Carl Edwards went into fuel conservation mode earlier than Brad Keselowski, but he may have pushed the button just a little too late.
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Keselowski managed a low tank of gas and held off Carl Edwards to win the Quaker State 400 Saturday.
On a night short on excitement – except for a major fire in a pick-up truck in the parking lot next to the track – ended with a fuel mileage contest.
In addition to winning the Quaker State 400 in 2012 and 2014, Keselowski has now won a major race in Sparta for six straight years.
“Yeah, I thought he was out of fuel coming off of (Turn) 4, but he actually did it very well”, said Keselowski, who indicated on his radio with more than a lap left that he was out of fuel. The top 16 drivers, based on wins, then points, make the 10-race Chase for the Championship.
Daniel Suarez finished third after chasing Busch to the final yellow flag, then losing the runner-up spot to Dillon on the last restart.
“The approach is to take all the Kentucky notes and run them through the shredder and start from scratch”, he said, adding that he and crew chief Paul Wolfe based their vehicle setup on what worked earlier this summer at Michigan International Speedway. Logano, the last driver to win a race with the new low downforce package, tagged the wall on Lap 40.
“I thought the new aero package would open it up past year”, Simendinger said, “but lo and behold Keselowski and Busch were there and I suspect it might be that way again because their organizations have been so good”.
“It wasn’t my night on that deal”, Truex said. “I thought it was as good as you could expect for a repave track”.
Harvick had the lead on the Lap 199 restart, but was passed by Keselowski and Matt Kenseth on the first lap. You’re trying to slow down a lot and the brakes started going away and I don’t know what happened after that, if a rotor blew up or what made the tire go down, but the right-front went flat and I was pretty much along for the ride after that.
On Lap 88, Ryan Blaney spun from the middle of a three-wide dilemma in Turn 3 and took the No. 24 Chevrolet of fellow Sunoco Rookie of the Year competitor Chase Elliott with him. They did a great job, but we’ve got to be better.
“It’s a totally different race track, for sure”, 2013 Kentucky victor Matt Kenseth said.
The penalty did not deter Truex as he worked his way back up to the top three under green-flag conditions before pit stops in the closing stages of the race. While establishing some parity is always a good result for NASCAR, the focus is on making the cars harder to drive.
Ryan Newman, who finished third, seemed to have more mixed feelings on it. On Lap 53, Joey slammed the Turn 3 wall after scraping it 10 laps earlier.
Driving his backup auto because he wrecked his primary vehicle in practice on Friday, Johnson spun in Turn 3 and backed into the Turn 4 wall on Lap 32. Harvick is joined by Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kurt Busch, while Johnson has company in Hendrick Motorsports stablemate Elliott. Harvick, who led a race-high 128 laps, and Matt Kenseth both had to stop for gas near the end. Harvick retained the points lead by four over Keselowski.
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Though Keselowski is tied with Kyle Busch for the most Kentucky wins with two each, dont be shocked if Penske Racing teammate Logano breaks through. Hamlin, Edwards and Kyle Busch will represent Joe Gibbs Racing.
