The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • B7

Four-time Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon love Kansas and other worn-out tracks. enjoy this final race on the old surface as much as we can. I think worn-out surfaces are the ones that put on the best Sprint Cup driver Jeff Burton actually like the track itself. a cool racetrack and alot of fun. I know they are getting ready to repave it and I wish that they really slick and typically slick tracks are good for me.

Typically, tracks get better as they get older. I think Kansas Speedway is a good example of Racing legend Richard Petty deal with repaving aracetrack is it always ruins the race. It takes a while for the track to be Kansas Speedway president Pat Warren who lives in the Midwest knows that our temperature swings kill the Sprint Cup points leader Greg Biffle think the racetrack has a lot of character. It gets slick, it gets slow, it takes a lot of Sprint Cup driver Carl Edwards would not resurface this track ever. I resurface tracks ever if it were up to me.

patch the holes and keep on Former Sprint Cup champion Kurt Busch called the seams in the track the tar stripes of death, and the track president actually got on me about it. The car just slides sideways when you have to drive over those seams where they put the tar down. So, you have to pick a lane. But just touch those strips of Martin Flugger, director of engineering, International Speedway Corp. trying to make sure without a race-stopping Covitz, WHAT SAYING ABOUT REPAVING KANSAS SPEEDWAY B6 RACE WEEKEND AT KANSAS SPEEDWAY THE KANSAS CITY STAR.

WWW.KANSASCITY.COMMONDAY,APRIL23,2012 B7 Sprint Cup winners DateRaceWinner Feb. 18 x-Budweiser Shootout Kyle Busch Feb. 23x-Gatorade Duel 1Tony Stewart Feb. 23 x-Gatorade Duel 2 Matt Kenseth Feb. 27Daytona 500Matt Kenseth March 4 Subway Fresh Fit 500 Denny Hamlin March 11Kobalt Tools 400Tony Stewart March 18 Food City 500 Brad Keselowski March 25Auto Club 400Tony Stewart April 1 Fast Relief 500 Ryan Newman April 14Samsung Mobile 500Greg Biffle Sunday STP 400 Denny Hamlin Sprint Cup schedule Date RaceCity April 28 Richmond 400 Richmond, Va.

May 499Talladega, Ala. May 12 Southern 500 Darlington, S.C. May 19x-NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race Concord, N.C. May 19 x-Sprint Showdown Concord, N.C. May 27Coca-Cola 600Concord, N.C.

June 3 FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks Dover, Del. June 10Pocono 400Long Pond, Pa. June 17 Michigan 400 Brooklyn, Mich. June Mart 350Sonoma, Calif. June 30 Quaker State 400 Sparta, Ky.

July 7Coke Zero 400 Powered By Coca-Cola Daytona Beach, Fla. July 15 Lenox Industrial Tools 301 Loudon, N.H. July 29Crown Royal Presents The Your Name Here 400 at The Brickyard Indianapolis Aug. 5 Pennsylvania 400 Long Pond, Pa. Aug.

12NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at The Glen Watkins Glen, N.Y. Aug. 19 Pure Michigan 400 Brooklyn, Mich. Aug. 25Irwin Tools Night RaceBristol, Tenn.

Sep. 2 AdvoCare 500 Hampton, Ga. Sep. 8Wonderful Pistachios 400Richmond, Va. Sep.

16 GEICO 400 Joliet, Ill. Sep. 23Sylvania 300Loudon, N.H. Sep. 30 AAA 400 Dover, Del.

Oct. 7Good Sam Club 500Talladega, Ala. Oct. 13 Bank of America 500 Concord, N.C. Oct.

21Hollywood Casino 400Kansas City, Kan. Oct. 28 TUMS Fast Relief 500 Ridgeway, Va. Nov. 4AAA Texas 500Fort Worth, Texas Nov.

11 Kobalt Tools 500 Avondale, Ariz. Nov. 18Ford 400Homestead, Fla. x-nonpoints race NASCAR Sprint Cup STP 400 Sunday at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan. Finish (Start) DriverCarLapsMoney 1.

(4) Denny Hamlin Toyota 267 $248,691 2. (6) Martin Truex Jr.Toyota267$209,399 3. (15) Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 267 $185,121 4. (18) Matt 5. (17) Greg Biffle Ford 267 $119,135 6.

(2) Kevin 7. (7) Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 267 $104,060 8. (9) Kasey 9. (21) Carl Edwards Ford 267 $133,301 10.

(25) Kyle 11. (11) Brad Keselowski Dodge 267 $121,405 12. (39) Juan Pablo 13. (23) Tony Stewart Chevrolet 267 $133,335 14. (36) Jamie 15.

(3) Joey Logano Toyota 266 $91,160 16. (28) Marcos 17. (14) Kurt Busch Chevrolet 266 $107,593 18. (19) Paul 19. (10) Sam Hornish Jr.

Dodge 266 $76,610 20. (13) Ryan 21. (20) Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 264 $124,396 22. (12) Jeff 23. (26) Aric Almirola Ford 264 $116,546 24.

(29) Regan 25. (35) Travis Kvapil Toyota 263 $101,743 26. (40) Casey 27. (22) David Gilliland Ford 263 $87,607 28. (42) Reed 29.

(16) David Reutimann Chevrolet 262 $77,460 30. (27) David 31. (31) J.J. Yeley Toyota 261 $74,010 32. (1) A 33.

(5) Mark Martin Toyota engine $76,085 34. (32) Landon 35. (30) Bobby Labonte Toyota engine $81,460 36. (8) Clint 37. (33) Dave Blaney Chevrolet vibration $72,780 38.

(24) David 39. (38) Josh Wise Ford rear gear $71,200 40. (37) Michael 41. (41) Joe Nemechek Toyota vibration $69,400 42. (43) Mike 43.

(34) Scott Riggs Chevrolet rear gear $69,640 Race statistics Average Speed of Race Winner: 144.122 mph. Time of Race: 2 hours, 46 minutes, 44 seconds. Margin of Victory: 0.700 seconds. Caution Flags: 3 for 18 laps. Lead Changes: 14 among 9drivers.

Lap Leaders: A.Allmendinger 1-44; D.Hamlin 45; C.Edwards 46; M.Truex Jr. 47-91; J.Johnson 92-93; M.Kenseth 94; J.Montoya 95-96; M.Truex Jr. 97-177; M.Kenseth 178; B.Keselowski 179-180; M.Truex Jr. 181-223; J.Montoya 224-225; S.Hornish Jr. 226-232; M.Truex Jr.

233-236; D.Hamlin 237-267. Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): M.Truex 4 times for 173 laps; A.Allmendinger, 1 time for 44 laps; D.Hamlin, 2 times for 32 laps; S.Hornish 1 time for 7 laps; J.Montoya, 2 times for 4 laps; J.Johnson, 1 time for 2 laps; M.Kenseth, 2 times for 2 laps; B.Keselowski, 1 time for 2 laps; C.Edwards, 1 time for 1 lap. NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski sat high in the turret of the green, U.S. Army M1A1 Abrams tank parked on the apron of Kansas Speedway after STP 400. been tearing up this track for a long Keselowski said, now I get to officially do it with approval in a tank.

pretty The occasion was the ceremonial ground breaking for the repaving and reconfiguration of Kansas 1.5 mile trioval that opened in 2001. Keselowski and Kansas Speedway president Pat Warreneach took a lap in the tank while an Armored Combat Earthmover chopped up pieces of the asphalt along pit road. The $9 million project is expected to be completed by Sept. 12, enabling NASCAR teams to test the new surface and new variable banking before they return for the Oct. 19-21race weekend that will be highlighted by the Hollywood Casino 400, the sixth race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

The decision to repave Kansas Speedway after just 12 years of racing has been a hot- button issue in the NASCAR garages. The drivers have been nearly unanimous against the repaving, saying the track has finally matured into a surface that produces multiple-groove racing and plenty of slipping and sliding between the cars. But the combination of extreme heat and extreme cold conspired to erode portions of the track, requiring extensive patchwork and tarring. Warren displayed some loose, jagged shards of asphalt his crew discovered before NASCAR Camping World TruckSeries race and after Sprint Cup race. Warren predicted the newly paved banking will provide two- and three-wide racing right away.

confident going to have great racing in the Warren said. never do a repave unless you have to. something we have to do for the safety of the drivers and for the security of the facility because if you have a catastrophic failure a pothole kind of incident, you NASCAR is in the midst of a repaving craze. Kansas Speedway is the latest of five speedways in the last two years to repave, starting with Daytona International Speedway after its pothole debacle of 2010, and including Phoenix in 2011and Michigan and Pocono in 2012. Ten NASCAR tracks have undergone a repaving since 2006, and Bristol is expected to announce a reconstruction project this week.

focused everyone on the Warren said. lowered the tolerance because everybody saw when something bad happens, really bad. As a company doing everything we need to do to keep that from ever happening The life span of most NASCAR tracks is at least 20 years, but climate is a factor. Michigan is repaving for the second time since 1995; Charlotte repaved in 2006, which was 12 years after its previous repaving. weather been too kind to said Martin Flugger, director of engineering for International Speedway parent company of Kansas Speedway and who will oversee the project.

asphalt is starting to get brittle, and not much elasticity, so the cracking is getting worse. The cracks then allow water to get into the track, and with your freeze-thaw cycles constantly fighting and battling pieces of the track prior to all the races out there looking for loose pieces, patching spots, and looking for bad sections of the track. Things are getting worse, not getting not the way the drivers see it. understand that we have to address these things, but I am a racer that likes to race on a bumpy, rough, slick racetrack with the cars sliding all over the said Carl Edwards of Columbia. I care if there are 20-foot long patches of dirt in the middle of the racetrack, happy.

Hopefully, when they repave this they will leave some of the bumps, use some sort of pavement that so perfectly smooth and Four-time Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon, a two-time Kansas Speedway winner, agreed with Edwards. really understand why they are paving this Gordon said. looks great out there. I wish they touch it. not the business person.

not an engineer that looks at the construction, foundation all the things that they feel like why they need to do it. they put in front of us, we will just go about it the best way that we can. I feel like ISC (International Speedway Corp.) has gotten enough information and experience paving racetracks that I have faith they can do the right thing. They did a great job at Homestead. That was one of the only racetracks I can remember being repaved where we came there and raced the first race and it was a fun race.

course, what they had before was so bad, it was easy to improve. What they have here is going to be hard to improve. a great While the track might appear in great shape, Flugger said, looks can be deceiving. at the surface, the asphalt mix itself look Flugger said. problem is the bond between the layers and the cracking itself.

So a real possibility a layer of the top surface of a section of the track could pull off. thought Daytona looked great, until that hole opened up in the middle of turn one and turn The repaving job will include the addition of variable 20-degree banking (up from 15 degrees), which has been a hit at ISC-owned Homestead-Miami Speedwaysince it was introduced in a 2003 reconfiguration that is considered the benchmark of you repave a racetrack, especially amile-and-a-half, you tend to get single- groove racing if you have variable Warren said. Homestead repaved, also reconfigured and had phenomenal racing from the very In addition to the reconfigured racetrack, the project will also include the installation of a 2.36-mile road course, including .95 miles within the infield that will bring Grand-Am racing to Kansas Speedway, giving the facility three major race weekends starting in 2013. Warren is hopeful next Sprint Cup spring race will return to a late May or early June date and run at night under the lights that were installed in 2011, while the fall race will be the traditional late September or early October date. The Grand-Am race would fall somewhere in between.

Flugger believes new technology and advances in the industry will result in the new surface lasting 20 years. would have hoped we would have gotten more out of the he said, but Mother Nature really beat up on PAVING THE WAY ALLISON LONG THE KANSAS CITY STAR Work began after the race Sunday to get Kansas Speedway, which opened in 2001, ready for repaving. Kansas will join other tracks that have recently been resurfaced. ALLISON LONG THE KANSAS CITY STAR After STP 400 Sprint Cup race was over Sunday, people hung around and watched as an Armored Combat Earthmover ripped up pit road at Kansas Speedway. The track is scheduled to be resurfaced in time for the NASCAR races in October.

SHANE KEYSER THE KANSAS CITY STAR There was a hole in pit road after STP 400 Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway, and fans picked up pieces of pavement that had been torn up. But drivers happy with plan for resurfacing By RANDY COVITZ The Kansas City Star Sprint Cup points standings Through eight races Rk DriverPolesWinsPtsBack 1. Greg Biffle 1 1 312 2. Martin Truex Jr.1029715 3. Matt Kenseth 0 1 295 17 4.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.0029121 5. Denny Hamlin 1 2 289 23 6. Kevin Harvick0028725 7. Jimmie Johnson 0 0 275 37 8. Tony Stewart0226547 9.

Carl Edwards 1 0 251 61 10. Ryan Newman0124963 11. Clint Bowyer 0 0 227 85 12. Joey Logano0022191 13. Kyle Busch 0 0 218 94 13.

Paul Menard0021894 15. Brad Keselowski 0 1 217 95 16. Juan Montoya00207105 17. Jeff Burton 0 0 201 111 18. Jeff Gordon00200112 19.

Jamie McMurray 0 0 190 122 20. Aric Almirola00187125 20. Marcos Ambrose 0 0 187 125 20. Regan Smith00187125 23. A.J.

Allmendinger 1 0 185 127 24. Mark Martin10181131 25. Kurt Busch 0 0 174 138 RECENT REPAVEMENTS AT NASCAR TRACKS Homestead-Miami Speedway 2003 Charlotte Motor Speedway2006 Talladega Superspeedway 2006 Bristol Motor Speedway 2007 Darlington Raceway 2008 Daytona International Speedway 2011 Phoenix International Raceway 2011 Michigan International Speedway 2012 Pocono Raceway 2012 Kansas Speedway 2012.