NASCAR's Carl Edwards has one request for the weatherman in Kansas City this weekend.
Make it hot. The hotter the better.
"I hope it's just a sun-beat-down, 90 degrees, hot and slick because that race track is so wide and fun to race on," Edwards said of Kansas Speedway, site of the STP 400 at noon CDT on Sunday.
"The more that sun is beating down, the slicker it gets, the more sliding and side-by-racing, and it's a real tough race then."
Edwards, the Sprint Cup points leader from Columbia, Mo., has done his share of slipping and sliding at Kansas Speedway -- remember his banzai move in finishing second to Jimmie Johnson in 2008? -- and he won the Camping World Trucks Series race in searing heat in July 2004.
While this will be the 11th Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway, it will be the first June event since NASCAR awarded the track two Sprint Cup races. The previous 10 races were in cooler temperatures in late September/early October, so some teams may have to throw out some of their notes and treat Kansas Speedway as if it were a new track again.
"We know it's going to be mid-80s, because we've been watching the weather," said defending race champion and two-time Kansas winner Greg Biffle. "I think it's going to be a little different, but it's not completely start-over-throw-everything out. We'll be able to use what we have. There might be a little adjustment."
Biffle's two wins at Kansas have come in two different climates. His win in 2007 was in a rain-delayed affair shortened by such darkness, it was hard to tell whether Biffle or Clint Bowyer had won. Last year's victory came on a bright, sunny early October day.
"Kansas is a really fun track to me," Biffle said. "I like it because it's a little bit less banking, it drives a little flatter and there's a little more technique involved. There's a little more difficulty for a 1.5 mile track. It's just suited my driving style."
Some drivers believe the maturing of the track's pavement has created better racing in recent years.
"The track has aged really well, and I guess there is some concern that it may have aged too much in a short period of time," said Johnson, who has won three poles in addition to his race victory, "but the bumps, the asphalt fading and losing grip as it has really promotes multiple lanes of racing, and that's what we're looking for as drivers."
In preparing for Kansas, most teams will refer to their notes from racing at International Speedway Corp. sister track Chicagoland Speedway, a 1.5-mile track where NASCAR has run its Cup races during the heat of July until this year when it was moved to Sept. 18 as the opener to the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Kansas Speedway retained its spot in the Chase on Oct. 9, taking a second date from Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., which did not draw as well after it went from one date to two in 2004.
This weekend's races, the Camping World Truck Series O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 on Saturday and the STP 400 on Sunday, are approaching sellouts in the first year Kansas Speedway has allowed ticket sales to individual races instead of requiring a full season ticket.
"You never really know until you get to a particular area," said veteran Kevin Harvick. "You look at two races and the old saying, 'Don't make two mediocres out of one good.' Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I think California is a good example of that. With the people that they have around them that support the crowds, they're probably a one-race track.
"Kansas has always been sold out and had a great atmosphere and had a great attendance. If both races are still sold out, then it's a success. If it's not then you need to go to Iowa."
No need to do that, says Edwards. Let Iowans come to Kansas.
"Kansas deserves two races," Edwards said. "The fans really love racing. If you look at Iowa, the fans there are really hungry for NASCAR racing. They're real racers. There are more race tracks in that area of the country than there are anywhere else ... there are a lot of dirt racers, a lot of really savvy racers, and a lot of racing families in history.
"So I think the people there really love the racing, and I'm glad they have two races and I think they deserve them."
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