This weekend will be a busy one. There will be intermediate racing in the Heartland, while IndyCar and IMSA will be in Long Beach. Meanwhile, the FIA World Endurance Championship starts off their 2026 season three weeks late in Italy.
Kansas NASCAR TV Schedule
- NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Practice: 7 p.m. ET Friday on The CW App
- NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Qualifying: 8:05 p.m. ET Friday on The CW App
- ARCA Menards Series Tide 150: 12:30 p.m. ET Saturday on FS1
- NASCAR Cup Series Practice: 4 p.m. ET Saturday on Prime Video
- NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying: 5:10 p.m. ET Saturday on Prime Video
- NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Kansas Lottery 300: 7 p.m. ET Saturday on The CW
- NASCAR Cup Series AdventHealth 400: 2 p.m. ET Sunday on FOX
This weekend, NASCAR will make the first of two visits to Kansas Speedway. 25 years ago, there was nothing around the tri-oval. Now, the track is the centerpiece of a vibrant sports and entertainment district near the intersection of Interstates 70 and 435.
The NASCAR Cup Series teams will be the headliners. They will arrive to the premises on Friday, but won’t venture on track.
On-track activity will begin with practice at 4 p.m. ET Saturday afternoon with live coverage on Prime Video. Qualifying will follow at 5:10 p.m. ET.
Coverage of the AdventHealth 400 will begin with NASCAR RaceDay at 1 p.m. ET on FOX. Race coverage will begin at 2 p.m. ET with the green flag around 2:10 p.m. ET.
The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series will serve as the primary support class in Kansas. Their on-track activity will begin with practice at 7 p.m. ET Friday on The CW App and website. Qualifying will follow at 8:05 p.m. ET. Some CW affiliates may provide coverage of practice and qualifying as well, but check your local listings in order to see if your affiliate is participating.
Coverage of the Kansas Lottery 300 will begin with NASCAR Countdown Live at 6:30 p.m. ET Saturday on The CW. Race coverage will begin at 7 p.m. ET with the green flag around 7:07 p.m. ET.
Finally, the ARCA Menards Series will return for its third race of the season and the first of two visits to Kansas. Those teams will begin with a 45-minute practice session on Friday at 5 p.m. ET, immediately followed by qualifying. Neither session will be televised.
Coverage of the Tide 150 will begin at 12:30 p.m. ET Saturday with live coverage on FS1. The green flag will fly around 12:40 p.m. ET.
Take a Look Back at the Week’s Biggest NASCAR Stories
- Tyler Reddick Gains Rockstar Energy Sponsorship
- The NASCAR Cup Series Has a (Lack of) Star Power Problem
- Did You Notice?: What Caused Bristol Motor Speedway’s NASCAR Decline?
- Does the Kyle Busch-RCR Pairing Last Through the End of the Season?
- Only Yesterday: From Glory to Frustration, Rusty Wallace Experienced It All at Bristol
What’s the Weather Going to Be Like?
Friday is looking to be rather dicey. The forecasted high temperature will be about 83° with partly cloudy skies early on.
However, a cold front will descend on the region later in the afternoon, bringing with it a line of thunderstorms, possibly severe in nature. When that hits, everything will stop. The timing right now for these storms is between 3-5 p.m. CT.
Given that timeline, it could wipe out the ARCA track activity and affect the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series as well if more storms develop. If you’re going to the track, keep your eyes peeled to the radar in case you have to find a place to shelter due to lightning.
The cold front will bring much cooler weather to the area for the remainder of the weekend. Saturday’s forecast is for sunny skies and a high around 60°. Since the O’Reilly race will be partially at night, it will be falling through the 50s during the race. If you’re going, bring a jacket or sweater.
Sunday’s forecast is just about perfect. Sunny skies with a high around 70°.
TV Ratings Check — Bristol
Sunday’s broadcast of the Food City 500 from Martinsville earned a 1.09 rating with 1.945 million viewers on FS1. This is up slightly from last year, ratings-wise, but down in viewership. When we compiled the data available last year, it listed a 1.1 rating. This 1.09 rating was said to be up 3% from last year. As a result, I had to do some calculations to come up with last year’s rating of 1.06.
The viewership was down 5% from last year, though. As a result, this is the lowest viewership for any Cup Series points race for FOX Sports since they joined the sport in 2001, excluding events postponed or delayed by rain.
The CW’s coverage of Saturday night’s Suburban Propane 300 earned a .69 rating with 1.222 million viewers. This is up 15% in ratings and 22% in viewership from last year. It is also slightly better than what The CW posted on social media themselves.
The claim about this race being the most watched O’Reilly race at Bristol since 2015 is valid. Our own ratings data for Bristol only goes back to 2016, but none of those races had as many viewers as Saturday night’s race did.
Friday night’s coverage of the Tennessee Army National Guard 250 for the Trucks at Bristol earned a .24 rating with 490,000 viewers. This is down 8% in ratings from last year’s .26, but down only 1.6% from last year’s viewership of 498,000.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the Frontstretch email newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the Frontstretch Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.