Jeff Burton

 

The Mayor had a great showing at the Dover International Raceway, working his way from his 27th place starting position to finishing runner up to winner Jimmie Johnson. With the finish, his sixth top five of the year, Burton moved up two spots and heads into the Price Chopper 400 at Kansas Speedway seventh in points, just 80 points behind the leader.

Kansas Speedway, though, hasn’t been the greatest track for the driver of the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet. In his nine starts, Burton has just two top ten finishes, and finished 23rd when the Series came to the track in 2009.

Despite the recent controversies surrounding Richard Childress Racing, Burton is keeping his head in the game and looking toward a championship win.

“Every race is an opportunity for us to learn as a team and as a driver. Hopefully, we’re there learning something we can apply of winning a championship.”

Carl Edwards

Edwards stated on Friday while in the media center that winning at Kansas Speedway, his home track (Edwards was born and still lives in Columbia, Missouri), means more to him than winning the Daytona 500. Two years ago, Edwards was charging toward Jimmie Johnson, attempting a suicide dive on the No. 48 that landed him in the wall and with a finishing place of second.

Edwards has four top ten finishes at the track and just one a DNF, which came in 2007. Will Cousin Carl win in his backyard, or will he face heart break in the heartland yet again?

Kyle Busch

Believe it or not… Kyle Busch has had a quite 2010 Chase. No different was his run at the Monster Mile, where he ran up front most of the day but had a last couple of runs but ultimately finished sixth.

And like his teammate last week, Busch is just hoping to survive his weekend at the Kansas Speedway.

In his six career starts at the track, Rowdy Busch has a dismal average finish of 24th, and hasn’t finished in the top ten since his seventh place finish in 2006. Busch will also be running Saturday’s Kansas Lottery 300.

Denny Hamlin

In Dover, Hamlin just wanted to survive what he considered one of his worst tracks- and he did just that. Though he finished a spot behind what he wanted, Hamlin finished 9th and collected his 13th top ten finish of 2010.

The feud between he and fellow championship contender Kevin Harvick, though, stole most of the attention during the weekend and the week following. In the aftermath of the pair’s Dover practice incident, Hamlin said that he “knew after I left the media center there were going to be repercussions.” He also said that, after speaking with Harvick, that the two “realized our friendship is not worth fighting it out on the track.”

This weekend, Hamlin is returning to the track where, five years ago, he made his first Sprint Cup Series start.

“(Kansas) is special for a lot of reasons. To get my first start there and now five years later be the points leader, it’s definitely kind of amazing.”

Hamlin is winless in five starts at Kansas Speedway, the driver of the No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota has an average finish of 19th, with just one top five, coming in 2009. He has led just two laps at the track and has never had a DNF. He enters Sunday’s Price Chopper 400 presented by Kraft Foods with a 35 point lead over defending champ Jimmie Johnson.

Kevin Harvick

Overall, Dover was not the weekend Kevin Harvick was hoping for. Though he was able to rebound to a 15th place finish, Harvick fell three spots in points to fifth, 65 points behind Hamlin.

The driver of the No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet has been hit or miss at Kansas Speedway; he’s got an average finish of 16th, has no top fives and when the Series last visited the track Happy Harvick finished 24th.

But this season is much different than a year ago. In 2009, none of the RCR cars were in the Chase and had struggled for most of the season. Now, all three are in the Chase, with Harvick having led most of the regular season standings. Can Harvick win in Kansas and get back into the championship lead, or will he continue to fall in points?

Matt Kenseth

Uncharacteristic of Kenseth, he had a solid 14th place starting spot for the AAA 400 at the Dover International Raceway. During green flag stops Kenseth missed pit road and, after slamming hard on the breaks blew a tire. The Killer Bees No. 17 team were able to repair their car and the team went on to finish 18th. Kenseth stayed 11th in points, and now sits 165 points behind Hamlin with eight races remaining in the Chase.

Last time the Series visited the Kansas Speedway, Kenseth finished 39th and has an average finish of 22nd. He won the pole for the race in 2005. Can Kenseth turn it around in the Midwest or will he watch his championship hopes slip away?

 

Thanks to Racing Reference, USA Today, the Virginia-Pilot, NASCAR.com and ESPN for the information, quotes and statistics used in this piece.