STP has been associated with Richard Petty for 40 years now. Can you believe that? 40 yrs. Wow. And to celebrate STP will be back as primary sponsor of the Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 Ford Fusion, driven by Aric Almirola, for the STP 400 today at Kansas Speedway.
Open Race Thread: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series STP 400 Kansas Speedway
Getty Images for NASCAR
If you are interested you can stay up-to-date on all the latest news today by following @STPracing on Twitter (https://twitter.com/STPracing).
Hard to imagine a sponsor staying with one driver/team for that long in any capacity, especially in this day and age with the economy being as it is.
By the way, Almirola qualified 26th for today's race, where as former RPM driver AJ Allmendinger qualified his Dodge up front in the number one spot. Kind of ironic that the former #43 driver qualified in a Dodge for the pole in a race that is sponsored by STP and was once the primary sponsor of the #43 car during its glory years when Richard Petty used Dodges as his primary race car.
My picks to win are simple; anyone in a Toyota because they all qualified so well, and anyone in a Ford because they all qualified so awfully with The Biff being the highest Ford qualifier in 17th.
However, it would be nice to see someone in the Hendrick stable win so we can stop hearing about 'who will get Rick Hendrick's 200th Cup win?' I honestly think those drivers in the Hendrick stable would each like to be the 200th winner for Hendrick, but I don't think they're making as big of a deal about it as the media is.
Live television coverage will start on FOX at 12:30 p.m. EST and will feature the voices of Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds and Darrell Waltrip. Green flag is set to drop at approx. 1:16 p.m. EST. For those who are away from a television set or prefer the radio broadcast, www.goprn.com/ will stream the race live on any supported computer or mobile device.
Starting line up is after the jump.
Starting Line Up by Row
Kansas Speedway
2nd Annual STP 400
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sat, April 21, 2012 @ 01:28 PM Eastern
Track Race Record: Greg Biffle 10/03/10 02:54:02 138.077
Kansas Speedway
2nd Annual STP 400
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sat, April 21, 2012 @ 01:28 PM Eastern
Track Race Record: Greg Biffle 10/03/10 02:54:02 138.077
| Row | Pos | Car | Driver | Team | Time | Speed |
| 1 | 1 | 22 | AJ Allmendinger | AAA Dodge | 30.683 | 175.993 |
| 2 | 29 | Kevin Harvick | Rheem Chevrolet | 30.726 | 175.747 | |
| 2 | 3 | 20 | Joey Logano | The Home Depot Toyota | 30.730 | 175.724 |
| 4 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | FedEx Ground Toyota | 30.740 | 175.667 | |
| 3 | 5 | 55 | Mark Martin | Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota | 30.772 | 175.484 |
| 6 | 56 | Martin Truex Jr. | NAPA Auto Parts Toyota | 30.779 | 175.444 | |
| 4 | 7 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Diet Mountain Dew/National Guard Chevrolet | 30.802 | 175.313 |
| 8 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | 5-hour Energy Toyota | 30.804 | 175.302 | |
| 5 | 9 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Farmers Insurance Chevrolet | 30.841 | 175.092 |
| 10 | 12 | Sam Hornish Jr.(i) | SKF Dodge | 30.842 | 175.086 | |
| 6 | 11 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Miller Lite Dodge | 30.846 | 175.063 |
| 12 | 31 | Jeff Burton | Caterpillar Chevrolet | 30.870 | 174.927 | |
| 7 | 13 | 39 | Ryan Newman | Haas Automation Chevrolet | 30.877 | 174.887 |
| 14 | 51 | Kurt Busch | Phoenix Construction Services, Inc. Chevrolet | 30.879 | 174.876 | |
| 8 | 15 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Lowe's Chevrolet | 30.892 | 174.803 |
| 16 | 10 | David Reutimann | Accell Construction Chevrolet | 30.892 | 174.803 | |
| 9 | 17 | 16 | Greg Biffle | 3M Novec 1230 Ford | 30.909 | 174.706 |
| 18 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | Ford EcoBoost Ford | 30.948 | 174.486 | |
| 10 | 19 | 27 | Paul Menard | Menards/Zecol Chevrolet | 30.977 | 174.323 |
| 20 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet | 30.988 | 174.261 | |
| 11 | 21 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Aflac Ford | 30.991 | 174.244 |
| 22 | 38 | David Gilliland | Front Row Motorsports Ford | 31.004 | 174.171 | |
| 12 | 23 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet | 31.009 | 174.143 |
| 24 | 30 | David Stremme | Inception Motorsports Toyota | 31.029 | 174.031 | |
| 13 | 25 | 18 | Kyle Busch | M&M's Toyota | 31.031 | 174.020 |
| 26 | 43 | Aric Almirola | STP Ford | 31.034 | 174.003 | |
| 14 | 27 | 34 | David Ragan | Barrett-Jackson Ford | 31.044 | 173.947 |
| 28 | 9 | Marcos Ambrose | DeWalt Ford | 31.059 | 173.863 | |
| 15 | 29 | 78 | Regan Smith | Furniture Row/Farm American Chevrolet | 31.078 | 173.756 |
| 30 | 47 | Bobby Labonte | Reese Towpower Toyota | 31.080 | 173.745 | |
| 16 | 31 | 49 | JJ Yeley | JPO Absorbents Toyota | 31.121 | 173.516 |
| 32 | 83 | Landon Cassill | Burger King Real Fruit Smoothies Toyota | 31.144 | 173.388 | |
| 17 | 33 | 36 | Dave Blaney | Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet | 31.145 | 173.383 |
| 34 | 23 | Scott Riggs | North TX Pipe Chevrolet | 31.169 | 173.249 | |
| 18 | 35 | 93 | Travis Kvapil | Burger King Real Fruit Smoothies Toyota | 31.174 | 173.221 |
| 36 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | McDonald's Chevrolet | 31.181 | 173.182 | |
| 19 | 37 | 98 | Michael McDowell | Curb Records Ford | 31.186 | 173.155 |
| 38 | 26 | Josh Wise # | Morristown Driver's Service Ford | 31.258 | 172.756 | |
| 20 | 39 | 42 | Juan Pablo Montoya | Target Chevrolet | 31.303 | 172.507 |
| 40 | 13 | Casey Mears | GEICO Ford | 31.398 | 171.985 | |
| 21 | 41 | 87 | Joe Nemechek | AM/FM Energy Wood & Pellet Stoves Toyota | 31.464 | 171.625 |
| 42 | 32 | Reed Sorenson(i) | FAS Lane Racing Ford | Owner Points | ||
| 22 | 43 | 19 | Mike Bliss(i) | Humphrey Smith Racing LLC Toyota | 31.506 | 171.396 |
Did Not Qualify: # 79 Tim Andrews(i); # 33 Jeff Green(i); # 74 Tony Raines.
Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs
Chevrolet 16 2 Ford 11 1
Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs
Chevrolet 16 2 Ford 11 1
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