Qualifying Results

It's the second race back at Kansas Speedway after the 2021 hiatus, when Alex Crapser won it's replacement race at Road America during the moderately successful "road course summer shake down". The top-9 finished within 1.5 seconds of winner Matt Raboin in 2022, ensuring this event would stick on the Extravaganza schedule for at least one more season. Last place finisher in 2020 Alan Nesfeder ties for the pole with Ben Geer at a lap of 192.157. Nesfeder comes into Kansas as the top driver in points without a top-5, quietly earning eight top-15 finishes on the season. This pole is his first prominent moment in 2023. Points leader Tony Pizzaro will start 10th with Zach Michael 26th. They will be virtually tied for the standings lead if Michael can finish 20+ positions better. Last week's winner Ryan Heuser, Adam Crapser and John Battista can also finish this race atop the points.

Other than rookie Chauncey Redmond Jr., nobody has more than two DNF's on the season after 11 races. In fact, nine full-time drivers currently have zero, proving that the bump stop ban of 2022 and the Goodyear "tread that never dies" campaign is working better than expected. The primary reason for the change was to make the field more competitive at higher speeds. It's certainly worked, breaking track records nearly every week with a points leader at a 12th average finish. We'll take the added bonus of safety.

Friday, May 5th, 6:00 ET