Ryan Preece — Finished 16th: “We had a good car, the track loosened up big time and we lost a lot of track position. Ultimately it was frustrating because that is where you need help on the other side, and we were losing it on all ends. That last run we finally got our car back to where it needed to be, but we were just too far back by that time.”

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The dozen drivers who advanced to the second round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs saw Kansas Speedway as a relatively straightforward test, given the potential chaos looming at Talladega and the unpredictability of the road course at Charlotte. For most of them, it turned out to be a test of survival.