2010 Price Chopper 400

The 2010 Price Chopper 400 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race that was held on October 3, 2010, at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas. The 300 lap race was the twenty-ninth in the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The race was also the third event in the ten round Chase for the Sprint Cup competition, which would conclude the 2010 season. Greg Biffle, of the Roush Fenway Racing team, won the race, with Jimmie Johnson finishing second and Kevin Harvick third.

Pole position driver Kasey Kahne maintained his lead on the first lap to begin the race, as Jeff Gordon, who started in the third position on the grid, remained behind him. Twenty-three laps later Jeff Gordon became the leader of the race. After the final pit stops, Paul Menard became the leader of the race, but with less than fifty laps remaining, Biffle passed him. He maintained the first position to lead a total of sixty laps, and to win his second race of the season.

There were five cautions and twenty lead changes among twelve different drivers throughout the course of the race. It was Greg Biffle's second win in the 2010 season, and the sixteenth of his career. The result moved Biffle up to eighth in the Drivers' Championship, eighty-five points behind Jimmie Johnson and sixteen ahead of Jeff Burton. Chevrolet maintained its lead in the Manufacturers' Championship, thirty-seven ahead of Toyota and seventy-seven ahead of Ford, with seven races remaining in the season. A total of 100,000 people attended the race, while 5.25 million watched it on television.

Kansas Speedway is one of ten intermediate to hold NASCAR races. The standard track at Kansas Speedway is a four-turn D-shaped oval track that is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long. The track's turns are banked at fifteen degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is 10.4 degrees. The back stretch, opposite of the front, is at only five degrees. The racetrack has seats for 82,000 spectators.

Before the race, Denny Hamlin led the Drivers' Championship with 5,368 points, and Jimmie Johnson stood in second with 5,333. Kyle Busch was third in the Drivers' Championship with 5,323 points, fourteen ahead of Kurt Busch and twenty ahead of Kevin Harvick in fourth and fifth. Carl Edwards with 5,295 was seven ahead of Jeff Burton, as Jeff Gordon with 5,285 points, was fifty-seven ahead of Greg Biffle, and seventy-nine in front of Tony Stewart. Matt Kenseth and Clint Bowyer was eleventh and twelfth with 5,203 and 5,130 points. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet was leading with 206 points, thirty-five ahead of Toyota. Ford, with 126 points, was thirteen points ahead of Dodge in the battle for third. Tony Stewart was the race's defending champion.

Three practice sessions were held before the Sunday race, one on Friday, and two on Saturday. The first session lasted 90 minutes, the second session lasted 45 minutes, and the final session lasted 60 minutes. During the first practice session, Juan Pablo Montoya, for the Earnhardt Ganassi Racing team, was quickest ahead of Ryan Newman in second and Jimmie Johnson in the third position. Paul Menard was scored fourth, and Jamie McMurray managed fifth. Carl Edwards, Clint Bowyer, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, and David Reutimann rounded out the top ten quickest drivers in the session.

During qualifying, forty-six cars were entered, but only forty-three were able because of NASCAR's qualifying procedure. Kasey Kahne clinched his eighteenth pole position in the Sprint Cup Series, with a time of 30.920. He was joined on the front row of the grid by Menard. Jeff Gordon qualified third, Joey Logano took fourth, and Greg Biffle started fifth. Kevin Harvick, one of the drivers in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, qualified twenty-fourth, while Carl Edwards was scored thirty-first. The three drivers that failed to qualify for the race were Jason Leffler, Mike Bliss, and Joe Nemechek. Once qualifying concluded, Kahne stated, "Coming to the green I felt great. I got through one and two really good and just got a little bit free into three so I missed the entrance a touch and then was able to gather it back and get rolling. I gave up a little bit of time there." He also added, "I noticed Paul Menard gained a lot right there in three going out late. He actually came really close to clipping us off. It was good. I’m glad we got the pole for Budweiser and Ford. It’ll be exciting, a couple of RPM guys on the front row on Sunday. That’s pretty exciting for the whole company. They did a real nice job."

On the next morning, Kurt Busch was quickest in the second practice session, ahead of Gordon and Matt Kenseth in second and third. Reutimann was fourth quickest, and Greg Biffle took fifth. Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kahne, David Ragan, and Edwards followed in the top-ten. Other drivers in the chase, such as Kyle Busch, was twenty-first, and Kevin Harvick, who was twenty-second. Also in the second practice session, Biffle, who was scored fifth, spun sideways coming to the finish line, but received minor damage. During the third, and final practice session, Mark Martin, with a fastest time of 31.574, was quickest. Jimmie Johnson and Greg Biffle followed in second and third with times of 31.596 and 31.609 seconds. Logano managed to be fourth fastest, ahead of Jeff Gordon and Paul Menard. Edwards was scored seventh, McMurray took eighth, Bowyer was ninth, and Ragan took tenth. In this practice, both Martin and Johnson spun sideways at different times. Neither, Martin or Johnson sustained major damages to their race cars during the accidents.