

Kyle Busch, No. 8 Chevrolet

Busch, the series champion in 2015 and 2019, has two Cup victories at Kansas Speedway, including the spring of 2020 when he swept the Cup and trucks races. That gave him nine career victories (two Cup, four Xfinity and three trucks) across NASCAR’s three national series at Kansas, most of any driver. After 15 years with Joe Gibbs Racing, he moved to Richard Childress Racing this year and has won at Fontana, Talladega and Gateway, giving him a record 19 consecutive years with at least one win and 63 career victories, ninth all-time.

Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Ford

Harvick, the only driver to have started all 35 Cup races at Kansas, has won three times at the track, most recently in the spring of 2018 for Stewart-Haas Racing. Harvick, 47, has announced his retirement from full-time racing effective the end of this season. Harvick, who owns 60 career wins, which ranks 10th all-time, has left his mark at Kansas. In addition to three wins, he has five second-place finishes and three thirds. He has an average finish of 9.9 at the track despite an 11th in May.

Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Toyota

Truex became the only driver to win twice in one season at Kansas Speedway when he swept both races here in 2017 en route to the Cup championship. Truex, 43, failed to make the playoffs last year but bounced back this year, winning races at Dover, Sonoma and Loudon for Joe Gibbs Racing. Truex has been in the top 10 in his last eight races at Kansas, including eighth in May.

Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Ford

Keselowski, the 2012 Cup champion, is in his second season as a co-owner/driver for RFK Racing. Keselowski has 35 career Cup wins, ranking 24th all-time, including victories at Kansas in 2011 and 2019. But Keselowski, 39, has yet to win in his last 88 starts, though he came close this season with second-place finishes at Atlanta and the August race at Daytona. Keselowski has seven top five and 13 top 10 finishes in 27 career starts at Kansas.

Bubba Wallace, No. 23 Toyota

Wallace, the defending champion of the Hollywood Casino 400, is one of three drivers who qualified for the playoffs despite failing to win a race. Wallace, 29, was fourth in the spring race at Kansas for 23 XI Racing, co-owned by basketball legend Michael Jordan. Wallace sits in 13th place, one spot behind the cutoff to the Round of 12, so he will have to win at Kansas or next week at Bristol to have any chance of advancing.

Ross Chastain, No. 1 Chevrolet

Chastain, 30, qualified for the playoffs with his win at Nashville but hasn’t smashed any watermelons in Victory Lane since that June win for Trackhouse Racing. Chastain, who has drawn the ire of fellow drivers by crashing them with risky and reckless moves on the track, posted his first two career Cup wins in 2022. He was fifth at Kansas in May.