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NASCAR playoff race at Kansas: Winner prediction, how to watch and lineup

Regular season champion Kyle Larson has won the past two NASCAR Cup playoff races. His latest win at Texas to open the Round of 8 locked him into the Championship 4 at Phoenix in November. Seven other drivers are looking to secure their spot in that season finale showdown with a win this weekend at Kansas Speedway.

The Hollywood Casino 400 is Sunday at 3 p.m. on NBCSN.

Larson is starting the race on the pole with Ryan Blaney in the front row. Kyle Busch, who starts fourth this weekend behind Brad Keselowski in third, won NASCAR’s last Cup race at Kansas during the regular season. This is the final 1.5-mile track on the schedule this year with only Martinsville and Phoenix remaining after Sunday.

Joey Logano, who starts eighth, leads the Cup Series in playoff wins at Kansas with three victories, his latest being in 2020. However, Larson’s consistency on 1.5-mile tracks makes him the favorite to win for the second week in a row, per BetMGM odds. He is favored at +225 followed by Denny Hamlin (+600), Kyle Busch (+700) and Chase Elliott (+750), according to the site. Among those drivers, only Hamlin has won a playoff race so far this year. His two post-season victories came at Darlington and Las Vegas.

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Larson leads the series in points standings followed by Blaney (+17), Hamlin (+9), Busch (+8), Elliott (-8), Keselowski (-15), Truex (-22) and Logano (-43).

NASCAR AT KANSAS PREDICTIONS

Busch might have the latest win at Kansas, but he was frustrated with the speed and setup of his car last weekend at Texas, which is a 1.5-mile, 550 horsepower package track like Kansas. Larson, meanwhile, looked smooth the whole race, winning the second stage and battling alongside teammate William Byron. Three Ford cars finished in the top five in the last race at Kansas (Kevin Harvick, Keselowski and Matt DiBenedetto in second through fourth, respectively), so this race could provide a breakthrough opportunity for a Penske car during what has been an otherwise quiet postseason for the team. But can they by Larson to win it? Based on the No. 5 team’s recent performance, I doubt it. I predict Larson will make it three wins in a row this weekend.

HOW TO WATCH NASCAR AT KANSAS CUP RACE

  • Race: Hollywood Casino 400

  • Distance: 400.5 miles (267 laps) with stages ending on laps 80, 160 and 267

  • Where: Kansas Speedway

  • When: Sunday, Oct. 24 at 3 p.m. EST

  • TV: NBCSN

  • Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

  • Purse: $7,972,577

NASCAR AT KANSAS STARTING LINEUP

Order

Driver

Car No.

1

Kyle Larson

5

2

Ryan Blaney

12

3

Brad Keselowski

2

4

Kyle Busch

18

5

Chase Elliott

9

6

Denny Hamlin

11

7

Martin Truex Jr.

19

8

Joey Logano

22

9

William Byron

24

10

Christopher Bell

20

11

Kevin Harvick

4

12

Tyler Reddick

8

13

Kurt Busch

1

14

Austin Dillon

3

15

Matt DiBenedetto

21

16

Daniel Suárez

99

17

Erik Jones

43

18

Michael McDowell

34

19

Chase Briscoe

14

20

Aric Almirola

10

21

Chris Buescher

17

22

Cole Custer

41

23

Corey LaJoie

7

24

Ross Chastain

42

25

Alex Bowman

48

26

BJ McLeod

78

27

Bubba Wallace

23

28

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

47

29

Anthony Alfredo

38

30

Josh Bilicki

52

31

Ryan Newman

6

32

Ryan Preece

37

33

Justin Haley

77

34

Ryan Ellis

15

35

Quin Houff

0

36

Cody Ware

51

37

Chad Finchum

66

38

David Starr

13

39

Joey Gase

53

40

Parker Kilgerman

96