May 13, 2022 | By Lee Spencer

Chevrolet looking to continue winning ways at Kansas Speedway

With one-third of the 2022 NASCAR Cup races in the rearview mirror, Chevrolet has won more than half of the races to start the season.

Not only has the Chevy camp appeared to have figured out the new car faster than the other manufacturers but the drivers have won at every variety of track on the tour from the shortest of short tracks—Martinsville—to the biggest oval, Talladega, and a road course at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas along the way.

If the Bow-tie Brigade’s early success wasn’t enough to put salt in the wounds of Ford and Toyota, perhaps the most threatening stat is the average age of Chevy’s winning drivers: 27.2.

Hendrick Motorsports is leading that charge with five wins. William Byron, who is enjoying a breakout season, is responsible for two of those victories. Had it not been for Joey Logano punting the No. 24 Chevy out of the lead at Darlington, Byron could have tallied three wins by now.

Last year’s 11 consecutive top-10 finishes in the first 13 races were a harbinger of the team’s potential. Although Byron finished 10th in the 2021 standings, he ranked sixth in both top fives (12) and top 10s (20). Certainly, the 24-year-old had matured dramatically over the last two seasons but his alignment with crew chief Rudy Fugle should not be overlooked.

The feel-good story of the season belongs to Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain. After two wins and six podium finishes, the watermelon-farmer-turned-racer showed his first signs of being human. Chastain experienced his first critical error last weekend at Darlington where he lost control of the No. 1 Chevy while battling Denny Hamlin for the lead. He wrecked in Turn 2 with less than 100 laps remaining.

Still, Chastain climbed to fifth in the standings despite the faux pas. In his fourth full season on the Cup tour, Chastain is making the most of this latest opportunity. What’s more surprising is Trackhouse’s ability to provide the affable driver with top-of-the-line equipment and personnel in just its second year on the tour.

Of the bow-tie drivers that have yet to win this season, Tyler Reddick should be the odds-on favorite. Although the 26-year-old driver of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet is still searching for his first Cup win, he’s been closer this year than ever before. He was one turn away from Victory Lane before Chase Briscoe wiped him out at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Reddick finished second at Darlington on Sunday. He was two stage wins (both at Auto Club Speedway) this season with the new car—which has proven to be an enigma for the driver.

“The Next Gen car is super fun to drive but is also extremely challenging,” Reddick said. “We’ve seen how much it’s leveled the field for all the drivers. The tracks are so different with the new car, and you’re pretty much using all the practice and qualifying time to take notes and let your team know how the car is running. The practice sessions aren’t very long so you want to use all that time to feel the car and the track out.

“Our team has gotten out on the track and the car has been completely wrong and then you have to go back to the drawing board and decide what you can and cannot fix. The racing is so competitive and there’s still so much to learn, it makes every weekend even more crucial and also exciting. I think every race is giving the fans a great show.”

Reddick will have a leg up on the competition this weekend at Kansas Speedway. Along with Ryan Blaney and Christopher Bell, Reddick performed the tire test for Goodyear in April. Last year, Reddick finished seventh at the 1.5-mile track.

“I think this weekend’s race at Kansas Speedway is going to be a lot like the races we’ve seen at Homestead-Miami Speedway,” where Reddick won twice in the Xfinity Series to win consecutive titles. “The race will be a very unforgiving one. There will be a lot of running the wall with little to no room for error. The margin of error is so small and if you make one mistake, you could take yourself and others out of the race. It’s going to be a lot of strategy and deciding when the right time is to take a risk.

“Certainly, with my driving style, running the wall is going to be a huge part of my race but it’s also important to listen to my crew chief and spotter and weigh the risk versus reward. You don’t want to get out there in the first stage and dive into the wall and end up finishing 38th.”