Five successes from the Hollywood Casino 400

The middle race in the round of eight and, for several drivers, arguably the most crucial. The 2016 of the Hollywood Casino 400 helped to make and break the Chase hopes of several top contenders. Whilst some of the Chase drivers were suffering, others were thriving; several drivers produced fantastic results regardless of having a Chase berth or not. Here are five of those successes from the 2016 Hollywood Casino 400.

Joey Logano: 2016 has not been the best year for Joey Logano; not only has he been plagued with bad luck, he only has one win leaving Kansas compared to five wins last season. Whilst he was unable to repeat his victory from last year, third place was still a solid run from the Connecticut native and it was enough to move him above the cut-off spot for the round of eight. He can't rest easy heading into Talladega but he is in a much better position than he was heading into Kansas.

Austin Dillon: Another driver that improved his chances of making the round of eight was Austin Dillon. Unlike Logano, he sits outside the cut-off spot albeit tied on points with the latter for that crucial position. After a disastrous thirty second place finish at Charlotte, Dillon knew that he needed a strong performance at Kansas and he achieved this in sixth. Having spent the past two seasons in the middle of the pack, Dillon is really starting to prove that he is a championship contending driver. Another showing like this at Talladega and he'll be through into the round of eight. For now though, he can rest assured that his performance at Kansas was something to be proud of.

Alex Bowman: It's not easy to be a front-running NASCAR driver and it's certainly not easy to take over from one of the sport's most competitive drivers and outdo them but that is exactly what Alex Bowman has done. After a strong showing in qualifying, Bowman managed to carry that pace into the race and avoid all of the trouble around him. Whilst the more experienced drivers around him were having problems, he managed to stay out of all the trouble and was rewarded with an excellent seventh place finish. Still looking for a seat for next year, performances like this are exactly what Bowman needs.

A.J. Allmendinger: 2016 has been a very up and down year for the thirty four year old. He's had some very strong showings this season, such as second place in the Spring Martinsville race, and he's also had some not so strong showings. Kansas was one of those strong showings where everything just seemed to go right for him. Strong pace, no mistakes, good pit-stops and an even better strategy all came together to reward him and the team with an eighth place finish - his equal third best result of 2016.

Hendrick Motorsports: Okay, we've already mentioned Alex Bowman, who drives for Hendrick Motorsports, but we thought that the whole team deserved some recognition. Heading into the Chase, the team only had two wins, both of which came from Jimmie Johnson and many people were beginning to wonder if Hendrick Motorsports were losing their way just a little bit. Kansas proved anyone who believes that wrong. Three of their four cars made it into the top ten and if it weren't for a tyre rub that cost Chase Elliiott time and position, it would have been all four cars in the top ten. It seems as if the Hendrick Motorsports of old has returned and that should be a massive concern to every other team and driver in the sport.

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