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Entering Saturday night’s Sprint Cup Series race at the newly repaved and reconfigured Kentucky Speedway, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, and Matt Kenseth were the only Cup drivers with a Kentucky Victory under their belt. Keselowski would add yet another Kentucky win to his resume as he held off Carl Edwards on fuel mileage, to win the Quaker State 400. This is Keselowski’s third win at the Kentucky Speedway and his fourth win of the 2016 Sprint Cup Series season. He also won last weekend’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway to make this win at Kentucky his second win in just a week.
Below are highlights and turn by turn action from the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway. Race recapped by Last Lap Insider.
Green Flag – Pole sitter, Kevin Harvick is able to pull away from Brad Keselowski coming off Turn 2 to withhold the lead. Harvick was on the pole due to qualifying being washed out due to rain.
Lap 2/267 – Joey Logano got loose coming off Turn 4 almost hitting the wall. The #22 would lose several spots.
Lap 8/267 – Kevin Harvick continues to lead with Martin Truex Jr in 2nd while almost everyone struggles for grip on this newly repaved Kentucky Speedway surface.
Lap 11/267 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. slides up the track in Turn 3 scrapping the wall. Then on the next lap, he has a tire go down in Turn 3 hitting the wall. The #17 will go to the garage with significant damage.
Lap 26/267 – competition caution comes out while Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. battled for the lead. Everyone comes in for their first pit stops of the night, Harvick wins the fight off pit road. Kurt Busch was the only car that did not pit so he will be the leader on the restart.
Lap 33/267 – coming off of Turn 4 on the restart, Jimmie Johnson loses control spinning out his Lowe’s Chevrolet. His car would back into the wall. Caution is out. Johnson would take his race car to the garage.
Lap 38/267 – Kevin Harvick takes the lead away from Kurt Busch on the restart as Brad Keselowski gets loose coming off Turn 4 almost hitting the wall. Keselowski drops to 7th.
Lap 42/267 – Joey Logano gets loose coming off Turn 4 and taps the wall with his back quarter panel. Because of this damage, Logano has lost 5 spots in two laps. While Logano keeps falling back his rookie teammate, Ryan Blaney, has moved into the top five.
Lap 55/267 – The damage got too severe on Joey Logano’s #22 Ford. Logano was entering Turn 3 when he had a blown tire sending him into the wall. Logano has taken his flattened car to the garage as the leaders come down to make their second pit stop. Keselowski did not pit so he is the new race leader.
Lap 63/267 – Truex Jr takes the lead away from Keselowski a few laps after the restart.
Lap 84/267 – caution comes out for Matt Dibenedetto blowing a tire and slamming the wall in Turn 4. All of the leaders come down to make their third pit stop. Harvick regains the lead from Truex Jr. coming off pit road. Ryan Blaney made contact with Cole Whitt on pit road causing a little bit of damage to Blaney’s bumper.
Lap 88/267 – on the restart, Martin Truex Jr. got loose allowing Kevin Harvick to take the lead. Ryan Blaney lost it entering Turn 3 making contact with his rookie-of-the-year competitor Chase Elliott. Both Blaney and Elliott have taken their cars to the garage with tons of damage. This is the sixth caution of the night.
Lap 94/267 – another caution has come out for a big crash on the backstretch. Brian Scott got loose coming off Turn 2 and then got spun around by Kyle Larson, unintentionally. Brian Scott’s car spun in the middle of the track collecting Chris Buescher, AJ Allmendinger and Ty Dillon.
Lap 112/267 – Kevin Harvick continues to lead followed by Truex Jr, Kyle Busch, McMurray, Austin Dillon, Menard, Kenseth, Keselowski, Biffle and Newman the top 10.
Lap 152/267 – the eighth caution has come out for Regan Smith clobbering the wall in Turn 3. Looks like it was another blown tire. Very hard impact for the #7. Smith is out of the car and okay. A few laps prior to this caution coming out, drivers were coming in to make green flag pit stops. The leader, Kevin Harvick, came in to make his stop but slid through his pit stall. That costed him valuable time on pit road.
Lap 161/267 – the ninth caution comes out for Clint Bowyer going for a spin. Bowyer was on the inside of Danica Patrick and again just got loose. So many drivers tonight having difficulties keeping their car going straight on this new racing surface.
94 laps to go – caution comes out for the 10th time for AJ Allmendinger stopping on the apron in Turn 1. Allmendinger had been involved in a crash earlier in the race but had come back on the track with a very damaged race car. His hood flew up on to his windshield blocking his view.
80 laps to go – Kevin Harvick continues to lead with Martin Truex Jr and Kyle Busch finishing out the top 3.
70 laps to go – Landon Cassill was a running 19th but had a tire go down and got up into the wall. Before the caution came out, Jamie McMurray made a unscheduled pit stop because he thought he had a tire going down. During the 11th caution of the night, most of the leaders make pit stops. Martin Truex Jr gets penalized for “passing coming onto pit road”. The #78 had to come back down pit road for a pass-through penalty. Truex took advantage of the penalty and topped off on fuel.
67 laps to go – On the restart, Kevin Harvick washes up the track allowing Brad Keselowski to swoop on by and pass him for the lead. Matt Kenseth takes 2nd. Harvick drops to 3rd.
40 laps to go – Brad Keselowski leads but it is turning into a fuel mileage game. Martin Truex Jr., who topped off on the recent caution, is the fastest car on the track and he might be the only one that can make it on fuel, if a caution does not come out.
30 laps to go – Martin Truex Jr. has passed Kevin Harvick for the third spot.
15 laps to go – Brad Keselowski continues to lead but a few drivers have come to pit road already because they are running out of fuel.
10 laps to go – Austin Dillon, Kyle Larson and Martin Truex Jr. have come to pit road for fuel. Matt Kenseth is closing the gap on Brad Keselowski for the lead.
6 laps to go – Matt Kenseth has passed Brad Keselowski for the lead. Keselowski is trying to save fuel.
5 laps to go – Now, Matt Kenseth comes in to make a pit stop for fuel, he cannot make it. Brad Keselowski regained the lead with Carl Edwards 2nd. Keselowski and Edwards are trying to save fuel.
2 laps to go – While leading, Brad Keselowski’s Ford has run out of fuel. Carl Edwards was eight seconds behind but is now on Keselowski’s bumper.
1 lap to go – It looked like Edwards was going to sail around Keselowski for the win, but miraculously the #2 Miller Lite Ford regained fuel pressure and started pulling away from Edwards.
Checkered Flag – Brad Keselowski somehow has enough fuel and is able to hold off Carl Edwards to win the Quaker State 400 at the Kentucky Speedway.
Official Quaker State 400 Results:
1. Brad Keselowski
2. Carl Edwards
3. Ryan Newman
4. Kurt Busch
5. Tony Stewart
6. Greg Biffle
7. Jamie McMurray
8. Matt Kenseth
9. Kevin Harvick – Pole Sitter
10. Martin Truex Jr
11. Trevor Bayne
12. Kyle Busch
13. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
14. Kasey Kahne
15. Denny Hamlin
16. Austin Dillon
17. Danica Patrick
18. Paul Menard
19. Kyle Larson
20. Aric Almirola
21. Cole Whitt
22. David Ragan
23. Clint Bowyer
24. Josh Wise
25. Ty Dillon
26. Michael Annett
27. Reed Sorenson
28. Jeffrey Earnhardt
29. Landon Cassill
30. Casey Mears
31. Chase Elliott – Crash
32. Jimmie Johnson – Crash
33. Brian Scott – Crash
34. Regan Smith – Crash
35. Ryan Blaney – Crash
36. AJ Allmendinger – Crash
37. Chris Buescher – Crash
38. Matt Dibenedetto – Crash
39. Joey Logano – Crash
40. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – Crash
Next Race: Next Sunday, July 16, 2016 at 1:30 PM EST on NBCSN is the New Hampshire 301 from New Hampshire Motor Speedway. For more Sprint Cup updates check out the Last Lap Insider on Instagram @lastlapinsider.
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