Wednesday, April 17, 2013

2013 Kansas STP 400 Driver Chassis Selections

#5-Kasey Kahne: Crew chief Kenny Francis will unload Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 5-793 for Sunday's event at Kansas. This is a new chassis that has not been raced. In 11 Sprint Cup starts at Kansas Speedway, Kahne has earned three pole positions, two top-five finishes, five top-10s and has led a total of 78 laps there. Kahne has qualified in the top 10 in eight of his 11 races there. Most recently, he crossed the finish line fourth at Kansas in October 2012 and scored an eighth-place result in this race one year ago.

#9-Marcos Ambrose: The #9 Stanley team has prepared chassis No. 840 for Texas. The team ran this chassis in Vegas earlier this season.

#14-Tony Stewart: Chassis No. 14-736 debuted in 2012 in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup opener at Chicago, where Stewart qualified 29th and rallied to lead three laps before finishing sixth. Chassis No. 14-736 made its second career start in October at Charlotte, and it had to rally again. After starting 32nd, a lap-16 run-in with Brad Keselowski necessitated numerous pit stops that dropped Stewart all the way to 36th in the 43-car field. But Stewart used Chassis No. 14-736 to claw his way back to a respectable 13th-place finish. The car made its third career start last November at Texas where it rallied yet again, overcoming its 21st-place starting spot to finish fifth. With a 2013 Chevrolet SS body honed in the wind tunnel, Chassis No. 14-736 comes to Kansas Speedway for its fourth career start.

#15-Clint Bowyer: Primary chassis No. 758 finished 35th at California after a mechanical issue ended its day early. In 2012 backup chassis (No. 724) finished fourth at Bristol in March, fifth at Dover in June and finished seventh at Bristol in August. In 2013 it has tested at Charlotte in January and served as the backup at Las Vegas, California and Texas.

#16-Greg Biffle: and the Matt Puccia led #16 ACE [bandage] Ford Fusion team will bring Primary Chassis RK-817, which is the same car Biffle drove to a sixth-place finish at Auto Club Speedway. RK-817 made its debut in 2012 at Indy with a third-place finish. After that 817 went on to win Michigan, then a 13th-place finish at Chicago, followed by a fourth-place run at Charlotte. RK-817 was slated to run the season finale at Homestead, but an accident in practice took the winning chassis out of the race. The backup chassis RK-809 is the same car that won at Texas a year ago. Since then it's finished fourth in the Coca-Cola 600, fourth in Michigan, 16th at Dover and finished up 2012 with a 10th-place finish at Texas in November. Kansas is the track where Biffle holds his best average finish of 9.5 from an average starting position of 15.2. In his 13 career Cup Series starts at the 1.5-mile track, Biffle has two wins, seven top-five and nine top-10 finishes.

#17-Ricky Stenhouse Jr.: and the #17 Zest Racing team will be using Chassis RK-820 is the same chassis that the #17 team ran at Las Vegas finishing a respectable 18th. This chassis was also used in the Charlotte preseason test. The backup Chassis RK-811 was a chassis that the #99 ran numerous times in 2012. Stenhouse will make his first Sprint Cup career start at Kansas this weekend.

#27-Paul Menard will pilot chassis No. 403 at Kansas Speedway. This #27 Pittsburgh Paints/Menards Chevrolet SS ran previously this season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway finishing 10th. Menard has 14 starts at Kansas Speedway. His best start of second came in 2010 and best finish of third came in 2012. The Wisconsin native has completed 2,079 of 2,084 laps attempted (99.8 percent) at the 1.5-mile oval, leading 17 of them.

#29-Kevin Harvick: will pilot chassis No. 378 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable in the Auto Club 400. Harvick last ran this Jimmy John's RCR machine to an eighth-place finish during the 2012 season-finale event at Homestead. Harvick will make his 20th-career Sprint Cup Series start at Auto Club Speedway on Sunday afternoon in front of a hometown crowd. The California native went to Victory Lane in 2011 and has earned four top-five and nine top-10 finishes. Throughout the years, Harvick has completed 98.4% (4,463 of 4,534) of the laps contested, with 60 laps led.

#31-Jeff Burton will race chassis No. 393 this weekend at Kansas Speedway. This #31 American Ethanol Chevy was utilized five times during the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season at Auto Club Speedway, Darlington, Michigan, Atlanta and Kansas. Burton also piloted this machine to a 26th-place finish earlier this season at Las Vegas. Burton has 14 starts at Kansas Speedway with one top-five and two top-10 finishes. His best start of 10th and best finish of fifth both came in the 2006 event. Burton has completed 3,570 of 3,686 laps attempted (96.9 percent) at the 1.5-mile oval, leading seven of them.

#39-Ryan Newman will pilot Chassis No. 39-733 at Kansas, which made its debut at Indianapolis in July 2012, when Newman and his team overcame ill handling and used quick pit work to help engineer a run into the top-10. The crew turned the car around in just a couple of days and took the same chassis to Pocono, where it finished sixth. Two weeks later, the chassis was back on track at Michigan, where it finished eighth. The chassis earned its first top-five finish at Chicago. The chassis next raced three weeks later at Dover. Newman qualified eighth but got bitten by an untimely caution flag, which pinned him a lap down to the leaders. He finished 21st. The chassis last saw action at Kansas in October 2012, when Newman was involved in an incident that forced him to retire from the event prematurely. Since then, Chassis No. 39-733 has been outfitted with a new front clip and a Chevrolet SS body, and will see its first laps of the season this weekend at Kansas.

#43-Aric Almirola: The #43 STP team has prepared chassis No. 848 for Kansas. This will be the first time the team runs the new chassis.

#48-Jimmie Johnson: will drive a new chassis, No. 782, at Kansas Speedway. Chassis No. 720 serves as the backup, a car that won twice in 2012.

#55-Mark Martin: will drive MWR chassis 765 at Kansas Speedway and the backup will be chassis 720.

#88-Dale Earnhardt Jr.:crew chief Steve Letarte and the #88 crew will unload Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 88-716. Earnhardt most recently raced this chassis to a 10th-place finish in the 2012 season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. In 13 Cup starts at Kansas, Earnhardt has recorded one pole position, one top five-finish and six top-10s. He has completed 97.7 percent of all the laps he's attempted (3,342 laps of 3,419 total) at the 1.5-mile racetrack. The 38-year-old driver has led a total of 81 laps there.

#99-Carl Edwards the #99 Aflac team will be bringing chassis RK-808 to Kansas. This chassis last ran in Las Vegas where Edwards took the Aflac Ford to a fifth place finish. The backup chassis is RK-831. Edwards will make his 12th Cup start at Kansas Speedway this weekend. In his previous starts, Edwards has four top-five and eight top-10 finishes. His average start is 18.5 and his average finish is 10.8. His best finish (second) came in 2008. Aflac returns to the track for their second primary race of the season.

- compiled by Jayski.com

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