Kansas Post Practice Fantasy NASCAR Predictions

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series gets back into the ‘bread and butter’ part of the schedule this week, as we have the KC Masterpiece 400 at Kansas Speedway on Saturday night followed by two weekends full of racing action at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Both Kansas and Charlotte are 1.5-mile tracks, which is the type that makes up the majority of the schedule. Martin Truex, Jr. swept both races here at Kansas last season, and although he hasn’t been as dominant on the 1.5-mile tracks in 2018, he still has to be considered one of the favorites. Will he be able to out-perform Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch, though?

Kevin Harvick won the pole yet again this weekend, while his Ford “teammate” Ryan Blaney will start from 2nd. The full starting lineup for Saturday night’s race at Kansas can be found by clicking here. Thanks to early thunderstorm and NASCAR going with a condensed schedule this weekend, there was only one (long) practice session at Kansas, and you can see those results here: Happy Hour. Because of the limited practice data, I’d highly recommend you read our in-depth notes from that session as well: Happy Hour.

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Final Top 25 Rankings for Kansas

1. Kevin Harvick – Starts 9th – DraftKings Price: $11,700 – FanDuel Price: $13,500
**Risk Factor: Low Risk**

The #4 Ford was a tenth-and-a-half faster than the field in qualifying, and Kevin Harvick wasn’t happy. That’s all you need to know. Fresh off his fourth win of the 2018 season, all signs are pointing to another big race out of Kevin Harvick on Saturday night. “Happy” is a two-time winner here at Kansas Speedway and both of those victories have came over the last five seasons. Overall, his career average finish at this track is 10th–which is 2nd-best among active drivers, behind Jimmie Johnson’s 9.7–and in six of the last nine events here, Harvick has came home 3rd or better. This year on the 1.5-mile tracks, the #4 Ford has been unstoppable, with an average finish of 1.3 over the three races and 482 laps led. This weekend, Harvick has looked fast since his team unloaded his car and it shouldn’t surprise anybody that he should contend for the KC Masterpiece win on Saturday night. Harvick was fastest in the lone practice session on Friday with the 6th-best ten-lap average.

2. Kyle Busch – Starts 3rd – DraftKings Price: $11,200 – FanDuel Price: $12,200
**Risk Factor: Low Risk**

Kansas Speedway used to be one of the worst tracks on the circuit for Kyle Busch. He’d almost be a lock for the “avoid” pick of the week. But in 2014, something changed: Kyle ran well all race long and came home 3rd, his first top 5 finish at this track in 15 career starts. He hasn’t looked back since. Over the last six Kansas races–which includes his first top 5 here–Rowdy hasn’t wound up worse than 10th, has one victory under his belt (in this race two years ago), and has led a total of 241 laps. Not too shabby. This weekend, the #18 Toyota was fast off the truck, and Kyle ended up 3rd-fastest in the lone practice session of the weekend (with the 2nd-best ten-lap average). Busch is the most recent winner on this track type (Texas) and also finished 2nd at Las Vegas earlier this year. In other words, he’s a great Fantasy NASCAR pick–especially after getting that bad luck run out of the way at Dover last weekend.

3. Ryan Blaney – Starts 2nd – DraftKings Price: $8,800 – FanDuel Price: $11,500
**Risk Factor: Low Risk**

Could we see Ryan Blaney get the second win of his Cup Series career here at Kansas Speedway on Saturday night? I for one wouldn’t be surprised. This has been a very good track for Blaney throughout his young career, and don’t forget that he led 83 laps from the pole in this race last season before ultimately finishing 4th. He followed that up with a 3rd-place finish in the fall event despite starting back in 40th. Overall, Blaney’s career average finish at Kansas (through six races) is 10th, and four of those have ended with him in 7th or better. Of course, most of those starts were in Wood Brothers equipment, so actually Ryan has a little bit more to work with this weekend now that he has Penske power. As far as the 1.5-mile tracks go this season, Blaney finished 5th at both Las Vegas and Texas and looks to have a top 5 car once again here in Kansas. His speed in practice was 9th-fastest and he ranked 5th in ten-lap average.