Kenseth posts rare top-five qualifying run at Kansas (cont'd)

Kyle Busch has gotten better each time out at Kansas, finishing 37th, 21st and seventh the past three years, and he's led 61 more laps than his older brother in three fewer races (64-3). That said his average finish of 21.7 is 11th of 12, just below Kurt's.

He out-qualified big brother, coming in at 31.127 seconds, 173.483 mph.

Truex, like Bowyer, has just one previous start at Kansas, and he was 11th in last year's race. He seemed a quick learner, cozying up in Johnson's and Gordon's neighborhood at 31.132 seconds, 173.455 mph.

Homegrown star Bowyer, winner at New Hampshire to open the Chase, made his first start last year a good one, as he finished ninth after leading 43 laps. He spun out of the lead with about 100 laps to go, a victim of the pressures of racing at home, he says. That ninth-place run came on the heels of a sixth-place in qualifying.

When he slotted into the lineup, it was in sixth at 31.153 seconds, 173.338 mph. He wound up 10th.

Kurt Busch has been feast or famine at Kansas through six starts. A pair of top-10 runs (sixth and ninth) are sandwiched between finishes of 25th, 14th, 40th and 31st. His average is 20.8, 10th among the Chasers. He qualified early, the third car out, and logged a lap at 31.229 seconds, 172.916 miles per hour, which was good for the pole until Johnson knocked him off.

Harvick runs like Jack the Bear at Chicago, but like Kenseth, hasn't solved Kansas yet, despite the similarity in the layout. In his six starts, Harvick has a sixth-place run in 2003 as his best effort to date. Finishes of 35th, 24th and 15th the last three times out mean he's getting better ... slowly.

In qualifying, he ripped off a lap at 31.312 seconds, 172.458 mph, which was two-tenths quicker than his best lap in practice.

Stewart, winner here last year in a fuel-mileage gambit worthy of a riverboat gambler, is by far the most consistent of the Chasers at Kansas. Five top-10 finishes in six starts have given Smoke a finishing average of 6.5, nearly three places better than Bowyer's 9.0. He's never been worse than 14th there.

Stewart has three top-fives in six races, too, and despite the fact that he won the race last year, the six laps he led at the end of the race are the only ones he's paced at Kansas. He started 21st that day.

The hottest driver lately has been Edwards, and he's another driver who calls Kansas his home track (he's from Columbia, Mo.). In three starts, Edwards averages 10.3 per finish, and he has wound up in the top 10 in two of the three races he's run.

Edwards fell off a bit from practice, posting a lap at 31.493 seconds, 171.467 mph.

Burton has run in the top five at Kansas, finishing fifth last year, but on average he's at 16.8 in the rundown, which leaves him in the lower half among the top 12. Of course, he doesn't seem to qualify well at Kansas, posting a 23.5 starting average. He'll have his work cut out for him on Sunday from 34th after a lap at 31.576 seconds, 171.016 mph.