The second race of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs takes place on Sunday, and the drivers are in Kansas City, Kansas for the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway. The race will start at 3 p.m. ET on the USA Network and the NBC Sports App.
Kyle Larson is in a good position this week. After winning the first playoff race last weekend, he clinched a spot in the Round of 12 which begins on Sept. 24 at Texas Motor Speedway. As for the other 15 drivers who are in the playoffs, they are going for a win on Sunday, and Christopher Bell won poll for the race. Bell needs a strong performance as he’s currently 12th in the standings.ย
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“That was a lot of fun,” Bell said, per NASCAR.com. “Qualifying here is very intense. That’s certainly all we had. I felt very good in practice today in race trim. Week after week we come to the race track with cars that are capable of racing for wins. …(Winning the pole) definitely takes a little bit of pressure off. If you’ve got a fast car, you can just go out there and run your pace. Clean air feels a lot better than being back in the pack.”ย
Bubba Wallace is in the playoffs for the first time in his career and finished seventh in last week’s race. But he’s on the outside looking in as he’s in 13th place in the standings. Wallace recently spoke to NASCAR Reporter Bob Pockrass about his chances of reaching the Round of 12.ย
“I said it while we were fighting for the bubble in the regular season that we’re better than 16th. And I’ve said it once the playoffs started, we’re better than 16th,” he said, per Sportskeeda. “I think we have a really good shot. This first round is really suited for us.”
Wallace is comfortable at Kansas Speedway as he won a Cup Series race at the track last year. It is his most recent victory since he has yet to win a race this season. When it comes to the biggest key to having a big Sunday, Wallace said, “We have to just make sure that we don’t leave the race track on Sunday night wishing that we would have done something different or knowing that there was something left out on the table.”
