Kentucky Speedway Tag

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Before the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series even hit the track for the first time Thursday morning at Kentucky Speedway, Stewart Friesen and his Halmar Friesen Racing team found themselves in hot water with NASCAR with their primary truck being confiscated by the sanctioning body. Despite the early setback that would force Friesen to start at the rear of the field in a backup truck previously run at Chicagoland two weeks ago, the driver of the No. 52 Chevrolet found himself in the runner-up spotRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Stage 2 was a chaotic mess in Thursday’s Buckle Up Your Truck 225 at Kentucky Speedway and it bit NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series points leader Grant Enfinger on Lap 65. On a late stage restart, the pole sitter restarted on the inside as race leader Brandon Jones, who had worked his way up to the front after starting 27th, chose the top groove as the field took the green flag. Enfinger’s teammate Matt Crafton pushed Jones to get the strong advantage, but it didn’t stopRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor On a night that started off with several yellow flags in the first half of the race, the 2016 running of the Quaker State 400 on the newly reconfigured and repaved Kentucky Speedway would come down to fuel mileage in the closing laps to determine the race winner. With about 16 laps to go, the lead lap cars began peeling off of the track onto pit road to top off on fuel, but race leader Brad Keselowski kept his No. 2 Ford out front asRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Over the past three weeks, Ryan Blaney hasn’t finished better than 18th, but on Saturday night at Kentucky, that all changed with a strong runner-up performance for the Team Penske driver. “It’s a positive, that’s for sure,” said Blaney.  “I thought we were in a good spot there restarting fourth and Martin struggled a little bit the first couple laps and I thought I could get by him, but just couldn’t quite get a run on him.  His car came in and mine kind of fadedRead More

By Lee Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service SPARTA, Kentucky – Martin Truex Jr., made it a clean sweep at Kentucky Speedway this weekend. After starting from the pole, Truex won all three stages and successfully defended his victory from last year’s Quaker State 400. Truex led 174 laps en route to his fourth win of the season and his 19th career victory in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. “What a hell of a night this was,” Truex said. “We try to do this every single week but that just shows youRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Erik Jones’ playoff pressure ended last Saturday, scoring his maiden Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win at Daytona, locking himself into a playoff berth in just his sophomore season. Jones came into Kentucky Speedway simply looking for even more stellar runs, which he successfully accomplished in the Quaker State 400, finishing seventh. It’s Jones’ fourth straight top-10 effort this season, and certainly a hard fought one after his white No. 20 Freightliner Toyota Camry could’ve failed completing the entire 267-lap contest. Starting alongside pole sitterRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer In the midst of a frustrating season and Lowe’s leaving at the end of the 2018 season, Jimmie Johnson’s crew chief Chad Knaus, the main man who has made the calls since his rookie season in 2002, will continue in his role through 2020 as reported in a Saturday press conference at Kentucky Speedway. Knaus told the media that his contract extension had recently been made, and despite the duo being winless in 41 races, he’s never questioned leaving Johnson and Hendrick Motorsports. “No, notRead More

By Lee Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service SPARTA, Kentucky – A spin didn’t stop Christopher Bell from the win in the ALSCO 300 at Kentucky Speedway. The Joe Gibbs Racing rookie was going for the pole in the final round of qualifying and spun out before completing the lap. Bell was forced to start from the rear of the field but recovered for his first win on the 1.5-mile track and his second of 2018. “This is really special,” Bell said. “I keep making mistakes. I have to stop doing that toRead More

By Lee Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service SPARTA, Kentucky – Martin Truex Jr. didn’t need a dress rehearsal to put on a pole-winning performance at Kentucky Speedway on Friday. His lack of mock qualifying runs in practice did not affect the ultimate result – his first Busch Pole on the 1.5-mile track. The defending winner of the Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart executed the fastest lap in Round 3 to win the pole for Saturday night’s race at the 1.5-mile track (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). ForRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Last Saturday night at Daytona, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. found himself as Public Enemy No. 1 among some in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series garage area after being involved in a series of crashes throughout the duration of the race. A week later, Stenhouse and his run-ins on the 2.5-mile superspeedway were still front and center in the mind of Kyle Busch, who was involved in one of the multi-car crashes that Stenhouse helped trigger. Busch expected a call from Stenhouse, who owned up to hisRead More