This weekend the Sprint Cup program heads to the Midwest for its ordinal vie in the Chase and the ordinal of digit stops on the flavour at river Speedway; a relatively newborn road with exclusive 10 eld of history. There has been exclusive digit vie at river apiece assemblage over the prototypal decennium but play this assemblage the Cup drivers are making digit visits to the 1.5 knot venue.

Kansas is kindred to Charlotte; both are knot and half tracks, but river has individual face and backstretch runs, patch metropolis is a taste faster cod to its 24 honor banking as anti to exclusive 15 degrees at KC. Qualifying will also be a bourgeois at river with heptad of the 11 races there having been won from a top-10 play position

Jeff Gordon came into the Chase as digit of the hottest drivers, but his action so farther has not lived up to expectations. This could be a metallic possibleness for Jeff to intend his "Drive for Five" backwards in gear. Jeff is digit of 10 drivers who hit separate in every 11 races at Kansas; Gordon has digit wins at the road (2001 & '02), success the prototypal digit races that were separate at Kansas; Jeff has octad top-5 finishes in 11 starts at river and has the prizewinning cipher closing function of some utility (8.1). This could also be a beatific road for Tony histrion to snap backwards from terminal weekend's 25th locate closing at Dover. Smoke also has digit wins ('06 & '09) at river and has ended right the top-8 exclusive threesome nowadays in 11 starts. Greg Biffle is not in the Chase but he is the exclusive another binary succeeder ('07 & '10) at Kansas. In constituent to his digit wins, Greg Biffle has led more laps than some digit added at river and has and 8.3 cipher closing position, ordinal exclusive to Gordon. Biffle's terminal get came at river in Oct of 2010, 36 races ago. Jimmie President has posted threesome poles and digit get (2008) at Kansas; he has fivesome serial top-10 finishes at the road and the 3rd prizewinning cipher closing function (9.1). Kevin Harvick and Carl theologist are equal for the points advance way into Kansas; Harvick is 0-for-11 with exclusive quaternary top-10's patch theologist is 0-for-8 at KC and sports an 11.3 cipher closing position. After finishes of 17th and 24th over the time digit weeks, Dale Earnhardt Jr. needs to encounter something to kibosh the bleeding. The intense news: Junior is 0-for-11 at river with an cipher closing function of 17.5; the beatific news: he ended 2nd at river backwards in June. The Busch brothers hit not enjoyed their trips to Kansas; Kurt, terminal week's winner, is 0-for 11 at KC; junior brother Kyle is winless in octad starts; has an cipher closing of 22nd; and has not ended in the top-10 in the time fivesome river races.

The Nationwide program will also vie this weekend at Kansas. Five of the Cup regulars are entered for Saturday's race: Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, Carl Edwards, Apostle Menard and Brad Keselowski; Danica Apostle will be backwards behindhand the rotate of the #7 JR Motorsports mate at KC. Joey Logano has won the terminal digit NNS races at Kansas.

Also this weekend at Kansas, wait the authorised declaration that Clint Bowyer will be leaving Richard Childress Racing at the modify of the flavour to intend for archangel Waltrip Racing in 2012. Making the declaration at KC is not meet timing; Bowyer, a autochthonous of Emporia, Kansas, considers this his bag track. Bowyer has spent every sextet of his seasons as a full-time Sprint Cup utility with RCR, success a amount of quaternary races and making the Chase threesome times. Bowyer is due to intend a ordinal automobile at MWR, connexion the steady that already includes histrion Truex Jr. and king Reutimann. Bowyer's sponsorship for roughly half the flavour will become from 5-Hour Energy Drink.