Quick takeaways from Kansas: Track position is back!
KANSAS CITY, Kansas – Throughout 2016 we may have way too many quick thoughts for our post-race posts. So consider our Takeaways feature to be the home of our random and sometimes intelligent musings. Sometimes the post may have a theme. Sometimes it may just be a mess of unrelated thoughts. Make sure you tweet us your thoughts after the race or email your post-race rants via the link in the signature line below.
• Track position, track position, track position.
Kyle Busch got the win at Kansas Saturday night after staying out for the final 56 laps. Busch’s final pit stop came under green and he didn’t head to pit road while others did under yellow.
Why? Crew chief Adam Stevens mentioned the following:
– The lack of tire fall-off throughout a fuel run.
– How hard it was to pass.
– And yes, “track position.”
We’re not trying to pour cold water on the lack of downforce on the Sprint Cup cars compared to last year. But Saturday night’s race was not the best display of the rules tweaks instituted before the season.
“It’s so hard to explain to our fans what’s going on that you can’t see, but the air is controlling the whole race,” Brad Keselowski said. “You can be three-quarters of a second faster than someone, but you get stuck behind them in that air wake and you slow right down. At the end there we spun out and none of us hit each other. All air spun all of our cars out and that just shows how aero-sensitive the cars still are. It’s better than we’ve been but obviously could still be better.”
• The race might have been better if it was during the day. Saturday’s high was in the mid-80s, meaning the track would have likely been pretty slick. Alas, a lot of the track was in the shade by the time the race started. We’re not advocating for a day race, we’re just noting the temperature.
• Tony Stewart finished 12th. He has 87 points through three races, one point more than Brian Vickers had in five races as Stewart’s substitute. Stewart also has one point less than Cole Whitt does (Whitt has nine starts this year) and is just 12 back of Michael Annett, who has raced in all 11 races.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
