Kansas 2 Post Practice Fantasy NASCAR Predictions
The final race of Round 2 of the 2017 NASCAR playoffs is shaping up to be awesome. It all started when Ryan Blaney’s 3rd-place qualifying effort was disallowed on Friday, meaning he will have to start in the back on Sunday. Currently, he’s 7 points to the good over Kyle Busch in the Standings, but he definitely has some work to do on Sunday. With that being said, the #21 Ford still looks very strong, and we’ve seen cars come from the back to the front more than once this season.
There was a practice session and qualifying held here on Friday at Kansas Speedway and then two more practice sessions on Saturday. Surprising to no one, Martin Truex, Jr. will lead the field to the green on Sunday with Kevin Harvick starting 2nd, and the full starting lineup can be found by clicking here. The practice speeds from Saturday’s two sessions can be found here: Practice #2 — Happy Hour, and, as always, our in-depth practice notes can be found here: Practice #2 — Happy Hour.
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Final Top 25 Ranking For The 2017 Hollywood Casino 400
1. Kevin Harvick – Starts 2nd – DraftKings Price: $9,600 – Yahoo! A Group
**Risk Factor: Medium Risk**
Kevin Harvick came to play this weekend. After nearly winning the pole on Friday, “Happy” went out on Saturday and posted the 2nd-best lap time as well as the top ten-lap average in the first practice session. In Happy Hour, he ranked 3rd and 1st on those two charts, respectively. This #4 team has definitely turned things up a notch since the playoffs started, and don’t forget that Harvick has finished 3rd in both of the races at 1.5-mile tracks in the playoffs thus far. He even led a race-high 149 laps at Charlotte a couple of weeks ago. Here at Kansas, Harvick is the defending winner of this race and has finished 3rd or better in six of the last eight events. He should be able to contend for the win this weekend as well. If pole sitter Martin Truex, Jr. has any sort of slip up, Harvick is the next best in line.
2. Martin Truex, Jr. – Starts 1st – DraftKings Price: $10,800 – Yahoo! A Group
**Risk Factor: Medium Risk**
Any time that the #78 Toyota starts out strong off the truck–which, honestly, is pretty much every week–Martin Truex, Jr. is going to be hard to beat. This weekend, the #78 crew went out and won the pole on Friday and then flexed their muscles during the practice sessions on Saturday as well, ending up 10th-fastest in the first and then 12th-fastest in Happy Hour. Truex had the 10th-best ten-lap average in that final practice session. This season on the 1.5-mile race tracks, Martin has a ridiculous average finish of 3rd and has led, on average, 107 laps per race. He also won here at Kansas back in May, and will definitely be one to contend with this weekend as well. You can partially attribute his lower speeds on Saturday to the fact that the team was probably testing a few things, as they want to get better at running the high line.
3. Kyle Busch – Starts 7th – DraftKings Price: $10,300 – Yahoo! A Group
**Risk Factor: Medium Risk**
Any time Kyle Busch is happy with his race car, the competition needs to watch out, and if you read our practice notes, you know that that is the case this weekend. Currently at Kansas, Rowdy is on a five-race streak of top 5 finishes, and there’s no reason to believe that he won’t make it six in a row on Sunday. This #18 team kind of disappointed in qualifying on Friday, but it’s not about where you start, it’s where you finish. Busch started Saturday morning by posting the 8th-fastest lap in Practice #2 along with the 3rd-best ten-lap average, and then in Happy Hour he ranked 2nd and 4th on those two charts, respectively. Heading into the Hollywood Casino 400, Rowdy is on the outside looking in as far as the playoffs and Round 3 go, so he needs a good run to keep his championship hopes alive. We’ve seen him rise up, time and time again, in high-pressure situations, and there’s no reason to think that won’t be the case on Sunday once again.
