Posted on by Pat DeCola

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – For Chris Buescher, every lap is a lesson.

Now, in his fourth full-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, the JTG Daugherty Racing driver continues to make gains, incremental they may be, week in and week out. He doesn’t take any lap, any race, any practice or debrief session for granted, knowing that to be successful at the sport’s highest level racing for a mid-tier team, he needs to fight for every inch just to stay afloat, let alone get ahead.

Keeping that rookie-like, eyes-and-ears-wide-open mindset is going to be key to his trajectory, along with the consistency and growth he’s building at JTG. Even if there might be a gray hair or two creeping in.

RELATED: Full schedule for Kansas | JTG Daugherty Racing unveils new sponsorship plan

“Yeah, I’m feeling old,” the 26-year-old told NASCAR.com on Friday at Kansas Speedway, site of Saturday’s Digital Ally 400 (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). “It’s a good thing, to be here that long and to have that feeling. Definitely don’t feel like a veteran; I learn every time we go out on the race track. There’s always something coming to you. … It’s been nice to be around and to have the continuity that I have with JTG Daugherty Racing. Really, the first time in my career where nothing has changed for me on the NASCAR side for a couple of years. We’ve been able to keep our core group together and stay with the same team.

“It’s really something that’s been a lot of fun and I’ve really enjoyed it. We’ve been able to build on something. I think that’s what’s got the beginning of this year firing off better for us. Not exactly where we want to be, but much better than where we’ve been.”

The consistency and long-term outlook Buescher and JTG invested in each other are starting to pay dividends. Buescher came out strong in the second race of the season, notching his first top 10 since Daytona last July and first at a track shorter than 2 miles since finishing sixth at Kansas … in 2017.

That doesn’t happen by accident.

It speaks to the long hours and straight grind the team put in over the offseason to adjust to the 2019 rules package – one that Buescher claims plays right into his team’s wheelhouse – and if it weren’t for a pair of unfortunate crashes at unpredictable Daytona and Talladega, he’d potentially be on the brink of playoff contention. Removing those two results, his 18.6 average finish in the other nine races would put him on pace for a career-high by nearly three full positions.

RELATED: Buescher’s season stats | Season standings 

“Our mile-and-a-half stuff’s been much better this season. We’re not at the point where we can go win these things every weekend, but we’re sneaking up on it,” said Buescher “Like I said, lots to learn. Every time you go on track, you learn something.

“ … I think for us, we think that top 15s should be a weekly occurrence. That puts us out-running, really, a handful of top-notch, big-team cars without setting an unrealistic expectation to go win every race. We’d love to, but that’s where we figure we should be able to run. … Everyone through the offseason did a great job of finding more speed in these cars and not just speed, but drivability. …

“You’re not going to find a half second overnight, and we don’t really need a half a second. We’ve definitely closed the gap. I think when you look at this past offseason, our organization as a whole probably made the biggest jump in average finishing and running spots through the changes that were made. We can go race, so that’s been awesome. We just have to keep ahead of it and that’s hard to do in this industry. Man, it changes every weekend. It’s frustrating sometimes. Stuff goes in circles. You find something, you’ll try it. Then it’ll go away for eight, 12 weeks and all of a sudden it’ll come back around and you’ve got to try and regroup and get it back in the race car. That’s tough to do.”

The question now is if these gains will result in a potential berth to the NASCAR Playoffs in 2019 – or if Buescher and JTG have a 10-race homework assignment waiting for them come September.

Buescher admits a path to the postseason on points will be a stretch given his results at the superspeedways, so attention instead turns to the road courses where his former teammate, AJ Allmendinger, buttered his bread.

“It’ll be tough either way we go. We still believe we can get into the playoffs one way or another. It’s going to be hard. … We look at road courses. One thing immediately, coming over (to JTG), obviously AJ is a great road racer and before him, Marcos Ambrose was a good road racer and they really dialed in the package with the team that works really well for those races.

“I remember, I had been to Sonoma once before and then I came to this organization and we went there a second time and I went from running about 30 something to qualifying ninth. I didn’t learn this overnight, but we have race cars that work, mechanically, really well. We look at those as a high spot for us, a good opportunity. I’m no road course ace, but I really do enjoy them and they’re something we have a lot of fun at. Puts us in a pretty good spot when we go out to Sonoma and Watkins Glen.”

Playoffs or not, it’s clear that JTG is building a slow-burning fire that has longterm potential to catch ablaze, and it has its kindling in place with Buescher and rookie teammate Ryan Preece. The goal isn’t to win the title this season; it’s to lay the foundation for championships to come.

“We’re working on building this organization up,” Buescher said. “It’s not a small team, it’s not a super team. We’re somewhere in the middle and we do really well with the resources that we have. It’s a solid program, it’s just growing. It grows every week. Offseasons are hard to keep up, for one. It’s even harder to make leaps and bounds and get ahead and that’s what we were able to do this offseason, so that’s awesome. It’s really exciting when we look at these next few years going forward.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Ross Chastain broke through for his first career NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series victory on Friday night at Kansas Speedway, and his fellow NASCAR drivers were quick to shower him with praise.

For Chastain, the victory was a welcome vindication after his incredible 2018 story. With superb performances in limited NASCAR Xfinity Series action with Chip Ganassi Racing last year — including a victory at Las Vegas — Chastain earned a full-time ride in Ganassi’s No. 42 Chevrolet for 2019, only to see that car shut down for the year by circumstances beyond the driver’s or team’s control.

That made Friday’s victory all the sweeter, and is why drivers such as Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson were quick to offer congrats.

See more reaction below:

https://twitter.com/Mc_Driver/status/1127042229678288898

Posted on by Nick Giffen

The Action Network specializes in providing sports betting insights/analytics and is a content partner with NASCAR. Check out more NASCAR betting analysis here.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to Kansas for the second Saturday night race of the year (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Kansas is a 1.5-mile oval with variable banking that was repaved after the first of two races in 2012. That makes it a relatively low tire-wear track, and the practice times reflect the limited tire wear. Kevin Harvick dominated final practice, posting the best 10-, 15-, 20- and 25-lap times in Happy Hour, with very little fall off in time as the number of laps increased.

Kansas is also the third 1.5-mile oval with low tire wear that the Cup Series has been to this year while running the 550-horsepower package with aero ducts. The other two races were at Texas and Las Vegas. I’ll also lean heavily on data from those two races to find the top values for this weekend’s race.

One thing to keep in mind: NASCAR performs its post-qualifying technical inspection at 2:30 p.m. ET, so it’s possible cars that have great qualifying positions lose their starting spot if they fail. That means they will start from the rear of the field. If books over-react to this news, it could provide quite a bit of betting value mere hours before the race starts.

Let’s dive into the three best betting values to win tonight’s race, along with a few additional props.

RELATED: The two driver matchups to bet

A quick primer on the odds below: A $100 bet at +375 odds would profit $375, while a $200 wager at -200 odds would pay out $100.

Kevin Harvick +375 to Win

The DraftKings Sportsbook is offering nearly 4-1 odds on a Harvick win, and that’s simply too good to pass up. Harvick is going as low as +250 at places like the Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas.

Harvick has everything going for him. His track history is amazing, with finishes of second, second, second, third and first over his last five spring races. His practice times — as mentioned at the top — were dominant. He qualified on the pole position, meaning he’ll have clean air to work with at the start of the race, and the best pit stall throughout the race.

Finally, his history at comparable tracks is positive, as well. Harvick had the top green-flag speed at Las Vegas, one of the other two comparable races run under this rules package.

The biggest concern for Harvick would be a mishap or penalty on a late pit-stop. His odds aren’t amazing, but it’s so hard to find a clear favorite at this price these days that the value is too good to pass up, especially if you can supplement your card with midweek picks, other futures from this column and race props.

This bet loses value at +300 odds.

Joey Logano +1375 to Win

Logano hasn’t shown much speed this weekend, which I think has moved his odds more than necessary.

Logano opened at +700 at Westgate on the strength of the third-best average green flag speed ranking at the two similar tracks, Las Vegas and Texas. Only Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin rank better than the defending series champion. I should also note that Logano suffered an issue midway through the race at Texas, despite running near the front most of the race until then, so his green flag rank of 10th at Texas would likely be even better.

Logano has top-five finishes in each of his three most recent incident-free spring races at Kansas, and also has two wins and four top-eight finishes in his five most recent fall races at the track. He’s a threat to win, despite the relatively pedestrian practice times.

Ryan Blaney +2225 to Win, +500 for Top 3 Finish

Over the last eight Kansas races, the Big 3 of Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. pave the way in NASCAR analytics most predictive statistic — Driver Rating. The next driver on the list: Ryan Blaney. His 104.0 Driver Rating includes five top-seven finishes in his last six incident-free Kansas races.

Blaney’s only blemishes come in his first ever Cup Series start back in 2014, and a crash with 20 laps to go after leading 54 laps in last year’s first Kansas race.

Blaney has had incidents at both the comparable tracks, which make his statistics look worse than they are. He had an overheating issue at Texas after leading 45 laps and claiming the second-fastest green flag speed. At Las Vegas, early tire issues derailed his day after he moved from 13th to ninth on the opening stint of the race.

His practice times weren’t spectacular in Happy Hour (eighth in 10-lap and sixth in 15-lap average), but in opening practice he did clock the third-best five-lap average when temperatures were a bit cooler.

The night race will have temperatures closer to opening practice than final practice. I wouldn’t bet Blaney to win any lower than +1600.

The top three line at DraftKings of +500 is nice value, but you may be able to squeeze out a bit more as other books add top-three odds throughout the day Saturday.

Keep an Eye On: Alex Bowman +6300 to Win and Top-3, Top-5, Top-10 Values

Kansas is a race where I don’t love anyone but a handful of top drivers to win, but this value on Bowman is pretty crazy. Bowman has two top-10 finishes at Kansas in three career starts with Hendrick Motorsports (HMS). In final practice, Bowman posted times inside the top five in both 15- and 20-lap average.

As far as odds to win, I think you can make a small play on him at anything longer than +5000, but I’d rather hold out until more books post odds on top-three, top-five, or top-10 finishes.

At the time of publication, he’s going off at +135 to finish top 10 at the DraftKings Sportsbook. I would bet him at +135 for a top-10 finish if that’s what it came down to, but I ultimately think we’ll see a better price later in the day.

The reason why? DraftKings seems to be more bullish on Bowman than most books, posting him at +3300 to win, which likely implies his top-10 odds are also a bit shorter than others might post.

Instead, I’d wait to see if a book that has him around  +5000 or longer to win also lists him with more palatable odds to finish inside the top three, five, or 10. I would buy Bowman if he comes in equal to or better than:

• +140 for a top 10
• +500 for a top five
• +1200 for a top three

Finding lines that meet these thresholds is likely to occur as books that are more bearish on him start to list these types of bets.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Elation and heartbreak were barely more than a lap apart when Ross Chastain took the checkered flag to win Friday night’s Digital Ally 250 NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway.

Chastain took the lead on Lap 165 of 167 after Stewart Friesen ran out of fuel — the result of a miscommunication between the driver and crew chief Trip Bruce. Chastain crossed the finish line .483 seconds ahead of runner-up Ben Rhodes to secure his first victory in the series in his 66th start and the first for Niece Motorsports and owner Al Niece.

RELATED: Race results

Friesen, on the other hand, rolled home in 15th, a lap down and a study in frustration as a first victory in the Truck series continued to elude him.

For Chastain, the victory was a welcome vindication after his rags-to-riches-to-rags story of 2018. With superb performances in limited NASCAR Xfinity Series action with Chip Ganassi Racing last year — including a victory at Las Vegas — Chastain earned a full-time ride in Ganassi’s No. 42 Chevrolet for 2019, only to lose it when the team’s sponsorship collapsed.

“Aw, man, this is what sports is all about,” Chastain said, barely able to contain his emotions. “We had the world by the tail last fall, and everything got taken away from us. We didn’t quit, though … I’m going to celebrate this one a lot more than I did the last one.

“I thought, after the last one (in Las Vegas), they were going to come a lot more easy. But it’s not easy … I hate to see Stewie lose one like that. I know he’s been trying to win, but, yes — we got it!”

Friesen came to pit road for his final stop under green on Lap 126 but left his stall after taking right-side tires only on a planned four-tire stop. Though Friesen had a lead of more than five seconds over Grant Enfinger when he got back up to speed, the shortness of the pit stop didn’t allow the crew to fill the fuel cell.

Friesen’s chances looked better when the third-place truck of Brett Moffitt got loose under Enfinger’s Ford and cut Enfinger’s right-rear tire, forcing both trucks to pit road for unscheduled stops. And when the No. 33 Chevrolet of Josh Reaume stopped on the track on Lap 146 to cause the sixth and final caution, Bruce figured Friesen had enough fuel to finish the race.

WATCH: Moffitt spins

Within three laps of the checkered flag, however, Friesen ran out.

“It’s been a dream to race at this level and thanks to all the car owners that have given me a chance after all these years,” Friesen said. “I came with nothing but a helmet bag. Just a little miscommunication that we need to work on.

“We just can’t close it. I figured I’d screw up a restart at the end, rather than run out of fuel. They said that we were to the good. I didn’t know we were taking four (tires). I thought for sure we were taking two. Just a lot of silence on the radio. That’s it.”

Notes: With the victory, Chastain extended his streak of top-10 finishes to start the season to seven, all with Niece Motorsports. … Toyota drivers Todd Gilliland, Austin Hill and Brandon Jones finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively. … Pole winner Matt Crafton ran sixth, followed by Enfinger and Moffitt.

Posted on by Staff Report

Mike Mittler, a longtime team owner in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series, has died. He was 67.

Mittler’s passing was confirmed by multiple sources. His team indicated last fall that Mittler had been fighting cancer.

https://twitter.com/odsteve/status/1127017818023714816

Mittler’s MB Motorsports team was heralded as a launching pad for many aspiring drivers, some of whom reached the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski, Jamie McMurray and Regan Smith were among the 49 drivers on MB Motorsports’ all-time roster under Mittler’s watch. Many paid tribute to their former team owner Friday evening as the news spread of his passing.

Mittler is credited with 301 career starts as a team owner in the Gander Trucks circuit, dating back to the inaugural season in 1995. His closest brush with victory came with dirt-track ace Bobby Pierce, who won two straight pole positions at Eldora Speedway and finished second driving Mittler’s No. 63 in the midsummer event on dirt in 2015.

That 2015 race at Eldora was Pierce’s first career Gander Trucks start. He chased dirt ace Christopher Bell — then a prospect, now a burgeoning superstar — all over Eldora’s half-mile dirt oval before bringing his battered truck across the line second.

“I thought if it stayed green, we’d have every opportunity to work (Bell) and get by him, but it just didn’t go that way, “Mittler told NASCAR.com after that race. “I just thought, ‘Wow, what a phenomenal opportunity after 20 years, to be in position to finally have an opportunity to win a race.’

“That’s why you’re in this sport, to be in contention to win. It wasn’t a fluke. We were there all day. It was no fluke at all. The kid’s the real deal. He said this is a dream come true for him, and it is for me, too.”

In addition to his career as a team owner, Mittler was a prominent supplier of racing equipment through his Mittler Brothers company.

Among those chiming in with memories and well-wishes Friday:

Contributing: Zack Albert, Brad Norman

Posted on by Pat DeCola

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Kyle Busch endured perhaps the scariest racing moment of his life this week – and he wasn’t the one driving.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver’s 3-year-old son Brexton was involved in a four-wheeler accident, which the 2015 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champ detailed Friday at Kansas Speedway, site of Saturday night’s Digital Ally 400 (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1).

“Brexton was riding his four-wheeler and I taught him early on you know, when you go straight you can go as fast as you want to go but then you’ve got to let off the gas, use the brakes, slow down, turn and go the other way,” Busch told reporters following his 13th-place qualifying run. “He was doing really good; he rode for an hour with no problems and then he saw his friends dart off in one direction and he was going a little fast, cranked the wheel in order to follow them and it two-wheeled and it threw him off.

“When it threw him off, he didn’t brace for impact and he hit his head and it knocked him out.”

Brexton was wearing his helmet, thankfully, and the elder Busch indicated it likely saved his life.

“Scariest thing I’ve ever seen, certainly, to see your son lying there, lifeless,” he said. “Thankfully it was only about 10 seconds and he came back to. He doesn’t remember all of that going on which is a good and a bad thing, I think, but past that, it’s a good damn thing he had his helmet on because he might not be here. …

“He took some deep breaths, so that was good, I knew he was still there. He had a pulse, everything was fine in that regard. Squeezed his face and yelled for somebody to get a bottle of water, sprayed the bottle of water on him and he was up, he was good.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BxPsisSHzH_/

 

Posted on by Reid Spencer

Without tremendous fanfare, Hendrick Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman have risen to the top of the Chevrolet pecking order in recent weeks.

Elliott won his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race of the season on April 28 at Talladega Superspeedway. Bowman finished second. Elliott won the pole for Monday’s rain-delayed race at Dover and ran fifth. Bowman finished second.

And in final practice on Friday at Kansas Speedway, Bowman was second and Elliott sixth behind Kurt Busch, who has been solid all season long in his Hendrick-powered No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.

RELATED: Bowman, Elliott strong in Kansas final practice

In fact, Elliott has accounted for the last four Chevrolet victories in NASCAR’s premier series—three last year to go with the Talladega win. But Elliott doesn’t feel as if he’s carrying the load for the car maker.

“It’s nice to have wins, obviously,” Elliott said. “I think, as a manufacturer, the more that we all run better, we’re all going to help each other, much like Alex’s good runs the past couple weeks. They’re good for the company as well.

“Just like I think Chevrolet having good runs is good for the manufacturer. I don’t necessarily think we’re carrying it. Any of the Chevrolets could have won Talladega, and that wouldn’t even be a relevant question. It’s nice to have won some races but, no, I think that narrative could have changed pretty easily a couple of weeks ago to somebody else.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

It started with an e-mail.

At first, NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series driver Jennifer Jo Cobb thought the note was one of those scam-artist come-ons promising millions from a long-lost foreign bank account.

But she did some checking, and the invitation to serve as a United States “ambassador” to another country turned out to be real.

Cobb has already been to Georgia — not the state known for its peaches, but the country south of Russia. This year, she’ll take her gift of gab on three separate trips to Russia itself, first to Moscow and surrounding cities after the Truck race at Charlotte, then later to St. Petersburg in July and finally back to Moscow in September — all during breaks in her racing schedule.

“They want me to come talk about my racing career,” Cobb said Friday at Kansas Speedway. “They want me to come talk about overcoming obstacles. They want me to come talk about science, technology, engineering, math, and how it relates to what I do.

“I’m not a natural STEM person. In school I did not excel in those areas. I excelled in talking and writing and socializing. But I’ve had to learn to figure out things like that, because I work on my own race cars, and I want them to go faster.”

Cobb will use a translator when she gives her talks in Russia, but she has been preparing for the trip by learning a few basic Russian phrases and reading spy novels.

“I’m a little scared,” she acknowledged. “I’m reading stupid Russian spy books right now to try to just get a feel for culture, and I need to stop. It’s scaring me.”

In reality, Cobb expects her trips to Russia to be as fascinating and rewarding as her trip to Georgia was.

“It’s amazing as an American to go to other countries and get that perspective,” she said.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — After Friday afternoon’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Kansas Speedway, the question “What’s wrong with the Stewart-Haas cars?” may be a dead issue.

Hurtling around the 1.5-mile track in 30.131 seconds (179.217 mph), Kevin Harvick led a Stewart-Haas Racing sweep of the front row time trials for Saturday’s Digital Ally 400 (7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

RELATED: Which cars saw their times disallowed? | Qualifying results

Harvick was .083 seconds faster than teammate Aric Almirola (178.725 mph), who in turned topped Clint Bowyer (178.324 mph) by .068 seconds. Daniel Suarez completed the SHR monopoly at 178.247 mph. Almirola’s and Suarez’s times were disallowed after both of their cars failed inspection on Saturday afternoon.

The Busch Pole Award was Harvick’s third of the season, his fifth at Kansas and the 28th of his career. The driver of the No. 4 Ford picked up his third victory at the 1.5-mile track in this race last year, when he also started from the pole.

Harvick’s performance in time trials backed up the speed he showed during Friday’s final practice, when his fastest lap was fourth on the speed chart, and his consecutive averages for 10, 15 and 20 laps were fastest across the board.

“I thought we had a chance at the pole,” said Harvick, who is looking for his first victory of 2019 after a banner eight-win season last year. “We didn’t know exactly how fast it would run, and the guys did a great job. Really, this is a car that’s been a couple months in the making.

“We knew we had some work to do on the mile-and-a-half race tracks with this particular package, and every department at Stewart-Haas Racing and the engine shop at Roush Yates — obviously, they’ve won a few races this year (with Team Penske). But they just continue to work, and the guys on this team have done a great job of detailing things out …

“I’m happy with how my car drove. It has a ton of speed, and hopefully we can capitalize on it.”

Bowyer, from nearby Emporia, Kansas, has yet to win at his home track.

“It’s fun to be back at Kansas,” said Bowyer, whose best finish at the track (second) came in 2007. “It’s fun to be in a fast car at home. That’s the biggest thing. You come home and you just want to run good. I have been beat up pretty bad here.

“There are so many media members, fans, family, everybody tells me how I have to do better at home. Obviously, everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing has been working hard to get us in Victory Lane and I think their efforts are really starting to show.”

Posted on by Holly Cain

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Only two active drivers have won more than two-time winner Joey Logano at this week’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series stop, Kansas Speedway.

Yet for all his success at the track, Logano conceded Saturday night’s Digital Ally 400 (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) remains a huge unknown throughout the garage. For starters, the Kansas City venue has been unusually chilly for this time of year — daytime temperatures hovering in the 50s and 60s and cooling off significantly at night. And with a new and yet-to-be-race-tested package at this particular track no one knows for sure what to expect on the 1.5-mile high banks.

RELATED: 10-lap averages at Kansas | Final practice results

Unlike some race weekends when drivers run a handful of laps on track and allow their teams to fine tune in the garage, most every driver was turning scores of laps in Friday’s opening practice sessions.

Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford was 12th in the first practice and 20th in the final practice. But the reigning Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion looked fully at ease speaking with the gathered media on Friday afternoon. He conceded that expectations vary greatly for the race and was less surprised by the amount of drafting practice and total laps run in general.

“I think everyone just realizes that you are going to have a lot of wide-open time here and the more you have, the more the draft will come into play,’’ Logano said of Friday’s practice strategies. “You have to be around other cars for those reasons. The difference between clean air and dirty air, balance-wise, is quite a difference because the speed here is faster and you don’t have as much downforce.

“If you go out there and are easy, wide-open by yourself, what are you learning?”

There’s a decent argument that Logano would be a fine teacher. He’s had plenty of success at the track — eight top 10s and seven top fives in his 19 Kansas starts. He finished third in this race last year, won the pole position and led 100 laps in the fall playoff race but finished eighth.

He had a streak of five consecutive top-five finishes between 2013-15, winning the fall races in 2014 and 2015.

Again, however, he reiterated the specific conditions this weekend — the new technical package and unusually cool weather — create a unique circumstance. And it just may present a great opportunity for Logano, who is ranked second in the championship, only five points behind three-time 2019 winner Kyle Busch.

Logano has been hit-or-miss at the previous 1.5-mile venues this season — earning a victory at Las Vegas, but finishing 23rd at Atlanta and 17th at Texas. He’s also had top 10s in the last four races coming to Kansas.

His mindset is adapt and go. And who could argue?

“Cooler temperatures will bring the pack closer,’’ Logano said. “The cars today in practice, it was surprising how much we were lifting actually in that draft. The cars were really sliding all over the place in dirty air and the temperature is a little warmer right now with the sun out.

“When you get to a night race it will bring the pack closer together. It used to be the other way around. When we were lifting a lot we wanted the track temperature to be hot and to rubber up a lot so that it would get really wide and we could move around and do all this stuff. Now, you want it cooler so that you are more wide-open and that is what brings the cars closer.”