Report: Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano clear the air ahead of Kansas race

KANSAS CITY, KANSAS — On the eve of the Sprint Cup Series’ first of two races xat Kansas Speedway, Matt Kenseth said he and Joey Logano have discussed their issues from last weekend’s race at Talladega Superspeedway.

The last time the two were seen together, Kenseth was wagging his finger at Logano outside the track’s medical center and lecturing him after the two were involved in a crash that saw Kenseth’s No. 20 Toyota flip in the air.

Their talk came as the Sprint Cup Series returns to Kansas, where the Logano-Kenseth feud began last October before escalating two races later at Martinsville Speedway.

Kenseth didn’t go into details about the conversation when asked about it by USA Today.

“Nah, if we wanted that we would have made it a conference call,” Kenseth told USA Today on Friday.

The tension between the drivers reached its apex at Martinsville when Kenseth, a lapped car, intentionally wrecked race leader Logano, taking both out of the race. Kenseth was suspended for two races.

Then last Sunday at Talladega, a bump from Logano sent Kenseth out of the racing groove and forced him to merge farther back in the pack.

“(I) lost four or five spots and then got us back there where we didn’t want to be,” Kenseth said afterward. ““I thought we were done with that, but maybe we aren’t.”

Not long after, Logano was again behind Kenseth when the No. 20 was hit by the No. 10 of Danica Patrick on the backstretch, which started the 12-car wreck.

Both Logano and Kenseth enter the GoBowling.com 400 seeking their first wins of 2016. Kenseth starts the race in second and Logano rolls off 14th.

Pit stall selections for tonight’s race at Kansas

Martin Truex Jr. will have the No. 1 pit stall after winning the pole for tonight’s Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway.

Brad Keselowski, Trevor Bayne, Kyle Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Chase Elliott will have openings behind their pit stalls, allowing easier entry into their box.

Truex, Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman, Paul Menard and Matt Kenseth will have an opening in front of them to allow for easier access exiting their box.

Here’s where everyone will pit tonight. The number in the box corresponds to the car number. The number below the box is the pit stall number.

Timothy Peters assumes Truck series points lead after Kansas

After finishing eighth in the Toyota Tundra 250, Timothy Peters leaves Kansas Speedway holding the points lead in the Camping World Truck Series.

Peters gained two spots after earning his third top-10 finish of the season. Peters’ move into the points lead comes when his No. 17 truck for Red Horse Racing hasn’t had primary sponsorship for three of the season’s first four races.

Filling out the top five is Daniel Hemric (-8), Ryan Truex (-10), Tyler Young (-14) and John Hunter Nemechek (-15). Nemecheck had entered the weekend leading the standings.

Hemric, Crafton and race winner William Byron all gained five spots in the standings. Byron is now seventh behind Crafton.

The biggest gain in the standings was eight spots to 14th by Christopher Bell. Bell earned his best finish in four starts this season and his first top-five finish.

2017 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule released

NASCAR announced the 2017 Sprint Cup schedule Thursday.

As reported by NBC Sports’ Nate Ryan, Kansas Speedway’s fall race will swap with Talladega Superspeedway, meaning Kansas Speedway will be the final race of the second round.

Among the other changes:

Texas Motor Speedway’s spring race will move to Sunday (April 9). It had been held on Saturday night.
Dover International Speedway’s first race will move from May to June 4, a week after the Coca-Cola 600.
Michigan International Speedway’s second race will return to its traditional early August spot to Aug. 13.

DATE        SITE
2/18           Daytona International Speedway (Unlimited)
2/19          Daytona International Speedway (Daytona 500 Qualifying)
2/23           Daytona International Speedway (Duel)
2/26           Daytona 500
3/5           Atlanta Motor Speedway
3/12           Las Vegas Motor Speedway
3/19           Phoenix International Raceway
3/26           Auto Club Speedway
4/2            Martinsville Speedway
4/9             Texas Motor Speedway
4/23           Bristol Motor Speedway
4/30            Richmond International Raceway
5/7            Talladega Superspeedway
5/13            Kansas Speedway
5/20          Charlotte Motor Speedway (NASCAR All-Star Race)
5/28           Charlotte Motor Speedway
6/4           Dover International Speedway
6/11         Pocono Raceway
6/18          Michigan International Speedway
6/25          Sonoma Raceway
7/1          Daytona International Speedway
7/8          Kentucky Speedway
7/16          New Hampshire Motor Speedway
7/23          Indianapolis Motor Speedway
7/30          Pocono Raceway
8/6          Watkins Glen International
8/13          Michigan International Speedway
8/19         Bristol Motor Speedway
9/3         Darlington Raceway
9/9         Richmond International Raceway
9/17         Chicagoland Speedway
9/24         New Hampshire Motor Speedway
10/1          Dover International Speedway
10/7         Charlotte Motor Speedway
10/15       Talladega Superspeedway
10/22       Kansas Speedway
10/29       Martinsville Speedway
11/5          Texas Motor Speedway
11/12       Phoenix International Raceway
11/19       Homestead-Miami Speedway

2017 NASCAR Xfinity schedule released

NASCAR announced the 2017 Xfinity schedule Thursday.

The schedule features four standalone events — Iowa Speedway (July 29), Mid-Ohio (Aug. 12), Road America (Aug. 26) and Kentucky Speedway (Sept. 23).

Here’s the 2017 schedule:

DATE       SITE
2/25          Daytona International Speedway
3/4          Atlanta Motor Speedway
3/11         Las Vegas Motor Speedway
3/18         Phoenix International Raceway
3/25         Auto Club Speedway
4/7           Texas Motor Speedway
4/22         Bristol Motor Speedway
4/29           Richmond International Raceway
5/6           Talladega Superspeedway
5/27           Charlotte Motor Speedway
6/3           Dover International Speedway
6/10           Pocono Raceway
6/17           Michigan International Speedway
6/24         Iowa Speedway
6/30           Daytona International Speedway
7/7           Kentucky Speedway
7/15           New Hampshire Motor Speedway
7/22         Indianapolis Motor Speedway
7/29         Iowa Speedway
8/5           Watkins Glen International
8/12           Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
8/18         Bristol Motor Speedway
8/26           Road America
9/2           Darlington Raceway
9/8          Richmond International Raceway
9/16          Chicagoland Speedway
9/23          Kentucky Speedway
9/30            Dover International Speedway
10/6            Charlotte Motor Speedway
10/21         Kansas Speedway
11/4            Texas Motor Speedway
11/11         Phoenix International Raceway
11/18         Homestead-Miami Speedway

2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck schedule released

NASCAR announced the 2017 Sprint Cup schedule Thursday.

The series features five standalone races — Texas Motor Speedway (June 9), Gateway Motorsports Park (June 17), Eldora Speedway (July 19), Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (Aug. 27) and Las Vegas Motor Speedway (Sept. 30).

Here’s the 2017 schedule:

DATE     SITE
2/24      Daytona International Speedway
3/4        Atlanta Motor Speedway
4/1        Martinsville Speedway
5/12      Kansas Speedway
5/19      Charlotte Motor Speedway
6/2        Dover International Speedway
6/9        Texas Motor Speedway
6/17      Gateway Motorsports Park
6/23       Iowa Speedway
7/6         Kentucky Speedway
7/19       Eldora Speedway
7/29       Pocono Raceway
8 /12      Michigan International Speedway
8/16       Bristol Motor Speedway
8/27       Canadian Tire Motorsport Park
9/15        Chicagoland Speedway
9/23        New Hampshire Motor Speedway
9/30        Las Vegas Motor Speedway
10/14       Talladega Superspeedway
10/28      Martinsville Speedway
11/3        Texas Motor Speedway
11/10      Phoenix International Raceway
11/17      Homestead-Miami Speedway

Kansas will swap with Talladega and become second-round playoff cutoff race next season

According to multiple track sources, NBC Sports has learned the second round of the 2017 playoffs will be changed with Talladega Superspeedway and Kansas Speedway swapping spots.

That will make Kansas the cutoff race for the winnowing of the championship field from the 12 to eight drivers and should allay much of the consternation about Talladega being the determining race.

Drivers and teams had complained it wasn’t fair to have the 2.66-mile oval play such a pivotal role in the playoffs because of its unpredictable nature. Last October, some drivers accused Kevin Harvick of intentionally causing a caution that ended the race and helped secure his advancement.

For the second consecutive season, Charlotte Motor Speedway still will open the second round of the 2017 Chase on Oct. 8, followed by Talladega on Oct. 15 and Kansas on Oct. 22.

There aren’t any other major changes expected when the 2017 national series schedules are unveiled Thursday by NASCAR. There had been speculation about shuffling Atlanta Motor Speedway’s date to later in the year, but the track will remain the second race on the schedule. Atlanta will play host to the March 5 race the week after the 59th running of the Daytona 500 on Feb. 26.