An adjustment to Friday’s schedule at Kentucky Speedway due to weather has cancelled Sprint Cup qualifying for the Quaker State 400.
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You wont leave with a headache, and thats the best part about it, points leader and 2014 Cup champion Kevin Harvick quipped during last months test.
With only a few drivers dominating the laps led, it would behoove us to land one, or more, of them in our lineups this week. “I certainly learned from that and when he had his problems not being able to get the auto re-fired, it just kind of handed the race back to us and from there I chose to restart the race on the outside from there on out”.
To win this time, Busch had to hold off first Jones and then also Dillon and Suarez second.
Harvick hasn’t won since the fourth race at Phoenix but has posted 13 top-10 finishes with seven top fives in 17 starts.
Dillon was second in a Chevy, with Suarez third in a Toyota and Jones fourth in a Toyota. He is tied for the series-lead in wins with three in 2016. Busch chose the high line and Austin Dillon started low.
Rookie update: Goping into Friday night’s race, Erik Jones tops the Rookie of the Year standings as he’s opened up a 47-point lead over second-place Brandon Jones.
“Just a simple mistake, but we made the mistake”.
“I wasn’t trying to save fuel, I was doing something else and trying to get the best restart I could and unfortunately I hit the wrong button”, Jones said. “So I guess I gave it away”.
It is the first Kentucky pole for Harvick, who has two top-five starts in five trips here. But that was a mirage.
Making matters worse for Dillon, he was penalized for speeding while leaving pit road on his green-flag stop.
While Kentucky Speedway president Mark Simendinger would love to see another pass-happy affair and a different victor, there’s still the matter of getting past those usual suspects named Brad and Kyle.
Past success might not be the best indicator of performance in Saturday’s race since Kentucky underwent a repave in the offseason. “There were a couple of odd things happening at the end there”.
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Dillon didn’t participate in the June 13-14 organization test at Kentucky (Paul Menard represented Richard Childress Racing), but he found another way to get a head start on his competition by practicing and running the XFINITY auto. If we don’t do that, they’re going to be more inclined just to follow a single groove until they can get it widened out. “It was enough excitement from my standpoint”. Turns 3 and 4 remain at 14 degrees, which Simendinger hopes will create a unique look during the tripleheader weekend that includes a 225-mile Camping World Truck Series race and Friday night’s Xfinity Series 300-miler.
