Bubble drivers have high hopes for the Kansas elimination race Hamilton wins Formula One pole

Kansas City, Kan. — Ryan Blaney felt good about his chances of advancing to the next round of NASCAR's playoffs even before he qualified fourth for the elimination race at Kansas Speedway.

Yes, he is 22 points outside the cutoff line. Yes, he has to leapfrog a couple of other guys to make the final eight, who will contest the next three rounds before the season-ending race at Homestead.

But Blaney has always considered the fast mile-and-a-half track one of his best, even though he's yet to win here in seven career starts. He has led laps four times, was on the pole for the spring race last year and was strong this past spring before ultimately wrecking out.

"This is a good track for us. I can't think of another track to go to trying to win it," Blaney said. "We've had a good chance, especially the first race this year before I wrecked ourselves. So hope we have a good shot Sunday to move on."

The trouble for Blaney is that just about everybody on the bubble is also strong at Kansas.

Clint Bowyer, who is seventh and 21 points inside the cutoff line, considers the track his NASCAR CUP HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400 2:30 p.m., Kansas Speedway (Chs. 10, 30)

home after growing up in Emporia. Martin Truex Jr. is currently riding the bubble, 18 points to the good, and swept the races at Kansas last year before finishing second to Kevin Harvick this past spring.

Brad Keselowski is the first driver outside the cutoff, and while he has just three top-5 finishes in 17 starts at Kansas, he qualified fifth on Friday — right behind Blaney, his Penske Racing teammate, who is four points back of him as they jockey for a spot in the next round of the playoffs.

Blaney said that dynamic hasn't created any tension in their garage. The two have continued to share ideas as they prepare for today, which is the only way team owner Roger Penske would have it.

Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman are the two drivers that basically face must-win situations Sunday.

Larson was penalized 10 points last week at Talladega for using unapproved materials to fix damage on his car, and that punishment was upheld through two rounds of appeals on Friday.

Austin, Texas — Lewis Hamilton warned Ferrari and championship rival Sebastian Vettel would be ready to "punch back" at the U.S. Grand Prix after recent poor results.

He was right. It's just that Vettel may be too far back to land anything strong enough to deny Hamilton a fifth Formula One championship.

Hamilton drove his Mercedes to his 81st career pole position with a blistering track-record lap of 1 minute, 32.237 seconds at the Circuit of the Americas on Saturday. Vettel was just .061 seconds behind.

But instead of starting today's race from second with a real chance to make it a fight, Vettel will start from fifth because of a three-spot grid penalty issued Friday when race officials said the German drove too fast while under a red flag in a practice session.

That gap could be just big enough to guarantee Hamilton wins the season championship. Hamilton leads Vettel by 67 points and any result Sunday that puts him eight or more points ahead of Vettel clinches the title. If Hamilton FORMULA ONE U.S. GRAND PRIX 1:30 p.m., Circuit of the Americas (Ch. 8)

wins, Vettel must finish no longer than second to keep the championship alive next week into the Mexican Grand Prix.

A fifth title would tie the British driver with Argentina's Juan Manuel Fangio, who won five championships in the 1950s. Germany's Michael Schumacher holds the Formula One record with seven. A win Sunday would also be Hamilton's 10th of the season. He's won on this track five of the last six years.

Hamilton refused to get into predictions about Sunday's outcome.

"We've not been getting ahead of ourselves," Hamilton said. "We have to do the same work as before."

Vettel criticized the penalty when it was assessed on Friday, but he refused to rehash his frustration after qualifying.

Vettel is also a four-time champion and he began the season with consecutive wins in Australia and Bahrain.