Arena: Kansas Speedway

Location: Kansas City, Kansas

Date: April 22, 2012

NASCAR Betting Online: In 1996, the International Speedway Corporation (ISC) began exploring options to build a speedway facility in the Midwest region. In 1997, Wyandotte County and Kansas City were selected as the site for the new speedway. Construction began in May of 1999 for the 1.5 mile tri-oval and 75,000 seat Kansas Speedway. At the Construction Celebration, NASCAR drivers Bobby Labonte, Rusty Wallace and Kenny Schrader helped kick off the event along with NASCAR President, the late Bill France, Jr. Also in attendance were Kansas Governor, Bill Graves and Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas Unified Government Mayor/CEO, Carol Marinovich.

Kansas Speedway launched ticket sales in July 1999 through the sale of the Founding Fan P.A.S.S. (Preferred Access Speedway Seating). Baseball Hall of Fame Inductee and former Kansas City Royals player George Brett purchases the first Fan P.A.S.S., which allows fans to lock-in the best seat locations at the track as well as acquire benefits otherwise not available to the general public. In one day, all 32 luxury suites planned for the facility were sold out. The ISC Board of Directors approves funding for an additional 36 suites, increasing capacity to just under 82,000.

Initial marketing partners were announced in November of 1999: Midwest Ford Dealers Association, University of Kansas Medical Center, Pepsi-Cola, Price Chopper Supermarkets and Coors Brewing Company. At the same time, the speedway also announced its goal to utilize Minority Business Enterprises (MBE) and Woman Business Enterprises (WBE) in the construction of the speedway project.

Kansas Speedway Track Info

Size Kansas Speedway 1.5 mile tri-oval suitable for all types of racing

Banking 15 degrees in the turns 10.4 degrees in the front stretch 5 degrees in the back stretch Track pavement width is 55 feet.

Seating Capacity The track seats nearly 82,000 spectators in the grandstands, but has the ability to expand to 150,000.

2012 STP 400 Winner - Denny Hamlin wins STP 400 at Kansas

Denny Hamlin held off hard-charging Martin Truex Jr. down the stretch on Sunday to win at Kansas Speedway for the first time.

Truex had dominated most of the race, but Hamlin had gone to the front when his car hooked up under the first sunshine of the afternoon. Truex mounted a comeback, diving low with a couple laps left, but he couldn't make the move stick and Hamlin pulled away.

He coaxed his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota the rest of the way for his second win this season.

Truex wound up leading a race-high 173 laps but had to settle for second, his third top-5 finish of the season. He still hasn't won in 175 Sprint Cup races.

Jimmie Johnson finished third for Hendrick Motorsports, which has failed in 14 tries to win the team's milestone 200th race. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kasey Kahne also finished in the top 10.

2011 STP 400 Winner - Keselowski conserves fuel for victory at Kansas

Stretching his fuel mileage to the maximum, Brad Keselowski coasted across the finish line to win Sunday's STP 400 at Kansas Speedway.

In winning his first Sprint Cup race of the season and the second of his career, Keselowski got 57 green-flag laps out of his last tank of fuel. Keselowski prevented runner-up Dale Earnhardt Jr., his old boss at JR Motorsports, from ending a drought that reached 106 races.

Denny Hamlin, who like Earnhardt was conserving fuel, came home third, followed by Jeff Gordon and series points leader Carl Edwards.

For once, Keselowski found himself on the right side of fortunes of racing.

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