Every so often we have to remind you of the tremendous battle for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year honors.
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Storms washed out qualifying at Kentucky Speedway on Friday, putting Kevin Harvick on the pole for Saturday nights Sprint Cup Series race based on owner points. As the race went green and Truex absolutely blasted his way through the field to third before pitting, it looked like the penalty would put Truex in the best spot.
The fresh Kentucky surface was a key topic of conversation in the run up to Saturday’s race, and the new asphalt and reconfigured banking took its toll on numerous drivers throughout the 267-lap race.
SPARTA, Ky. (AP) – Brad Keselowski’s calm demeanor was never more evident than his cool response to a tense moment.
Keselowski won the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway Saturday night. “This is a night I’m not going to forget”. But it changed things a lot with the feel in the vehicle and the things you want in the auto. Keselowski passed Kevin Harvick on a restart with less than 70 laps to go and notched his third career win at the 1.5-mile track. Keselowski would fend off Carl Edwards on the last lap on a dry fuel tank to capture his fourth victory of the season.
It took a monster gamble and some tremendous back class for the former Cup Series champion to prove his mastery over the newly repaved Kentucky track.
Busch and Kenseth have combined for three JGR wins in Toyotas, while teammates Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards finished 3-4 respectively last summer and led 14 combined laps. His 739 laps led in five races are 596 more than any other driver, and he has led the most laps in three straight races at 1.5-mile ovals. 175 seconds ahead of Edwards, who made up a deficit of more than six seconds in the final 10 laps but couldn’t quite get to Keselowski’s rear bumper on the final lap.
“I felt pretty good about it (fuel) until the 19 (Edwards) closed up on us”, he said. I thought he was, surely, out (of fuel) and then he just won the race.
“I don’t think there’s a driver here that didn’t have a handful at some point in Turn 3 tonight”, Newman said. He lamented the smoothing of front-stretch bumps that he said added character to Kentucky, but he quickly adapted to the improvements and new NASCAR rules that reduced downforce and sideforce.
Harvick, the pole-sitter, led for a race-high 128 laps and finished ninth.
Not surprisingly, the Quaker State 400 tied a record for 11 cautions with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wrecking in Turn 3 long before the Competition Caution on Lap 27.
The fuel-mileage drama at the end made what happened earlier in the race seem a distant memory.
Accidents were the story early on and knocked out Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano and Chase Elliott. Johnson’s No. 48 got loose in turn 4 in the morning session and smacked the outside wall, sustaining heavy damage after posting the second-fastest speed of 188.121 miles per hour. The new package is harder with the right-side tire using the same construction as the one used at MI. “Midcorner speed is way down and straightaway speed is way up, so that’s a bit of a handful, but the good kind of handful that really challenges drivers and really forces drivers to really push it to the limit”.
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Cup cars will feature a different Goodyear tire package from last months test after the manufacturer noticed blistering afterward.
