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  • Larson Fastest in Final Cup Practice at Kentucky

    Larson Fastest in Final Cup Practice at Kentucky

    SPARTA, Ky. — Kyle Larson topped the chart in final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Kentucky Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet was the fastest with a time of 28.695 and a speed of 188.186 mph. Martin Truex Jr. was second in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota with a time of 28.848 and a speed of 187.188 mph. Chase Elliott was third in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 28.892 and a speed of 186.903 mph. Ryan Blaney was fourth in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford with a time of 28.961 and a speed of 186.458 mph. Kyle Busch rounded out the top-five in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 28.991 and a speed of 186.265 mph.

    Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Jamie McMurray, Darrell Wallace Jr. and Clint Bowyer rounded out the top-10.

    Larson posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 181.516 mph.

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  • Kenseth Doesn’t Expect JGR to be an Option Next Season

    Kenseth Doesn’t Expect JGR to be an Option Next Season

    SPARTA, Ky. — Matt Kenseth’s announcement that he doesn’t expect to return to Joe Gibbs Racing next season set off the 2017 silly season domino chain.

    It wasn’t a case of giving a vague answer that could be misinterpreted. He outright said he doesn’t think returning to JGR next season is an option.

    “I don’t think so. I don’t think it is (an option). Like I said, I don’t have a ride at this moment for next year. I haven’t worked on anything real hard, but I don’t think I will have the option to race at JGR next season, unfortunately,” he said.

    Compounding the dilemma for the 2003 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion is that he doesn’t have a ride for next season. While his name has been brought up a time or two in the discussion on drivers to replace Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the No. 88 Chevrolet, it’s important to note Hendrick Motorsports already has two young drivers, Alex Bowman and William Byron, waiting in the pipeline.

    With the wave of young drivers rising up through the NASCAR ranks in the last few seasons, it would appear Kenseth’s days are numbered, especially with rides hard to come by. But at the end of the day, he’s not panicking yet.

    “I’m not really worried about it,” he added. “As of today, I do not have a job for next year. So I certainly hope to still be racing next year. I think I got some wins left in me and, hopefully, I can race for championships. But right now, my focus is finishing up this year. As we talked about, it’s been kind of a slow start. Has not been a good year, at all. Not nearly up to my standards or my teams’ standards. So trying to get back to victory lane and, hopefully, get qualified for the playoffs here and have a shot at the playoffs is pretty much my focus at this point.”

  • McMurray Fastest in First Cup Practice at Kentucky

    McMurray Fastest in First Cup Practice at Kentucky

    SPARTA, Ky. — Jamie McMurray topped the chart in first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Kentucky Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet was the fastest with a time of 28.911 and a speed of 186.780 mph. Martin Truex Jr. was second in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota with a time of 28.963 and a speed of 186.445 mph. Kyle Larson was third in his No. 42 Ganassi Chevrolet with a time of 29.017 and a speed of 186.098 mph. Ryan Blaney was fourth in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford with a time of 29.023 and a speed of 186.059 mph. Kyle Busch rounded out the top-five in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 29.042 and a speed of 185.938 mph.

    Denny Hamlin, Danica Patrick, Clint Bowyer, Chase Elliott and Erik Jones rounded out the top-10.

    Busch posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 183.148 mph.

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  • Kyle Busch Fastest in Final XFINITY Practice

    Kyle Busch Fastest in Final XFINITY Practice

    SPARTA, Ky. — Kyle Busch topped the chart in final NASCAR XFINITY Series practice at Kentucky Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was the fastest with a time of 29.607 and a speed of 182.389 mph. Ryan Blaney was second in his No. 12 Team Penske Ford with a time of 29.744 and a speed of 181.549 mph. Brandon Jones was third in his No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet with a time of 29.794 and a speed of 181.245 mph. Tyler Reddick was fourth in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet with a time of 29.811 and a speed of 181.141 mph. Erik Jones rounded out the top-five in his No. 20 Gibbs Toyota with a time of 29.860 and a speed of 180.844 mph.

    Brennan Poole, Daniel Hemric, Ty Dillon, Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top-10.

    Blaney posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 179.970 mph.

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  • 75 percent of ThorSport Racing collected in second stage wreck

    75 percent of ThorSport Racing collected in second stage wreck

    SPARTA, Ky. — An eight-place finish by Matt Crafton and 15th by Cody Coughlin salvaged what almost turned into a rotten night for ThorSport Racing after three-quarters of their stable, including Crafton, were involved in a multi-truck wreck early in the second stage of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Buckle Up In Your Truck 225 at Kentucky Speedway.

    Entering Turn 3 on the lap 42 restart, first stage winner Ben Rhodes was running below the No. 45 of TJ Bell when he got loose and spun out. He did roughly a 135° spin before hitting Bell with his left-rear corner, sending him up the track and into the path of Crafton, who made slight contact with the wall.

    After Rhodes made contact with Bell, his truck did another half spin before pounding the wall right-rear first. Teammate Grant Enfinger, who made the choice to go high to avoid the spinning Rhodes when he was still on the bottom, slammed into his rear-end.

    “I was underneath the 4 (Christopher Bell) trying to make a move. Then I saw him start to come down on me so I started backing out, and as we were going down to the groove we just all ran out of room,” Rhodes said. “I was trying to give everybody as much room as I could. Just unfortunate. I know all the restarts everybody was going as hard as they can. They were four-wide in front of me, so I was trying to do what I could with what I had. Just unfortunate we couldn’t come out a little bit better for our Safelite team. We had a lot of people here tonight to watch the race. Sorry I let them down. Just a big mistake on my part. Miscalculated it, and just need to re-evaluate our situation this year and try to get us in the playoffs.”

    Crafton leaves Kentucky fourth in points, 89 back of Johnny Sauter, with Rhodes and Enfinger tailing him in fifth and sixth. Coughlin leaves 13th in points.

  • Bell Takes Late Lead and Holds Off Challenger to Win Truck Race at Kentucky

    Bell Takes Late Lead and Holds Off Challenger to Win Truck Race at Kentucky

    SPARTA, Ky. — An early spin didn’t stop Christopher Bell from returning to the front to claim victory in the Buckle Up In Your Truck 225 at Kentucky Speedway.

    He took the lead from John Hunter Nemechek with a pass to the high-side in Turn 3 and held off Brandon Jones right down to the final lap to score the victory.

    “This is pretty special,” Bell said after the race. “We had our ups and downs. Practice didn’t go very well, but we had a really fast Tundra, and (crew chief) Rudy Fugle made great calls from the pit box after I made a mistake and spun out.”

    RACE RECAP

    After rain delayed the original start by roughly three hours, Johnny Sauter led the field to the green flag at 10:39 p.m. Matt Mills brought out the first caution on Lap 22 when he got loose, overcorrected and hit the outside wall exiting Turn 4.

    On the ensuing restart on Lap 27, ThorSport Racing teammates Ben Rhodes and Grant Enfinger “sandwiched” Sauter going into Turn 1 to take the lead, with Enfinger taking the sole lead. The caution flew a second time on the same lap when Bell went spinning in Turn 3.

    Rhodes took the lead from his teammate on the following restart on Lap 32 and drove on to win the first stage.

    Noah Gragson, who pitted under the first caution, assumed the race lead.

    Back to green on lap 42, the caution flew on the same lap for a multi-car wreck in Turn 3, which collected three of the four ThorSport trucks.

    After that wreck, the rest of the stage proceeded under green, with Gragson winning it.

    Myatt Snider exited pit road with the race lead. He lost the lead on the ensuing restart to Bell.

    The race didn’t make it a lap before Gragson was turned by Austin Cindric on the frontstretch, bringing out the sixth caution.

    When the next run settled into a longer green run, Bell came up on lapped traffic. John Hunter Nemechek took advantage of this and took the lead from Bell on Lap 94.

    It was interrupted by a solo spin by Snider with 44 laps to go.

    Bell took the lead on the ensuing restart with 37 to go when the caution flew for a two-truck wreck in Turn 3, setting up the run to the finish.

    NUTS & BOLTS

    The race lasted one hour, 59 minutes and 47 seconds at an average speed of 112.703 mph. There were 10 lead changes among eight different drivers and eight cautions for 42 laps.

    Sauter leaves with a 28-point lead over Bell.

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  • Kentucky Speedway – Did You Know?

    Kentucky Speedway – Did You Know?

    The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to Kentucky Speedway this weekend for the Quaker State 400. Forty drivers will compete for the trophy with only nine regular season races remaining before the playoffs begin.

    The inaugural Quaker State 400 was held on July 9, 2011, and was won by Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch who led 125 of 267 laps. Busch captured the checkered flag again in 2015 while Brad Keselowski has won three of the six Cup Series races (2012, 2014, and 2016) at the 1.5-mile track. Busch‘s teammate, Matt Kenseth, has one victory at Kentucky, in 2013. But did you know that Kentucky Speedway is the only track on the current schedule where no Chevrolet car has ever won?

    With only nine races left in the regular season winning is paramount. Ten drivers have secured their spot in the playoffs with victories but the clock is winding down for everyone else. Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Jamie McMurray, Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer and Matt Kenseth are currently 11th-16th in the playoff picture, but none of them have been to Victory Lane this year.

    Keselowski is the defending race winner and holds the track qualifying record with a speed of 188.791 mph, set on June 28, 2014. He leads all active drivers with an average starting position of 4.500 and has the series second-best driver rating (119.2). But did you know that Keselowski is the only driver to win a Cup Series race from the pole (2014) at Kentucky?

    With two wins and four top fives at Kentucky, Kyle Busch is hoping to turn his luck around and grab his first win of the season Saturday. He has the series-best driver rating of 125.6, the series-best average finish (5.167) and has led the most laps in the top 15.

    Kenseth will be trying for a repeat of his 2013 triumph this weekend. With Joey Logano only three points behind him in points, a win is essential. He has the series third-best driver rating (107.9), three top fives and six top 10s. But did you know that with his win in 2013, Kenseth became the oldest Kentucky winner (06/30/2013 – 41 years, 3 months, 20 days)? Another trip to Victory Lane would be icing on the cake.

    This will likely be Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s last race at Kentucky Speedway as he will retire from full-time competition at the end of this season. While he only has the 13th-best driver rating at the track, he does have one pole, two top five finishes and ranks fourth-best in fastest laps run (34). But did you know that Earnhardt is the oldest driver to win a Kentucky pole? In 2013 he captured the Coors Light Pole Award at the age of 38 years, 8 months and 20 days.

    Qualifying well could be the determining factor for a victory at Kentucky. Three of the six (50 percent) Cup Series races have been won from the front row while five of the six races (83.3 percent) have been won from a top 10 starting position.

    Be sure to tune into the action this weekend as the racing intensifies in anticipation of the upcoming playoffs. The Quaker State 400 will be broadcast on NBCSN at 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday.

    In the meantime, check out the video below as Keselowski, low on fuel, holds off Carl Edwards to capture his third win at Kentucky Speedway.

    Follow @angiecampbell_ for the latest NASCAR news and feature stories.

  • When We Last Came to Kentucky

    When We Last Came to Kentucky

    SPARTA, Ky. — Last time NASCAR ventured into the Bluegrass State, carnage was the name of the game with the XFINITY Series. Erik Jones dominated the race, only to see his hopes dashed by a late race wreck, Ash Ketchum offered himself as a peace offering to a hoard of attacking Spearow and…okay, that last one was actually from the first episode of Pokémon, but needless to say, a lot happened.

    When all was said and done, Elliott Sadler stood victorious while dominant drivers of the night Jones and Ty Dillon were defeated by the same race-ending wreck. While Jones recovered from this setback and was among the championship four XFINITY drivers in last November’s Ford 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Dillon couldn’t recover and was knocked out in the first round.

    This 12-caution 13-car behind the wall standalone XFINITY Series race was arguably the most carnage-filled and chaotic of any race during the XFINITY Series playoffs last season.

    Carnage was the case with last July’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race, in which 10 of the 11 cautions were related to a wreck or spin. Surprisingly, mayhem wasn’t the case with last July’s XFINITY and Truck race.

    The number of wrecks we did see, however, shouldn’t come as a surprise, given that the track was completely resurfaced for the first time in its history in January of that year. You should expect more of the same this time around with the additional layer of asphalt laid down by the track last October.

    And when you ask drivers, like Jones, they’ll tell you it’s essentially a full repave.

    “It’s back to, you know, a full repave again essentially,” he said. “They came and they did the tire dragon before we got on track but it rained the entire first day so it washed it all off and then had to kind of run it back in, so it felt like Texas really – just a full repave. Hopefully with the trucks being out there all day yesterday, truck race tonight, XFINITY practice today, it’ll be pretty worked in for the Cup cars here tomorrow, but it’s still a whole new repave, a whole new deal again.”

  • NASCAR Racing Schedule for Kentucky

    NASCAR Racing Schedule for Kentucky

    The  Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, XFINITY Series and the Camping World Truck Series all travel to Kentucky Speedway this week. The on-track activity begins Wednesday with Truck Series Practice. Please check below for the complete schedule of events. All times are Eastern.

    Wednesday, July 5:

    On Track:
    3-4:25 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series Practice (Results)
    5-6:25 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series Final Practice (Results)

    Thursday, July 6:

    On Track:
    2- 2:55 p.m.: XFINITY Series Practice – CANCELED DUE TO RAIN
    4- 4:50 p.m.: XFINITY Series Second Practice – CANCELED DUE TO RAIN
    5 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series Keystone Light Pole Qualifying – FS1 – CANCELED DUE TO RAIN
    6- 6:50 p.m.: XFINITY Series Final Practice – NBCSN – POSTPONED
    7:30 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series Buckle Up in Your Truck 225 (150 laps, 225 miles) – FS1
    (Delayed approx. three hours due to rain) Results

    Press Conferences: (Watch live)
    1 p.m.: Erik Jones
    1:15 p.m.: William Byron, Cole Custer and Brendan Gaughan
    1:30 p.m.: Ben Rhodes
    Post-Camping World Truck Series press conference on NASCAR.com after race

    Garage Cam: (Watch live)
    1:30 p.m.: XFINITY Series

    Friday, July 7:

    On Track:
    8:30-9:55 a.m.: XFINITY Series Practice (Follow live) (Canada: TSN GO)
    10-11:55 a.m.: Cup Series Practice – NBC Sports App (Follow live) (Canada: TSN GO)
    1-2:25 p.m.: Cup Series Final Practice – NBCSN (Canada: TSN 2)
    4:30 p.m.: XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying – NBCSN (Canada: TSN GO)
    6:15 p.m.: Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, NBCSN (Canada: TSN 2)
    8 p.m.: XFINITY Series Alsco 300 (200 laps, 300 miles) – NBCSN (Canada: TSN 2) – POSTPONED TO SATURDAY

    Press Conferences: (Watch live)
    9:15 a.m.: Matt Kenseth
    12:20 p.m.: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
    3 p.m.: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
    3:30 p.m.: Quaker State
    7:30 p.m.: Post-Cup Series Qualifying
    11 p.m.: NASCAR.com – Post-XFINITY Series Race

    Garage Cam:  (Watch live)
    9:30 a.m.: Cup Series

    Saturday, July 8:

    On Track:
    Noon: XFINITY Series Alsco 300 (200 laps, 300 miles) – NBCSN (Canada: TSN 2)
    7:30 p.m.: Cup Series Quaker State 400 Presented by Advance Auto Parts (267 laps, 400.5 miles) – NBCSN
    11 p.m.: Cup Series Post-Race Show on NBCSN
    11:30 p.m.: NASCAR Victory Lap on NBCSN

    Press Conferences:  (Watch live)
    2:45 p.m.: Richard Petty
    11:30 p.m.: NASCAR.com – Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race

    Race Details:

    NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
    Race: Buckle Up in Your Truck 225
    Date: Thursday, July 6
    Time: 7:30 p.m. ET – Delayed approx. three hours due to rain
    TV: FS1
    Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
    Distance: 225 miles (150 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on lap 35), Stage 2 (Ends on lap 70), Final Stage (Ends on lap 150)

    NASCAR XFINITY Series
    Race: Alsco 300
    Date: Friday, July 7 – Postponed to Saturday
    Time: 8 p.m. ET
    TV: NBCSN
    Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
    Distance: 300 miles (200 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on lap 45), Stage 2 (Ends on lap 90), Final Stage (Ends on lap 200)

    Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
    Race: Quaker State 400 Presented by Advance Auto Parts
    Date: Saturday, July 8
    Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
    TV: NBCSN
    Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
    Distance: Stage 1 (Ends on lap 80), Stage 2 (Ends on lap 160), Final Stage (Ends on lap 267)

    Complete TV Schedule

    Follow @angiecampbell_ for the latest NASCAR news and feature stories.

     

  • Kyle Busch Fastest at Kentucky in Final Truck Practice

    Kyle Busch Fastest at Kentucky in Final Truck Practice

    SPARTA, Ky. — Kyle Busch topped the chart in final NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice at Kentucky Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 46 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota was the fastest with a time of 29.853 and a speed of 180.886 mph. Christopher Bell was second in his No. 4 KBM Toyota with a time of 29.869 and a speed of 180.867 mph. Kaz Grala was third in his No. 33 GMS Racing Chevrolet with a time of 29.886 and a speed of 180.687 mph. Matt Crafton was fourth in his No. 88 ThorSport Racing Toyota with a time of 29.897 and a speed of 180.620 mph. Johnny Sauter rounded out the top-five in his No. 21 GMS Chevrolet with a time of 29.902 and a speed of 180.590 mph.

    Brandon Jones, Austin Hill, Noah Gragson, Justin Haley and John Hunter Nemechek rounded out the top-10.

    Busch posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 178.896 mph.

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