Kentucky Speedway Tag

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Of all of the tracks on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule, one track in particular stands out for the drivers and teams that fly the Chevrolet flag and that is Kentucky Speedway. Heading into Saturday night’s race, Chevrolet had not been able to score a win in the first five Cup Series races held at the track and were optimistic that this weekend would be the time that their first win would come. Heading into the weekend, Chevrolet drivers had scored eight top-five, 22Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service SPARTA, Ky. – Brad Keselowski had his mojo working in Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway. Saving just enough fuel to get to the finish line, Keselowski eked out a heart-thumping victory over Carl Edwards to win his second consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race and his third at Kentucky Speedway. But this was not the same bumpy, abrasive Kentucky Speedway where Keselowski went to Victory Lane in 2012 and 2014. This was a repaved, reconfigured 1.5-mile intermediate track fraught with treachery,Read More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer Until the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway, Ryan Newman had yet to finish in the top five in 2016. Before Saturday night’s race, Newman’s best finish this season was seventh at Kansas Speedway, seven races ago. Newman was 14th fastest in the opening practice, but hung around the middle of the speed charts the rest of the weekend. Newman also started 14th on the newly repaved and reconfigured track after qualifying was rained out. Newman was able to keep his nose clean through theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor The newly repaved and reconfigured Kentucky Speedway was rough on several drivers throughout the field, from champions on down, but for the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rookies, the track really had it out for them on Saturday night, as four of the five rookies would run into major trouble. The rookies were holding their own in the early going, but on lap 89, the first set of rookies would suffer Kentucky’s wrath. Ryan Blaney’s car got loose in Turn 3 on lap 89, makingRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor The competitiveness of AJ Allmendinger and the small JTG/Daugherty Racing team has been one of the most pleasant surprises of the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. After a 13th-place finish last week at Daytona, Allmendinger found himself 19th in the championship standings, just 16 points from the Chase cutoff. However, Allmendinger’s championship aspirations took a huge beating in Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway. The night, which eventually spiraled out of control, started with optimism, as Allmendinger lined up from the 19th starting spot. But afterRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Heading into Saturday night’s race at Kentucky Speedway, there were a lot of unknowns with the newly repaved and reconfigured track surface, but it didn’t take long for the track to claim its first victims. Jimmie Johnson, who had never won at Kentucky in five previous starts, had troubles with the track from the time his No. 48 team unloaded, spinning out and crashing his primary car in practice and having to break out his backup car for the race. Though Johnson would be ableRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service SPARTA, Ky. – Sometimes it pays extra dividends to be the points leader. That was certainly the case on Friday afternoon, when rains earlier in the day constricted the on-track schedule at Kentucky Speedway. Because practice time was more important to NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams than time trials, the sanctioning body opted to cancel qualifying for Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN) in favor of an evening practice session at the recently repaved and reconfigured 1.5-mile track. This weekendRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer The last time the NASCAR Xfinity Series visited Kentucky Speedway, Ryan Blaney took home the victory. Blaney was not competing full time in any NASCAR series last year. The last time a contender for the Xfinity Series Championship won at Kentucky was Brendan Gaughan in 2014. Xfinity Series Chase 15 races into the 2016 Xfinity Series Season, there have been 11 different winners, and only three of them, Erik Jones, Elliott Sadler, and Daniel Suarez are currently locked into the Xfinity Series Chase via wins.Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service SPARTA, KY. – William Byron didn’t have the fastest truck at the end of Thursday night’s Buckle Up In Your Truck 225 at Kentucky Speedway. But Byron had the most important ingredient in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at the newly repaved and reconfigured 1.5-mile track. Byron held the top spot for all 42 laps after the final restart of the event on lap 108 of 150. It was no cakewalk. Byron had to stave off assaults from both runner-up John HunterRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor These days, anytime Carl Edwards wins a race in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, everyone knows that his legendary backflip victory celebration off of the door of his car is imminent. But how did Edwards’ victory backflip begin? In this week’s “Throwback Thursday Theater”, we’ll take a step back in time to the NASCAR Camping World Trucks Series at Kentucky in 2003 for the running of the Built Ford Tough 225, which saw Edwards win his first NASCAR race and perform his first backflip celebrationRead More