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Keselowski Survives Carnage and Fuel Scare to Win at Kentucky

SPARTA, Ky. — Not only did Brad Keselowski endure carnage, but he also saved enough fuel to hold off a charging Carl Edwards, make the finish and score the victory in the Bluegrass State.

When asked how he saved fuel in the end, he said he “almost didn’t, but I’ve got to give credit to my guys, the Roush Yates Engine shop, and everybody at Ford. We knew the fuel mileage. We went out and we set a really fast pace there on that restart and was just using fuel, and then it became obvious that you were gonna have to save fuel at the end, but I already used so much. It’s a testament to our guys to have the fuel mileage that we did to be able to get back what I burnt early in the run and get the Miller Lite Ford in Victory Lane. It’s number four this year. Gosh, that’s great. Usually these repaves are kind of my Achilles heel, but to get a win here at Kentucky. I know it’s been a good track for us in the past, but this isn’t the same Kentucky, I can tell you that. These cars were tough to drive today, but a good tough. This was a hard-fought battle and I’m really proud of everybody on the 2 crew to get win number four and take that first place.”

It’s the 21st career victory in 251 Sprint Cup Series starts, fourth of the 2016 season and 12th top-10 finish of the season as well as his third win and fifth top-10 finish in six races at Kentucky Speedway for the driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford.

Edwards posted his 12th top-10 finish of 2016 and third top-10 at Kentucky in six races with a runner-up finish in his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

“I thought I had him, too,” Edwards said of trying to get by Keselowski on the final lap. “He played it perfectly and he did it – he won at the absolute slowest possible speed he could. I thought he was out of fuel and that was that. I just appreciate the crowd coming out here, it’s always neat to come to Kentucky. It’s the site of my first win 13 years ago and it’s a special place…That’s a tough one to be that close. We were getting such good fuel mileage with our TRD (Toyota Racing Development) engine, I think we might have had a little extra there. That’s going to be the hard part, going to bed knowing you could have gone a little faster.”

Ryan Newman rounded out the podium in his No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

“We had a good car,” Newman said of his race. “We really struggled, like most people did in dirty air. Track position was definitely key, but I’m proud of these guys on the Caterpillar Chevrolet; all the ECR guys, they obviously did a good job on the fuel mileage to make that happen. I think all us drivers that made it, knew what we were doing, it’s just a matter of it we thought we were as good as we were. And, I could have used this iced cold Coke about 30 laps from the end. I’m just proud of the guys. It’s our first Top-5 of the year, but we’ll keep digging.”

Kurt Busch, who started from the rear in a backup car, led 10 laps on his way to a fourth-place finish in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet. His fourth-place finish gives him a top-five finish at every track on the NASCAR schedule.

“That is a nice feather in the cap,” Busch said of the significance of the milestone. “It’s special to have raced for good teams over the years to give me winning cars. Top five’s are special everywhere. As a driver it feels like you got something at each of the places to be competitive, give to the team, to give feedback and then the team can give better feedback to me on how we can win. Today, we persevered. I have never seen such an effort from everybody to dig deep and to just be back on their heels the whole time and just start to lean forward, lean forward and then right at the end to turn into fuel mileage and our car just came to us at the end. It was a perfect day for us to get a top five. We had to sweat it all weekend.”

Tony Stewart rounded out the top-10 in his No. 14 SHR Chevrolet.

Greg Biffle finished sixth in his No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford. Jamie McMurray finished seventh in his No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. Matt Kenseth led two laps on his way to an eighth-place finish in his No. 20 JGR Toyota, preserving his status as the only driver to finish in the top-10 in every Sprint Cup Series race held at Kentucky.

“We were three laps short, exactly if the calculations were right,” Kenseth said of fuel mileage concerns. “It was unfortunate tonight. We ran well tonight with our Dollar General Camry, its’ the best we ran in two months really. I thought we had a top-three to a top-five car. Throughout the night we just didn’t get good fuel mileage.”

Kevin Harvick led 128 laps, the most of any driver, on his way to a ninth-place finish in his No. 4 SHR Chevrolet. Martin Truex Jr. led 46 laps and overcame a pass-through penalty to round out the top-10 in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota.

Austin Dillon, who led one lap, finished 16th. Danica Patrick, who led two laps, finished 17th. David Ragan, who led two laps, finished 22nd. Ty Dillon led one lap and finished 25th.

Sixteen cars finished the race on the lead lap and 32 were running at the finish. Eight cars failed to finish the race via accident.

The race lasted three hours, six minutes and 55 seconds at an average speed of 128.580 mph. There were 16 lead changes among nine different drivers and 11 cautions for 53 laps.

Harvick leaves Kentucky with a four-point lead over Keselowski in the drivers’ championship standings.

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July 9, 2016
Edwards Fastest in Final Sprint Cup Practice at Kentucky

SPARTA, Ky. — Carl Edwards topped the chart in final Sprint Cup Series practice at Kentucky Speedway.

The driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 28.808 and a speed of 187.448 mph. Martin Truex Jr. was second in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota with a time of 28.950 and a speed of 186.528 mph. Kyle Larson was third in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet with a time of 28.972 and a speed of 186.387 mph. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was fourth in his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 29.018 and a speed of 186.091 mph. Kyle Busch rounded out the top-five in his No. 18 JGR Toyota with a time of 29.034 and a speed of 185.989 mph.

Kevin Harvick was sixth in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet. Austin Dillon was seventh in his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. AJ Allmendinger was eighth in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet. Brad Keselowski was ninth in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford. Ryan Blaney rounded out the top-10 in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford.

Larson posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 183.629 mph.

All that remains for the Sprint Cup Series is to run the Quaker State 400 Saturday evening.

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July 8, 2016
Edwards Fastest in Third Sprint Cup Practice at Kentucky

SPARTA, Ky. — Carl Edwards topped the chart in third Sprint Cup Series practice at Kentucky Speedway Friday.

The driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was the fastest in the third practice session with a time of 28.627 and a speed of 188.633 mph. Martin Truex Jr. was second in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota with a time of 28.758 and a speed of 187.774 mph. Kyle Larson was third in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet with a time of 28.802 and a speed of 187.487 mph. Kyle Busch was fourth in his No. 18 JGR Toyota with a time of 28.858 and a speed of 187.123 mph. Austin Dillon rounded out the top-five in his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet with a time of 28.862 and a speed of 187.097 mph.

Denny Hamlin was sixth in his No. 11 JGR Toyota. Matt Kenseth was seventh in his No. 20 JGR Toyota. Jimmie Johnson was eighth in his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. AJ Allmendinger was ninth in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet. Kurt Busch rounded out the top-10 in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet.

Larson posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 185.468 mph. Hamlin was second at an average speed of 184.597 mph.

The Sprint Cup cars are back on track this evening at 6:30 p.m. for final practice.

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July 8, 2016
Hamlin Fastest at Kentucky in Second Sprint Cup Practice

SPARTA, Ky. — Denny Hamlin topped the chart in the rain-shortened second Sprint Cup Series practice at Kentucky Speedway.

The driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 28.680 and a speed of 188.285 mph. Jimmie Johnson was second in his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 28.705 and a speed of 188.121 mph. Kevin Harvick was third in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet with a time of 28.710 and a speed of 188.088 mph. Ty Dillon was fourth in his No. 95 Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet with a time of 28.717 and a speed of 188.042 mph. Kyle Larson rounded out the top-five in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet with a time of 28.729 and a speed of 187.963 mph.

Chase Elliott was sixth in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Jamie McMurray was seventh in his No. 1 CGR Chevrolet. Kurt Busch was eighth in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet. Carl Edwards was ninth in his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. rounded out the top-five in his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford.

Johnson posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 186.517 mph.

Johnson hit the wall exiting Turn 4 in what would be the closing minutes of the segment and switched to his backup car.

Before the weather, Jimmie Johnson ran into some trouble.

➡️ https://t.co/eFD0HpZ96L pic.twitter.com/LBpqBygZsO

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 8, 2016

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July 8, 2016
Drivers Expect Lower Downforce Package Race to be Similar to Michigan

SPARTA, Ky. — Despite the unknowns going into this weekend in the Bluegrass State, drivers say this weekend’s race will be similar to Michigan.

During media availabilities yesterday at Kentucky Speedway, three drivers were asked how they feel the lower downforce package will affect the racing we’ll see in the Quaker State 400. A common response was that it will be similar to what we saw in last month’s FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

“I don’t know if it will have a different affect here than it has everywhere else, concerning the repave,” Keselowski said in his availability. “In general, the cars at Michigan were really, really loose behind someone. I would expect that to be the same and I would expect turns three and four to really, really be a challenge because it’s such a finesse corner already. Then you add the lower downforce package to it and it’s really gonna be a hold-onto-your-butt corner.”

He added that he’s “not sure I can fully answer that until the race is over. Hindsight is a lot better vision.”

Asked the same question during his availability, Austin Dillon said he thinks “you will see similar racing that you saw at Michigan. I think getting underneath a car is going to be the hardest part. I think you will be able to run closer to guys, but exit off the corner will be tough. Carrying speed off of Turn 4 is going to be tough like Brad was saying. Entering (Turns) 3 and 4 will be a challenge and then exiting beside somebody. But, with all the grip I think it will be very similar to any package that is out there because you have a lot of grip right now. Hopefully, it does present some passing lanes as we move throughout the weekend and create a strong race for us.”

Carl Edwards said “It’s really hard to tell. We talked about this at Daytona. The lower downforce package, if you go from where we were a year ago to where we are now with what they call the 2016 package, it’s been a marked improvement and that much better. We’ve been able to race better and the passing. I believe the lower downforce package is another step in the right direction. It’s tough to be able to determine that at Michigan, or here at Kentucky with a new surface – it’s really hard to get a guess of how that package will race at a place like Texas or maybe Phoenix or Homestead. I really believe we are going in the right direction.”

He also added that the idea of trying the lower downforce package at a track with a more abrasive surface like Darlington has “been brought up and the biggest thing is the drivers, NASCAR, team owners all have to agree – ‘Hey we feel okay trying this here.’”

“The only worry, and I think everyone, drivers, NASCAR, everybody worries that it’s going to be hard to determine how it would work at a place like Darlington or Texas or Homestead where there’s a little bit different grip level,” Edwards added. “Heck, we’re moving in the right direction. We’re trying these things that were on our wish lists a couple of years ago. If you go out there and look at the size of that spoiler and splitter, this is the stuff we were all as a group begging for. I just really appreciate NASCAR doing it. It’s only going to get better.”

July 8, 2016
Edwards Fastest in First Cup Practice at Kentucky

SPARTA, Ky. — Carl Edwards topped the chart in first Sprint Cup Series practice at Kentucky Speedway.

The driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 28.962 and a speed of 186.451 mph. Kyle Busch was second in his No. 18 JGR Toyota with a time of 29.004 and a speed of 186.181 mph. Martin Truex Jr. was third in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota with a time of 29.155 and a speed of 185.217 mph. Denny Hamlin was fourth in his No. 11 JGR Toyota with a time of 29.176 and a speed of 185.084 mph. Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top-five in his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 29.191 and a speed of 184.989 mph.

Austin Dillon was sixth in his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was seventh in his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford. Chris Buescher was eighth in his No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford. Chase Elliott was ninth in his No. 24 HMS Chevrolet. Greg Biffle rounded out the top-10 in his No. 16 RFR Ford.

Johnson posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 181.441 mph. Elliott was second at an average speed of 180.897 mph.

The Sprint Cup Series is back on track Friday at 11 a.m. for their second practice.

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July 7, 2016
Changes Coming to Aero Package for Michigan and Kentucky

CONCORD, N.C. — NASCAR will test changes for the 2017 aero package in two races this season in their continuing effort to remove downforce from the cars and improve competition.

NASCAR announced Thursday that modifications to the aerodynamic package will be implemented for the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway and the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway. These are designed to further reduce the amount of downforce the cars generate and lead to more improvement in the on-track product across the board in the Sprint Cup Series.

“I think we look at it as a never-ending journey; if we can improve we’re going to do that,” Steve O’Donnell, executive vice president and chief racing development officer, said of continuing to make adjustments. “We wanted to go the direction of low downforce, see how that worked, not kind of go all the way in and hope that we are directionally right. And we are seeing that play out. We’ve seen some great racing at the beginning of the year.

“But we also knew that we had some more levers that we could pull if the direction kind of proved out, so we’ve tried some of those things. We’ve tested it and what we’ve also wanted to do is lower some of the corner speeds to allow for even more passing. That was one of the areas where we’ve seen minimal change, but there are some levers we can pull to really drive that down.”

The changes include reducing the spoiler size from 3.5 to 2.5 inches, a two-inch reduction of the splitter and resizing the deck fin.

These are in addition to the changes already implemented in the past few weeks such as welding the truck arm mounts and reducing the number of brake fans the cars can run.

“We have worked collectively on some directions we want to go in, but to do that right we think the final step is to let that play out on one or two tracks,” O’Donnell said. “And these are the two — Kentucky and Michigan — that we’ve played out and let the teams concentrate really on what they’ve done to prepare for the year. We think that’s manageable and that’ll give us enough data to look at for 2017.”

This follows a trend NASCAR started last year where they tested the lower-downforce package currently being used at Kentucky and Darlington Raceway. Both races received rave reviews from drivers, media and fans.

May 26, 2016
Surprising and Not Surprising: Kentucky Quaker State 400

After dealing with inclement weather, qualifying cancellation due to rain, weepers on the track and a new aero package, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the Quaker State 400 Presented by Advance Auto Parts at Kentucky Speedway.

Surprising: The Chase season has not even officially started, yet one driver has already secured his spot, at least mathematically.

Last year’s champ Kevin Harvick has clinched his place in the Chase to pursue a back to backer after his eighth-place finish at Kentucky.

“I’m really proud of everyone on our Budweiser/Jimmy John’s team for the work they did this weekend getting ready for this new package,” Harvick said after scoring his third top-10 in five career Sprint Cup starts at Kentucky and his 16th top-10 this season.

“We were definitely sliding around more often on restarts, but as you got going the cars just kind of got spread out and I thought the gaps were a little bit bigger. Definitely a lot of information to take away from this and looking forward to Indy in a couple of weeks to see what we take away from there.”

And with his multiple wins, all the driver of the No. 4 Budweiser/Jimmy John’s Chevrolet has to do is start the remainder of the races to ensure that he will compete once again for the Cup.

Not Surprising: Although many drivers are still focusing on getting that elusive win to qualify for the Chase for NASCAR’s championship, at least one driver is points racing to the max, pedaling as hard as he possibly can to earn his chance at the prize.

“That right there is what we have to do,” Kyle Busch said about points racing from Victory Lane, winning his second race of the season after being out due to significant injuries to his leg and foot sustained early in the race year. “Just to score as many points as we possibly can and score those wins, that’s what’s going to get us where we need to be.

“We led the most laps and we won the race so that’s all you can score. We’ll just continue to push on and drive and try to strive through our deficit and get ourselves in position to be in the top-30.”

With the two wins, Busch just has to continue to inch his way forward in the point standings, as he did after this race, moving two spots to where he currently sits in the 35th position.

Surprising: In spite of men down in the pits, with both Brad Keselowski and Jeff Gordon having contact with pit crew members during difficult stops, the teams and drivers impacted manned up to score top-10 finishes for Team Penske and Hendrick Motorsports respectively.

“Yeah, he was about to be road kill for a second,” Keselowski, who rebounded to finish sixth in his No. 2 Miller Lite Ford after nearly running over his tire carrier, said after the race. “I’m glad he wasn’t.”

“As usual in Kentucky it is never easy,” Gordon said after finishing seventh in his No. 24 AARP Member Advantages Chevrolet. “The team did a really good job. We had to fight through a few handling issues and some restarts and pit road and a bunch of things, but there at the end everything kind of came together.

“We got the car working really well, got a couple of good restarts and a good pit stop. It was a solid evening. It wasn’t a winning evening, but I’m still real proud of the effort.”

Not Surprising: At race end, it almost seemed like Avis should have been sponsoring the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford of Joey Logano, who scored a number two finishing spot.

“We tried,” Logano said. “We cleared the 11 on the restart, which got us clean air and I thought we were in good shape. And then as tires started wearing the 18 was really good on the long run and he figured out the top before me.”

“That’s the advantage you have as the second-place guy is you can go up there and play around more. I was just trying to keep the gap, so I didn’t want to take the penalty of losing three or four laps trying to figure out the top and he would have been closer, but he figured it out before me and got around me.”

“We raced the heck out of each other, I tried hard, but I figured it out too late. Second always hurts.”

Surprising: Trevor Bayne seems to be on a roll after a dismal start to the season, finishing 13th in his No. 7 AdvoCare Ford at Kentucky, after a top-ten finish the week before at Daytona.

“We had a better car than 13th, believe it or not, and we just got beat with some pit strategy there a couple of times,” Bayne said. “A couple got by us with tires and the 41 had four tires, the 48, 24 – we ran that whole last bit on two tires for a long time, so I was glad we could hang on to what we did.”

“It’s just fun to be able to race and make changes on our car and go for it. We ran in the top 10 most of the night. We’re making gains and we’ve got to keep rolling with it.”

“Yeah, it’s going the right way. It wasn’t just a fluke to finish in the top 10 just once. We’re proving that we can be there every week and that’s what we have to do.”

Bayne also is on a roll off the track, announcing to the world via Twitter that he and his wife are expecting a girl, #elliekatebayne.

Not Surprising: Carl Edwards had the most entertaining words to share on his in-car radio, saying that his Minions, who were on his car to promote the new Minion movie debut, were ‘no match’ for those M&Ms, referring to race winner Kyle Busch’s car sponsor.

Edwards finished fourth in his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Minion Toyota.

“Just an awesome race – I can’t thank Comcast XFINITY enough for having the Minions on board along with ARRIS, Stanley, Toyota, TRD (Toyota Racing Development), Subway,” Edwards said. “It was an awesome show. Just an awesome, fun day and I’m glad Kyle (Busch) got the win.”

Surprising: In spite of the dust-up with Danica Patrick due to brake issues and the bumps and colorful words that followed, Dale Earnhardt Jr. put it all in surprising perspective, paying tribute to his No. 88 Nationwide team via Twitter after the race.

“Thanks for all the @nationwide88 guys working hard to try and fix our brake issues. Working on 1000 degree parts takes a lot of courage.”

Earnhardt Jr. finished 21st, while Patrick finished an even more disappointing 34th. Both drivers dropped two spots in the point standings, with Jr. falling to fourth and Danica falling to 22nd.

Not Surprising: Denny Hamlin might just be the poster boy for the new rules package, rebounding to finish third in his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota.

“What a fun race,” Hamlin said enthusiastically after the race. “For us to be able to come back from two laps down and really pass a ton of cars, that’s just encouraging to me that we’ve finally got something that we can really work on and pass guys when your balance is better.”

Surprising: For Martin Truex Jr., the glass was half full and then half empty, running in the top five to top-ten for the first half of his race, but then falling off after damage to the car for a 17th place finish.

“We had too many issues to overcome in the second half of the race,” Truex said. “We had problems with handling — the car kept on plowing through the corners, especially after taking a few hits to the right front. I gave it all I had, but when the car is aerodynamically handicapped it’s difficult to make anything happen.”

“The good news is that we ran up front for plenty of laps and the bad news is that we didn’t stay up front. If we ran the entire race where we finished I would be much more disappointed. But for at least half the race we were up front.”

Not Surprising: At a track that is grueling, bumpy and with drivers having limited practice time, it was no surprise that the rookies did not fare well. Brett Moffitt was the highest finishing rookie in the 32nd spot, with Alex Kennedy, Jeb Burton and Matt DiBenedetto finishing 40th, 41st and 42nd respectively.

NASCAR next heads to the northeast for the New Hampshire 301 on Sunday, July 19 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon.

July 13, 2015
Surprising and Not Surprising: Kentucky Quaker State 400

With a surprising Sunday afternoon race thanks to Mother Nature on Saturday night, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the 3^rd Annual Quaker State 400 presented by Advance Auto Parts at Kentucky Speedway.

Surprising: Although five-time champion Jimmie Johnson ended up with a top-ten finish, the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Dover White Chevrolet made two surprisingly uncharacteristic mistakes.

First, Johnson, in a pit road fake out, pulled back on track well in front of the pace car. Although no penalty was issued, this mistake garnered a warning from Race Director David Hoots, who advised Johnson to cease the shenanigans.

The second mistake came on what has become Johnson’s Achilles heel, a late race restart. After jumping the start and being penalized at the Dover race, Johnson has seemingly been spooked by restarts, this time blaming none other than the race winner for the Kentucky restart miscue.

“The No. 20 broke the pace car speed, which you aren’t supposed to do,” Johnson said. “I don’t know, we were kind of in an awkward situation in that restart.”

“And then we were like three and four-wide going in the corner, something happened with the air and it just kind of turned me around,” Johnson continued. “Unfortunate, but at least we rallied back for a good finish.”

Not Surprising: With the combination of the race delay to Sunday under the sun and the bumpiness of the track, it was not surprising that a gutsy call from the pit box to stay out on old tires would be the one to win the race. And although it turned out to be a brilliant call, victorious driver Matt Kenseth had his doubts at the time.

“I didn’t roll the dice, Jason (Ratcliff) did,” Kenseth said. “I thought he was slightly crazy when that happened.”

“It’s just been an unbelievable season and year of my life honestly,” the driver of the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, said. “I didn’t think there was any way that we were going to hold on for that win.”

“Jason made the right call at the right time and those guys got it done.”

This was Kenseth’s fourth victory in 2013 and his highest win total since 2006. It was his first victory in three races at Kentucky Speedway.

Surprising: Although under sunshine instead of a full moon, there were still some surprisingly strange incidents in the race which unfortunately impacted other drivers who were innocent victims not of their own doing.

One of the most impacted was Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who after turning in a pole winning qualifying lap, was hit by an errant tire carcass from the Denny Hamlin machine. He did, however, manage to salvage a decent finish in the twelfth spot.

“Can’t do anything about what happened out on the race track with that casing,” the driver of the No. 88 National Guard Youth Foundation Chevrolet said. “You just fix it and keep going.”

“They guys did a good job on pit road all day long working on it and trying to fix everything,” Junior continued. “We did well enough to get a decent finish out of it.”

The other two drivers impacted through no fault of their own were Brad Keselowski and Greg Biffle. Both drivers were collected in a hard crash caused by Kurt Busch, who admitted that he ill-advisedly used the apron to try to pass.

“Wrecks happen,” Keselowski, the driver of the Blue Deuce, said. “There is no reason to drive like an animal but apparently I am the only one that got that memo.”

“I don’t know what happened,” Biffle said. “I’m sure someone got aggressive or made a mistake or did something to cause that.”

The issues were costly to both drivers, with Keselowski losing four positions in the point standings, falling to 13^th, and Biffle losing three positions to the ninth spot.

Not Surprising: With the resurgence of Earnhardt Ganassi Racing continuing, it was not surprising that Jamie McMurray had a pretty good run at Kentucky. In fact, the driver of the No. 1 Hellmann’s Chevrolet scored the runner up position when the checkered flag flew.

“Yes, it was a really good day for us,” McMurray said. “We’ve had really quick cars for the last two months but had really unfortunate luck.”

“So, it’s cool to have a really good run.”

This was McMurray’s first top-ten finish in three races at Kentucky and his fourth top-ten finish in 2013.

Surprising: Denny Hamlin had a surprisingly bad day at Kentucky, hitting the wall after his tire blew. While Hamlin has been struggling with back issues, this time he surprisingly had his bell rung instead and was held in the infield care center to evaluate if he had had a concussion.

Hamlin’s heavy hit was also costly, with a 35^th place finish, leaving him in the 25^th position in the point standings, well out of current Chase contention.

“Definitely have to proceed on,” Hamlin said. “Hopefully, at least something to build off of even though we didn’t have a good finish.”

Not Surprising: Clint Bowyer continued to impress, scoring his sixth top-five finish for the season. The driver of the No. 15 Camry 30^th Anniversary Toyota took the checkered flag in third at Kentucky, getting ever so close to that first win of the season.

“Good day for us,” Bowyer said. “Obviously when you get that close at the end you can smell a chance at the win – just not our day yet.”

Surprising: In spite of getting trapped on pit road when a caution flew yet again, four-time champion Jeff Gordon managed to overcome and salvage a top-ten finish at the end of the day.

“We had an awesome fast Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, that is for sure,” Gordon said. “I think we passed more cars than anybody.”

“These pit stops just aren’t going our way,” Gordon continued. “You just have to keep working hard at it and hope they fall your way eventually.”

Not Surprising: Just as Dale Earnhardt Jr. got lucky in qualifying by catching a cloud, Kyle Busch was searching all race day for the same. Busch rebounded from an early race spin to finish in the fifth position in his No. 18 Doublemint Toyota Camry.

“Anytime I got cloud cover, I could pick up three-tenths of a second,” Busch said. “It was a stupid amount of time I could pick up and then I go down into the next corner and the sun is back and then you’re wrecking loose.”

“We persevered and came home fifth,” Busch continued. “We can take that effort and go into next week.”

Surprising: The end of one driver’s record was the beginning of another driver’s redemption. Bobby Labonte’s streak of 704 consecutive starts came to an end at Kentucky Speedway and the Quaker State 400 marked the first race since 1978 in which there was no driver named Labonte.

While Bobby Labonte sat on the sidelines, the replacement driver in the No. 47 Scott Products Toyota, AJ Allmendinger, had his own comeback moment at Kentucky. The ‘Dinger, who had tested positive for substance abuse one year ago at Kentucky came back and finished 22^nd for JTG-Daugherty Racing.

Not Surprising: At a track where he has won three straight Nationwide Series races, all coming from the pole, it was not surprising to see Joey Logano have a top-five finish at Kentucky Speedway. And this young driver, behind the wheel of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford was wishing for just one more caution in which he was convinced he could have gotten to Victory Lane.

“I felt like we were good enough to win for a little bit,” Logano said. “We were sitting pretty in fourth when the caution came out and that usually puts you second or third.”

“I was hoping for one more caution because I thought I would be in the cat-bird seat if that happened.”

Surprising: After winning at Sonoma and predicting his winning ways would continue, Martin Truex Jr. took an ill-handling car and managed a surprisingly good top ten finish.

“We dodged a lot of bullets,” the driver of the No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota said. “We didn’t have a very good car.”

“We just never could get the car in the race track and I feel lucky to finish where we did,” Truex Jr. continued. “These are the kind of days that we need when we don’t have a good car – to persevere, fight through it and get a top-ten.”

Not Surprising: After running so well this season and being second in the point standings to none other than five-time champ Jimmie Johnson, it was no wonder that Carl Edwards was confused after finishing 21^st in the race at Kentucky.

“Man, I don’t understand what happened,” the driver of the No. 99 UPS Ford Fusion said. “We were terrible at the end.”

“I just couldn’t make anything happen,” Edwards continued. “We’re going to have to try to figure that out.”

“We were feeling really good and having a good time out there for a while but it turned out terribly,” Edwards continued. “I guess that is the way it goes.”

July 2, 2013
Earnhardt Jr. Starts from the Point in the Quaker State 400

Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Coors Light Pole award on Friday for the third annual Quaker State 400 presented by Advance Auto Parts. This marks Earnhardt Jr.’s first pole and third top-10 start in the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points season.

Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 88 National Guard Youth Foundation Chevrolet set a track qualifying record with a lap of 29.406 seconds. Nine different drivers posted faster laps than the previous record, which was set by Jimmie Johnson in 2012.

Earnhardt Jr.’s last win came from Michigan International Speedway last year when he won the Quicken Loans 400. Still looking for a win this season, Earnhardt Jr. commented on how urgent he feels he needs to get a win before the chase. He said, “I think we keep working hard and the wins will come. We have had some really fast cars, just had some bad luck. Thought we had an opportunity to win at Michigan and just with the engine failure we weren’t able to get that done. If we just keep working and running well we will get our opportunities to get to Victory Lane”

The Hendrick Motorsports driver finished in the top-5 at Kentucky last year and was asked if he has a lot of confidence coming into this track and if he feels like turn three is one of those critical parts of the track that you have to get down. He replied, “Well, it looked critical last night in the Truck race, some guys having some difficulty in turn three. The track is just unique and very bumpy and got a lot of character. I enjoy racing here. I think that the track gets better every year. Just look forward to having a good car…I enjoy coming here and we’ve got a lot of fans in this area that enjoy seeing us race here.”

The No. 99 UPS Ford driver, Carl Edwards will be starting in second position. This is his eighth top-10 start of 2013 and his second in three races at Kentucky Speedway. Carl Edwards looks forward to racing at Kentucky. He said, “Kentucky is fun for three reasons: I have great memories of my first NASCAR win there in the Truck series, the track has bumps and character and the fans are passionate as any. We are proud to represent UPS this weekend and hopefully we can deliver them a victory.”

The Sprint Cup Series points leader, Jimmie Johnson, will start the Quaker State 400 in third spot. This is his ninth top-10 start in seventeen races this season. Johnson, a five time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, has never been in Victory Lane at Kentucky. He was asked when he goes to a track that he hasn’t won at before if that gives him something to really shoot at. He said, “It gets me excited. There’s five tracks left that I haven’t won at. I think Stewart is down to two or three. We don’t talk about it amongst Stewart, Gordon, or myself, but I think we all secretly would love to be the first to win at every track that we compete at. I think Stewart is the closest right now. I want to get closer. I’ve been very close here. I’ve been very close at Michigan. I’ve been very close at Chicago. So, I hope we can get one or two of them this year. I would love to start here.”

Last week’s winner of the Toyota Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway, Martin Truex Jr., will start the Quaker State 400 in nineteenth position. Still pumped about last week’s win, Truex Jr. looks forward to the possibility of repeating that win. When asked how the bumps impact racing at Kentucky, Truex Jr. commented, “The bumps, yes-it’s so rough. So difficult with these cars to get them working. We’re on bump stops…It’s very, very difficult –very hard on the crew chiefs. I think it’s fun to drive on because you can move around on the race track and it’s so line sensitive and you have to really focus and hit your marks…Definitely a cool place to race, for sure. Very, very challenging obviously. It’s a good place to race—I enjoy it.”

The green flag will fall on the Quaker State 400 Saturday night at 7:30 at Kentucky Speedway.

June 29, 2013