Kentucky Speedway Tag

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer SPARTA, Ky. – After achieving a career milestone, a chance at victory slipped away for John Hunter Nemechek. The NASCAR Xfinity Series driver earned his first stage win in the Alsco 300 at Kentucky Speedway, passing Kyle Busch in Stage 2 before a battery issue left him settling for a top-10 finish. Nemechek received the free pass during the final caution of the night, putting his No. 42 Anderson Columbia Co. Inc. Chevrolet Camaro SS back on the lead lap. With 34 laps to go,Read 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

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer SPARTA, Ky. – In an uncharacteristic fashion, Hendrick Motorsports has been struggling in 2018. Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Alex Bowman, who makes his 100th career Cup start this weekend, has often been the best of the Hendrick contingent in recent weeks. Bowman enters the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway set to make his 29th start with Greg Ives as his crew chief. In that time, Bowman has earned one top-five, 10 top-10s, and two pole positions, including this year’s Daytona 500. After alternatingRead More

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer  SPARTA, Ky. – By virtue of his win at Daytona International Speedway, Erik Jones is now locked into the 2018 Playoffs. However, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver will still have to contend with “the big three”: Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, and defending champion Martin Truex, Jr., all of whom have dominated the season so far. Jones and his No. 20 Freightliner Toyota Camry team have only earned 39 Stage Points this season. He is 16thamong drivers that have earned Stage Points, with hisRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After a trip down to Daytona Beach, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is just past the halfway mark of the 2018 season as they head up to Kentucky Speedway for race No. 19 on the schedule, under the lights on Saturday night for the running of the Quaker State 400. Kentucky first joined the Cup Series schedule in 2011 and has played host ever since, with just four different drivers claiming victory in the seven races held at the track so far. The track wasRead More

By Lee Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service SPARTA, Ky. –The Louisville Slugger knocked it out of the park on Thursday night at Kentucky Speedway. Ben Rhodes, who grew up less than an hour west of the venue in Sparta, Kentucky, finally won a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at his home track. A fuel-only gamble by the No. 41 ThorSport Racing team in the closing laps paid off for the 21-year-old Louisville native, who led the final 24 laps of the Buckle Up In Your Truck 225. Rhodes held off StewartRead More

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer SPARTA, Ky. – Matt Crafton and his ThorSport Racing team appear to finally be rebounding after struggling for most of the season. The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver had to drive through the field in the Buckle Up in Your Truck 225 to finish inside the top-five at Kentucky Speedway. In the run to the finish, Crafton’s No. 88 Great Lakes / Menards Ford F-150 team elected to take two tires during green flag pit stops. His teammate, Ben Rhodes, who he had beenRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Parker Kligerman’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series campaign this season has been one to forget, with three out of his five races this season resulting in DNFs, including tonight’s Buckle Up In Your Truck 225 at Kentucky Speedway, where he finished 27th. Despite another disappointing finish, his night beforehand looked promising. The No. 75 Food Country USA Chevrolet Silverado was on top of the leaderboard for 12 of 150 laps. What stood out from his time out front was racing on older tires as heRead More

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer SPARTA, Ky. – The Buckle Up in Your Truck 225 was an adventure for Stewart Friesen. The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver known more for racing on dirt passed more trucks than anyone else after having to start from the rear due to an engine change. “We had to make a motor swap after time trials,” Friesen explained. “The GMS crew, our HFR crew worked on it together as they have been all year. We had all hand on deck there to swap everythingRead More