Three big questions ahead of the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas

The NASCAR Cup Series will make its second stop at a 1.5-mile track this season in Sunday's running of the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway (2 p.m. ET, Fox, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Here are three big questions ahead of the ninth race of the 2026 season.

Will momentum continue for Ty Gibbs after first win?

It took 131 starts, but Gibbs is finally a Cup Series winner after holding off Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson in an overtime finish at Bristol on Sunday.

After enduring three winless full-time seasons at the Cup level and failing to immediately live up to the expectations that were placed on him coming off an O'Reilly Auto Parts Series title in 2022, Gibbs faced a lot of criticism, and it was fair to wonder if he could win on Sundays.

He put those doubts to rest at Bristol and now heads to Kansas looking to extend his top-10 streak to seven. One top 10 and five laps led in seven starts are not encouraging, but a fifth-place showing at fellow 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway earlier this season suggests he could be a factor once again on Sunday.

Can Hendrick Motorsports make gains in second intermediate test of season?

Las Vegas was the first true ride to determine how HMS and the new Chevrolet body would perform at intermediate layouts. William Byron and Kyle Larson led a combined 88 laps before finishing third and seventh, respectively. Chase Elliott, meanwhile, had a shot at the end before having to settle for second behind race winner Denny Hamlin.

Hamlin was one of three Toyotas in the top five and five in the top 10 as the manufacturer flexed its muscle in "Sin City." Kansas is not entirely similar to Las Vegas, but it does present another 1.5-mile opportunity for a team like HMS to bounce back from an uncharacteristic weekend in Bristol.

On a positive note, Larson and Elliott swept the 2025 races at Kansas. With a combined five wins between them at the track, this could be an opportunity to get back at Toyota and reassert themselves in the mix at 1.5-mile tracks.

Will Kansas deliver another exciting finish?

Since the inception of the Next Gen car in 2022, Kansas has produced some of the most entertaining races in the Cup Series.

In the 2024 spring race, Larson just nosed ahead of Chris Buescher by 0.001 seconds in what turned out to be the closest finish in series history. The last time drivers tackled Kansas, Elliott made a last-lap pass around Hamlin in Turn 4 and held on to win by 0.069 seconds.

If anything is certain when the Cup Series has visited Kansas in recent years, it is that fans have been treated to some great racing. There is no reason to expect anything less heading into Sunday's race at a track that has become one of the most competitive in the series.