1. Ryan Blaney: Blaney won Stage 2 and suffered a cut tire late in the final stage, which forced a pit stop and left him with a 19th-place finish.
“Alex Bowman whipped the field by almost nine seconds,” Blaney said. “So mine wasn’t even the biggest ‘blowout’ of the race.”
2. Joey Logano: Logano finished 12th in the Auto Club 400 at Fontana.
“It was cool to see Jimmie Johnson honored with the ‘5-Wide Salute,’” Logano said. “Maybe one day, I can receive that same appreciation. I kind of do now. However, my ‘5-Wide Salute’ is five people standing side-by-side giving me the ‘One-Finger Salute.’”
3. Kevin Harvick: Harvick came home ninth in a mostly uneventful Auto Club 400. He is fourth in the points standings, 12 out of first.
“My ‘Kyle Busch Bounty’ really has people talking about the Gander Truck Series,” Harvick said. “And it has people talking more about Kyle Busch, which is actually what I was trying to avoid.”
4. Alex Bowman: Bowman led 110 laps at Fontana and held off Kyle and Kurt Busch late to ease to victory in the Auto Club 400.
“I promised a friend I’d get an ’88’ tattoo if I won,” Bowman said. “I’m sure people will have a lot of questions when they see my tattoo, like, ‘Cool, are you’re a Dale, Jr. fan”‘”
5. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson started second and finished seventh at Fontana.
“I was honored with a ‘Five-Wide Salute’ during the warmup laps,” Johnson said. I’m really digging this farewell tour. I mean really digging it. It’s quite a turn-on actually. You could say I now have a ‘fete fetish.’”
6. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski finished fifth at Fontana, scoring his first top-five result of the season.
“Good news,” Keselowski said. “NASCAR is transitioning to single lug nut wheels in 2021. In hockey, that would be a ‘one-timer.’ In baseball, it’s a ‘single.’ In basketball, it’s a ‘one-and-done.’”
7. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin started at the back of the field and forged his way forward to finish sixth at Fontana, posting his second top-10 of the season.
“We started at the back because we pitted to change a shock absorber on the warmup laps,” Hamlin said. “Little did we know that the real shock ‘absorber’ would be Kyle Larson’s rear bumper.”
8. Chase Elliott: Elliott finished fourth at California, recording his first top-five of the season. He is sixth in the points standings, 17 out of first.
“I was just named brand ambassador for Hooters Spirits,” Elliott said. “In case you’re wondering, Hooters Spirits is not a haunted Hooter’s restaurant, where the waitresses might say ‘Boo(b)!’ It’s a line of Hooter’s alcoholic beverages. Look for them on shelves. Or better yet, look for them on racks.”
9. Matt DiBenedetto: DiBenedetto continued his strong start to the season, posting a 13th at Fontana, and is eighth in the points standings.
“You could say I’m ‘running with the big dogs,’” DiBenedetto said. “And as they say, ‘If you can’t run with the big dogs, stay off the porch.’ Well, I’m a big dog, and I’m gonna stay on that porch, and probably ‘leave my mark.’”
10. Kyle Busch: Busch finished second in the Auto Club 400, scoring his first top-five result after two lackluster efforts to begin the season.
“Alex Bowman beat me by almost nine seconds,” Busch said. “In racing, that’s an eternity. So, if you ask how badly I was beaten, I’ll tell you ‘from there to eternity.’
“As for bounties on me, I say ‘Bring ’em on.’ I don’t mind being the hunted, just as I don’t mind being the bad guy. I’m not here to be liked. You’ve heard of Formula 1, right? Well, for me, it’s not ‘F1,’ it’s ‘F everyone.’”
1. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin won the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas in a cut-off race that narrowed the field to eight drivers.
“Anytime it’s an elimination race,” Hamlin said, “things can get crazy. So, even though this race was sponsored by Hollywood Casino, ‘all bets were off.’”
2. Kyle Busch: Busch took third in the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas.
“This is the time of year when pressure builds,” Busch said. “That was evident in Saturday’s Xfinity race when Daniel Hemric and Cole Custer were involved in an altercation. Things got physical, and a little sexy, because the ‘fight’ was really just a very intense hug.”
3. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex finished sixth in the Hollywood Casino 400 and joins Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin in the Playoff Round of 8.
“It’s me, Denny, and Kyle,” Truex said. “Some people would call that ‘Two Men And A Baby.’”
4. Kevin Harvick: Inspection issues forced Harvick to start 40th but he worked his way through the field to post a ninth. He heads to Round 3 of the Playoffs in fifth, 18 out of first.
“I didn’t even get to qualify,” Harvick said. “But there’s something cool about starting at the back of the field. Starting at the ‘ass-end’ of the field, you get a true perspective of the ‘ass-end’ of talent in this series.”
5. Kyle Larson: Larson finished 14th in the Hollywood Casino 400 and is seventh in the Playoff points standings, 35 out of first.
“I had a run-in with the lapped car of Joey Gase,” Larson said. “He was in my way and I needed to be somewhere, so I moved him. It’s football season so I gave Joey the ‘punt, the pass, and the kick (to the curb).’”
6. Joey Logano: Logano survived a late accident and slide through the grass to finish 17th at Kansas and advanced to the Round of 8, where he’ll be the sole representative of Penske Racing.
“I feel like it’s me against the world,” Logano said. “So, I’m gonna go out there and be a ‘world beater.’ Unfortunately, no one will care, because the general opinion of me is a ‘world of indifference.’”
7. Chase Elliott: Elliott finished second at Kansas which was good enough to secure the final playoff spot.
“That was close,” Elliott said, “and I get the cigar. And, as the kids say, it was ‘lit.’”
8. Ryan Blaney: Blaney finished 21st at Kansas and heads to Martinsville eighth in the Playoff points standings.
“I’m last among the eight drivers in the Playoff field,” Blaney said. “I feel like I’m the forgotten driver in the Playoffs. But I very well could quietly sneak in and eliminate the rest of the field. Then you could call me ‘champion,’ and Kurt Busch could call me ‘assassin.’”
9. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski finished 18th at Kansas and narrowly missed advancing to the next round of the Playoffs.
“Had a late caution came out just a fraction of a second later,” Keselowski said, “I’d be in the Playoff field. But we all know NASCAR wanted that extra restart. I’d like a do-over because I have some ‘un-finish-ed’ business I’d like to take care of.”
10. William Byron: Byron finished fifth at Kansas and failed to make the Playoff Round of 8.
“You probably heard about the flock of birds flying into the NASCAR Hall Of Fame,” Byron said. “I guess they really wanted to get in. But come on birds, show some manners. Don’t you know, ‘Birds of a feather knock together.’”
It was an up and down day for Brad Keselowski and the No. 2 Team Penske team. Keselowski qualified 11th and led three laps before having to settle for a fifth-place finish. At one point, he had to pit after he locked up the tires in the front stretch chicane. With the help of late-race cautions, Keselowski rallied to a top-five finish and advances to the Round of 12.
“It was a pretty miserable day,” Keselowski said to PRN Radio in describing the conditions. “I joked with the boss on the radio, I’m not running black cars on a day like today. It is what it is, the red flag was pretty brutal. That’s part of being a racecar driver is dealing with that. The car was okay today, just made the most with what we had. The 9 car was just flying, no one could touch him all day. We did the best we could and got a decent finish out of it.”
Keselowski finished sixth in Stage 1 and second in Stage 2. He will be seeded seventh when the Round of 12 begins at Dover, 22 points behind Kyle Busch.
Kyle Larson had a decent day as well. He got lucky toward the end of Stage 1 passing William Byron before the caution came out to end the stage under yellow. Larson wound up winning the stage. He didn’t get a top-10 stage finish in the second stage but came home with a somewhat disappointing 13th place finish after being strong early.
“I felt like myself, William (Byron) were the next best,” Larson told PRN Radio. “We won the first stage then after that pit stop, I didn’t wait on them to pull tape and kind of drug the crew member out of the pit box. Got a penalty there, pretty stiff one and had to lose a lap. Got the lucky dog, thought we were going to be okay.”
“There at the end, we were on older tires, we had a slow stop because we had damage and couldn’t get the right front out. So ended up 13th, but felt like we could easily have been in the top three. Just disappointed with our finish to show how good our car was.”
Larson moves to the Round of 12 seeded eighth, 40 points behind Busch.
Brad Keselowski started on the pole heading into Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond. Keselowski swapped the lead a couple of times in the race. He led the first 53 laps before quietly running in the top five. The Team Penske driver took the lead again on Lap 246 and led for 36 laps during that stint.
However, those were the only times Keselowski would be up front. After leading 89 laps, he wound up finishing in fifth place. But, after the No. 20 of Erik Jones failed post-race inspection, the No. 2 driver was moved up in the running order and was credited with a fourth-place finish.
When asked about the dominance of the Joe Gibbs Racing cars, Keselowski said, “It’s definitely not good news. We’ve got work to do. They’re really strong and we’re not where we need to be to be able to beat them heads-up, but we threw everything we had at them. We put down a great qualifying lap, got the first pit stall, had great pit stops and got to the lead, but just didn’t have the raw speed to keep it.”
While admitting that their organization has some work to do, he was satisfied with what they were able to accomplish Saturday night at Richmond Raceway.
“We led eighty-some laps, so it’s not a bad day but just not nearly fast enough to dominate the race and win.”
“Yeah, we’re locked into the next round. That feels good. I’m proud of that effort.”
LAS VEGAS, NV — Martin Truex Jr. becomes the first driver to lock himself into the Round of 12 NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series Playoffs. The No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota wins at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the South Point 400.
It is his fifth win of the season, but it also came during a string of races with a combination of finishes. Since his last win at the road course of Sonoma Raceway, he has earned three top fives, but also four finishes of 15th position or worse.
“We took a gamble, qualified 24th,’’ said Truex, who led 32 laps. “For a while, it wasn’t looking too smart with the 4 (Harvick) out front. Got the right adjustments in the end. Had a great car all day long.
“Hell of a way to make a championship run. Get some good bonus points, move on to the next round, see what we can do there.’’
Kevin Harvick led 47 laps in total, but fell short in the closing laps to finish second.
“I knew the Gibbs cars would be tough,’’ the 2014 Cup champ said. “Martin was just so much better on the second half of the run. He made up that ground there, was able to stay close enough to us. My car started to get loose and push the front. It was just in kind of a four-wheel drift.
“We did some things this weekend that we probably will have to undo going forward. I think we can do a little bit better going forward.’’
Earlier in the race, Brad Keselowski appeared to have engine issues, with the No. 2 Ford team pulling the hood up to investigate internal issues with the racecar. Whether they were able to dodge a bullet or get diagnose the issue, the car seemed to run at full speed. He fell back as far as outside of the top 20 late in the race, but was able to charge his way through the field to finish third.
Chase Elliott was the highest finishing Chevrolet and finished fourth, leading 12 laps. Ryan Blaney rounded out the top five with his fifth place effort. The rest of the top 10 was filled with Playoff drivers: Alex Bowman, William Byron, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano and Ryan Newman respectively.
For Byron, it was his first Playoff race of his young career. However, his crew chief Chad Knaus has now been in every Playoff since its formation back in 2004.
“Survive the whole race and try to compete,” said Byron who finished a career-high at Vegas with a seventh place run. “I was really happy with that (finish). We have to be aggressive coming up. Richmond’s going to be a tough short track.”
Drivers got aggressive on the restarts, as many went three-wide into Turn 1. Photo courtesy of Rachel Schuoler for Speedway Media.
The rest of the Playoff drivers finished outside of the top 10. Aric Almirola led earlier in the race and stayed in the top 10 for most of the race, but finished 13th.
“The goal was to leave here in a decent in the points,” Almirola shared after the race. “We just gotta fight hard. Nobody’s going to give it to you. Every point matters, every stage matters.”
Denny Hamlin finished 15th, and Kyle Busch, with multiple issues throughout the race, wound up 19th. Busch hit the wall on Lap 4, and went two laps down early in the race. He was able to rally back to battle for a top five run until a collision with Garrett Smithley knocked the nose of the car and the splitter askew. The handling of the car seemed to be destroyed, and he fell back to finish a lap down.
Pole sitter Clint Bowyer fell back early and was not able to recover. The No. 14 Ford ended the event in the 25th position after leading just the opening lap. Erik Jones had transmission issues that put him behind the wall for 15 laps until the team could make repairs to the car. He finished 36th, 13 laps down. Kurt Busch hit the outside wall in Turn 3 after a left front flat tire caused from contact between him and Truex Jr. on a restart on Lap 185. He would finish in last place, the 39th position.
LOGANO SHOWING EARLY STRENGTH IN STAGE ONE
Logano started 22nd, but took over the race lead by Lap 34. Photo courtesy of Rachel Schuoler for Speedway Media.
As the green flag dropped, drivers were aggressive right out of the gate. While Bowyer was on pole for the first time in 12 years, Daniel Suarez took over the race lead over the next several laps after his Stewart Haas Racing teammate led the first lap. A couple drivers made quick climbs through the field, including non-Playoff driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who made his way up as high as third in the running order.
But the opening laps proved the drama of the Playoffs was alive and well. On Lap 4, Kyle Busch got loose in Turn 2 and hit the wall. The race stayed green, but he was forced to come down pit road a few laps later to replace a flat right rear tire. The crew spent a few extra seconds to pull sheet metal away to provide clearance for the new tires. He would eventually end up two laps down further into the stage.
Just passed halfway through Stage 1, Almirola took over the lead. However, that was short lived as Logano took over the race lead on Lap 34. He originally started in the 22nd position. During green flag pit stops, all drivers came for fuel and tires except for Michael McDowell, who wanted to stretch out his run as far as they could go. The driver of the No. 34 Ford eventually came down pit road, cycling the lead back to Logano who went on to win the stage.
PLAYOFF HOPES SCATTER FOR MANY DRIVERS IN STAGE TWO ONWARD
On the restart, Jones appeared to potentially miss a shift or have a mechanical issue with the transmission of his Toyota Camry as he was stuck in second gear. The crew diagnosed the issue behind the wall in the garage, and the Southern 500 winner was able to rejoin the race 15 laps down.
No one appeared to have any major issues during the second set of green flag pit stops, but Elliott had one of the biggest gains on pit road and found his way up to second in the later half of the stage. Truex was able to get around late in the run, but it Logano seemed to be the car to beat. Truex won Stage 2.
During the pit stops at the conclusion of the Stage 2, Larson received a safety violation penalty and was forced to restart at the tail end of the field. At the time, he had worked his way up into the third position. Front runners ran aggressive on the restart of the final stage. Byron made contact with a few drivers, and had a flat tire to spin on the exit of Turn 4. No contact with the wall was made, so he was able to continue but the yellow flag did fly. Teammate Elliott saw him on pit road as his crew replaced the tires, and backed off to allow him to stay on the lead lap.
Logano, Harvick and Elliott (outside to inside) battle for second behind race leader and eventual race winner Truex. Photo courtesy of Rachel Schuoler for Speedway Media.
Cars were four-wide during the restart. Contact between Truex and Kurt Busch caused the No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro to have a tire rub on the left front. The team went back on forth on if they should come down pit road, but the decision was just a lap too late. His left front tire gave way down the backstretch, and the 2004 champion was not able to get the car slowed in time. He hit the outside wall in Turn 3, and came to rest at the entrance to pit road. He would be the first car out of the race and finish in last place.
With 50 laps to go, Harvick led over Truex and Keselowski. The Team Penske driver had the hood up earlier in the race on pit road as the team was diagnosing strange performance issues, but they were able to resolve those and fight their way into the top three. The other big mover was Kyle Busch, who moved into the top 10 for the first time in the day.
In the closing laps, a few drivers decided to stretch their run as far as they could. Unlike Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race where fuel mileage played a potential role, it was definitely too far for their cars to go in one run. Two drivers included Byron and Larson stayed on track to see if a caution would get them in a strong position. At this point, all other Playoff drivers were a lap down according to scoring.
It was not meant to be. The race stayed green, and the rest of the field was forced to pit. Harvick was able to regain the lead, but Truex was able to fight his way around and take over the lead on Lap 248.
As Kyle Busch climbed his way to start battling for the top five, he chose the middle lane when battling with Elliott and Bowman. Smithley however was in the middle lane running slower than Busch expected. The No. 18 Toyota slammed into the rear of the lapped car, caving in the nose and tweaking the splitter on the right front. Busch fell far off pace to finish in 19th, one lap down.
Out front, Truex led the remaining 20 laps to win his fifth race of the season. The victory secures his spot into the next round. The Cup series will compete next at Richmond Raceway as the Round of 16 continues.
With just two laps left in Stage 1, a violent wreck occurred involving Erik Jones and Brad Keselowski off Turn 2. The No. 20 and the No. 2 made contact with each other, with Jones hitting the wall as Keselowski went sliding down the track, making hard contact with the tire barrier. Keselowski’s car was sideways on the barrier. Both drivers walked away.
“Yeah, I’m good, I just got loose under Brad, the Toyota Camry was fast, I was trying to make up a spot before the stage end,” Jones explained to PRN Radio. “The 18 (Kyle Busch) got by and tried to follow him through, I just didn’t expect Brad to come down so much. Just drove in too hard and didn’t anticipate enough. Hate it for our guys, and for Brad, ruined both of our days. Both had fast cars, capable of battling up front and just didn’t work out. Get it out of the way this week, I guess and go on to Vegas next week and try to get our Playoffs started on the right foot.”
Keselowski was able to walk away from the incident unscathed.
“We were all racing there, some on tires and some not on tires,” Keselowski described to PRN Radio. “I couldn’t get by the guys on new tires in front of me, so I checked up, lost the nose and a couple of cars got underneath me and got down into Turn 2 and nobody had any air. We all just kind of lost there and wrecked. Next thing you know, we’re all in the fence and I found the one spot on the track with maybe the worst angle of the wall you could possibly have at a track like this and hit it. It was a pretty good lick, but we’re alright and we’ll move on to next week.”
DARLINGTON, S.C. – The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is at Darlington Raceway this weekend as the Playoffs swiftly approach. There are only two races left in the regular season.
Kyle Larson is currently 11th in the
playoff standings with no wins and only 2 stage points. He is 76 points above
the cutoff but needs a victory to solidify his position in the Playoffs. Larson
has a driver rating of 108.1, the second-best driver rating at Darlington. In
five starts, he has two top-fives, four top 10s and an average finish of 7.6.
Friday, Larson described the allure of
the historic track.
“This is one of my favorite tracks, probably in the top three of my favorites,” Larson said. “I enjoy coming here. This track, more than the rest of them, when you drive into this place you feel like you are at a race track. I know it is throwback weekend, but even before all that, I always got that vibe that this felt like a race track.
“It has fairly small stands for how big this place is. The painted walls, the campgrounds and everything just feels like a grassroots kind of track. The surface is really worn out, the style of racing here is intense, so it suits me and I really enjoy it.”
Brad Keselowski is locked into the Playoffs with three wins. He is
also the defending Southern 500 winner. Keselowski spoke about the challenges
and rewards of competing at such a demanding track.
Photo by Tim Jarrold for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“I love coming here. It’s always been one of my favorite race tracks,” he said, echoing Larson’s sentiment. “I love the challenge. I love running up against the wall. I’m not always a big fan of the heat but I do like that it’s a very demanding track. It makes you feel like a race car driver.
“It makes you feel like you’re on the edge and it makes me really kind of appreciate my job. All the race tracks have their challenges, but this one just has so many and it’s so unforgiving. If you mess up just a little bit, you’re in the wall and your day is ruined. I appreciate that. It demands that to be successful you drive aggressively, but also that you not make any mistakes. That’s pretty cool to me.”
The BoJangles’ Southern 500 is set for Sunday evening at 6 p.m. ET on NBCSN. The regular season will conclude next week at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Follow @angiecampbell_ for the latest NASCAR news and feature stories.
Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Discount Tire Team Penske Ford, won the pole on Friday afternoon at Michigan International Speedway with a time of 37.80 seconds at 190.471 mph. This was the 16th pole of his career and his second at Michigan.
“We will find out as we go through race trim practice, but for right now, we’re going to celebrate and enjoy being the fastest car in qualifying,” Keselowski said to MRN Radio. “Really proud of our team here, our Discount Tire Ford Mustang. We unloaded so fast and made good adjustments to keep up with the changes in the track.”
“Of course everyone else was getting faster. Good start, so let’s keep it up.”
The top spot was traded many different times with Chevrolet holding the top spots before the Fords got on track and took the first two positions.
The other Ford driver was Kevin Harvick who held the pole briefly before Keselowski took it. Harvick qualified second with a time of 37.87.
“Yeah, it’s a good day for No. 4 Ford Mustang,” Harvick told MRN Radio. “I think track position is important everywhere we go. Coming to Michigan, it’s more important. That’s a good start to the weekend.”
Keselowski also noted whether or not track position will be needed for Sunday’s race.
“I’m not sure if track position will be quite as important as it was here in the spring,” Keselowski added. “You know, they put the PJ1 down and all that, I’m not complaining.”
Speaking of track position, the winners have come from various starting spots here in the past five races. Joey Logano won from the pole in June, Harvick won from the pole last August, Clint Bowyer won from 12th in June of 2018, Kyle Larson won from ninth in August of 2017 and first in June of 2017.
Keselowski was second fastest in pre-qualifying practice with a similar time of 37.90.
All cars had tech inspection after practice and no drivers had any issues getting through inspection, therefore the lineup will be official. However, there will be another round for tech inspection on Sunday morning. Should a driver fail more than two times, they will be sent to the back of the field.
Drivers will get to practice in race trim mode on Saturday as they have two more practice sessions. The second practice is slated for 8:35 a.m. ET live on CNBC and final practice will be at 11:30 a.m. ET live on the NBC Sports App.
Please note: The qualifying times of Richard Childress Racing’s No. 3 of Austin Dillon and the No. 8 of Daniel Hemric were disallowed due to having unapproved alternators. As a result of the L1 infraction, Dillon and Hemric will lose 10 driver points and 10 owner points will be deducted as well. Each crew chief will also face a $25,000 fine. Dillon originally qualified seventh and Hemric was 11th but they will now start from the back of the field.
1. Kyle Busch: Busch started second in the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 and finished eighth, despite a brush with the wall in the final stage.
“I’ve had lots of experience with walls,” Busch said. “So have people who tried to interview me when I was a young punk.”
2. Joey Logano: Logano finished ninth at New Hampshire and leads the Monster Energy Cup points standings by three over Kyle Busch.
“I was just happy to get through the race without suffering from heat exhaustion,” Logano said. “Who’s not at risk of suffering from ‘heat’ exhaustion? NASCAR fans, that’s who. There is not ‘heat,’ also known as ‘rivalries,’ between drivers. And don’t tell me Clint Bowyer vs. Ryan Newman is a feud. It’s not. Newman has a notoriously hard head, and he was wearing a helmet, so he still doesn’t believe that Bowyer actually punched him.”
3. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex finished sixth in the Foxwoods Resorts Casino 301.
“It was the hottest race ever in New Hampshire,” Truex said. “And it sucked. Some of the younger drivers said it was ‘hot AF.’ I’m not exactly sure what that means, but I’m fairly sure it’s the exact opposite of ‘Cold AC.’”
4. Kevin Harvick: Harvick held off Denny Hamlin on the final turn to win at New Hampshire, his second consecutive win at the ‘Magic Mile’ and first victory since Texas in November.
“Finally!” Harvick said. “I’ve got a win. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off me. This freedom must feel like what mini-Kevin Harvick feels like when he strips down to his boxers and a T-shirt.”
5. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin wrecked in Friday practice and almost took the victory at New Hampshire in a backup car, finishing second to Kevin Harvick.
“Wrecks in practice are a sure-fire way to ruin a weekend,” Hamlin said. “Just ask my crew.
“But what about that weather? It was hot. It hovered around 100 degrees, and inside the car, it was even worse. I think Fed Ex should take advantage of this in a promotional sense and offer a new delivery package called the hot box’ for discreet deliveries.”
6. Kurt Busch: Busch finished 18th at New Hampshire.
“The Kevin Harvick-Denny Hamlin duel at the end had a lot in common with me and my brother Kyle’s battle at Kentucky,” Busch said. “The biggest similarity is that in both cases, the drivers involved really do not like each other.”
7. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski started on the pole and finished 10th.
“It’s good that Stewart-Haas Racing finally has a win,” Keselowski said. “With one word, Kevin Harvick silenced his critics and gave a shout out to one of his sponsors. He said, ‘Bu-schhhhhhhhhhhhhh.’”
8. Chase Elliott: Elliott suffered from mechanical issues and finished 29th at New Hampshire.
“It was a tough day for Hendrick Motorsports,” Elliot said. “We didn’t even have a car finish in the top 10. Plus we went through way too many cars. But I trust this organization’s resiliency. So, trust me when I say we’ll be ‘back up‘ next week.”
9. Ryan Blaney: Blaney posted his sixth top five of the year with a fourth at New Hampshire.
“Some guy named Andy Suess made his Cup debut in the No. 51 car for Rick Ware Racing,” Larson said. “And no, he does not drive for ‘The Cat In The Hat’ Jack Roush.”
10. Aric Almirola: Almirola finished 11th at New Hampshire and is ninth in the points standings.
“What a drive by Kevin Harvick,” Almirola said. “He faced a huge amount of pressure from Denny Hamlin, yet Harvick remained calm and held him off. Considering the weather, Kevin picked the perfect day to have ‘ice water in his veins.’”
1. Kyle Busch: Busch finished second at Kentucky to older brother Kurt after a dramatic and spirited two-lap battle for the win.
“What a finish!” Busch said. “I think all the fans were on their feet, which is surprising because in most cases when you mention the Busch brothers, the words ‘can’t stand’ are used.”
2. Joey Logano: Logano led with two laps remaining but was shuffled back on the final restart and finished seventh.
“If not for that final caution,” Logano said, “I would have won easily. So thanks Bubba Wallace for ruining my night. It may be the first time the No. 43 STP car has actually impacted a race since Richard Petty retired.”
3. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex finished 19th in the Quaker State 400, his night hindered by a late pit road speeding penalty.
“Sure I’m disappointed,” Truex said, “but I got to witness one of the greatest finishes in NASCAR history. As duels go, I don’t think Kurt and Kyle Busch can top this unless they used real guns. If Kurt lost, he would finally be right about one thing–he knew an assassin.”
4. Kurt Busch: Busch made a move from third on the final restart at Kentucky, and held off younger brother Kyle to win his first race of the season.
“I don’t feel bad for my brother,” Kurt Busch said. “He’s already got four wins this year; he can spare a loss to his brother. I hope it humbles him to see me in Victory Lane. As they say, ‘Little brother is watching.’”
5. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski finished 20th at Kentucky, one lap down.
“I’m disappointed,” Keselowski said, “but I was thrilled to see such an exciting race. The race had nearly everything, although it lacked a driver taking another driver’s hat off and tossing it to the ground. I hope Clint Bowyer’s paying attention because if you’re going to do something to another driver, you should remember to take their hat off first.”
6. Chase Elliott: Elliott suffered an early flat tire and fell a lap down, but worked his way back through the field to salvage a 15th-place finish.
“One week ago,” Elliott said, “the No. 77 car won at Daytona with Justin Haley behind the wheel. At Kentucky, some person named ‘Quin Houff’ drove the 77 and finished 34th, eight laps down. What’s my point? The closest Quin Houff will ever get to being Justin Haley is only by listening to Metallica’s ‘Ride The Lightning’ album.”
7. Kevin Harvick: Harvick came home 22nd in the Quaker State 400.
“The No. 4 Ford sported the Hunt Brothers Pizza paint scheme,” Harvick said. “But my car just wasn’t up to par. If my car’s performance was pizza, it would be the kind of pizza served in convenience stores.”
8. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin stormed back from an uncontrolled tire penalty to post a fifth at Kentucky, as Joe Gibbs Racing placed three cars in the top five.
“Erik Jones could have easily won that race,” Hamlin said. “He had a front-row seat for the Kurt Busch-Kyle Busch battle. If they wreck, Erik wins. So, no one wanted to see the Busch’s wreck more than Erik. But let me be clear: everyone wanted to see them wreck; just none more than Erik.”
9. Alex Bowman: Alex Bowman finished 17th at Kentucky and is ninth in the Monster Energy Cup points standings, 192 out of first.
“My Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron had a good shot at the win,” Bowman said, “but he jumped a restart and had to serve a stop-and-go penalty. Apparently, he got duped by Clint Bowyer. But really, does Bowyer actually know when or when not to ‘punch it?’”
10. Kyle Larson: Larson finished fourth in the Quaker State 400.
“Chris Buescher’s JTG Daugherty Chevrolet was sponsored by Planters Peanuts,” Larson said. “So you may have seen their mascot, Mr. Peanut, at Kentucky Speedway in the pits. That’s unusual because, at most NASCAR races, those without pants are usually in the infield.”
