Rain killed qualifying. The points grid handed us exactly what we needed. Byron at +350. Crews at +1000. Day at +1200.
Kansas Speedway · Kansas Lottery 300 · April 2026 By PitByNumbers Staff 9 min read Rain wiped out qualifying. The points grid gave us exactly what we needed. Practice rained out.
Qualifying rained out. The grid tonight is set entirely by points order — which means William Byron starts 2nd, Brent Crews starts 5th, and Corey Day starts 6th. Sometimes the weather does you a favor.
KEY TAKEAWAYS • Win Bet: William Byron (+350) Byron won his first career NASCAR race at Kansas. It was 2016, his fifth Truck Series start — from the pole, led 34 laps, won when the cars ahead made contact in the final lap. That was the start of the most dominant rookie season in Truck Series history.
He won the O'Reilly Series championship the following year. Tonight he starts 2nd at the same track in JR Motorsports equipment backed by Hendrick Motorsports. He doesn't need qualifying.
He doesn't need to pass anyone early. Clean air from lap one in the best-resourced car in this field. His most recent O'Reilly Series start tells you what happens when Byron gets into one of these cars.
At Charlotte in May 2025 he led 71 laps, ran a 6.97 average running position, and won with a 129.19 rating. The threat is Allgaier, who starts 3rd and is legitimate. He won at Las Vegas in spring 2025 with a 2.01 average running position and 102 laps led.
At Las Vegas this March he ran 3.89 average with 48 laps led. Allgaier can beat Byron tonight. That's why +350 exists and not +180.
Byron starts 2nd at the track where his career started. That's enough. Win Bet: Brent Crews (+1000) Crews finished 3rd at Bristol last week.
Here is what the finish doesn't tell you — he was running 2nd with 7 laps to go after passing Connor Zilisch on the outside wall. Zilisch won 12 O'Reilly Series races last season. Crews passed him with 7 to go.
He got shuffled back in the closing laps and finished 3rd. His average running position at Bristol was 8.70 with a 104.97 rating. Now think about who built his car.
Joe Gibbs Racing has 14 all-time O'Reilly Series wins at Kansas — more than any organization in history. The last time a JGR Toyota showed up at Las Vegas, the sister track to Kansas on the same tire and package, Aric Almirola ran a 1.96 average running position, led 107 laps, and won. Six months before that at Las Vegas he ran 2.66 average and finished 2nd.
Then at Kansas in fall 2024 he brought that same JGR program and won with a 7.28 average running position. Crews is 18 years old. He isn't Almirola.
But he starts 5th in a JGR Toyota at a track his organization owns. He doesn't need to outrun Byron. He needs to be in the top 3 when the final stage goes green.
He was running 2nd at Bristol with 7 laps to go. +1000 is the price for his age. Not his car.
Win Bet: Corey Day (+1200) Since getting collected in an accident at Daytona in February, Corey Day has finished in the top 10 in every race. Seven straight. Atlanta 4th.
COTA 5th. Phoenix 9th. Las Vegas 8th.
Darlington 6th. Martinsville 2nd. Rockingham 10th.
Bristol 8th. At Las Vegas in March — same tire, same package as Kansas tonight — he started 11th and ran a 6.58 average running position with a 102.46 rating. At Martinsville he finished 2nd with a 5.89 average and led 37 laps.
At Rockingham he started from the pole and led 118 laps before getting run down late on older tires. He drives the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet.
Same program that produced Connor Zilisch, who won 12 O'Reilly Series races last season. He starts 6th tonight at the exact track type where his Las Vegas data says he belongs at the front. Seven top 10s in seven races.
A 6.58 average at the sister track. +1200. The market is pricing his age.
The results say otherwise. The Three The race goes green at 7:00 Eastern on the CW.