Quaker State 400 Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Saturday’s Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway wasn’t the night for pole sitter Daniel Suarez to make it three straight races won by a first-time winner, as he finished eighth at the 1.5-mile circuit. After dominating the first 49 laps of the evening, a set of bad luck ranging from different strategies to a speeding penalty knocked him out of contention. Following the opening caution caused by Chase Elliott on Lap 47, Suarez brought his No. 41 Haas Automation Ford Mustang to pit road for theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Denied victory at Daytona by an inopportune pit call last Sunday, Kurt Busch drove like lightning in a two-lap overtime dash to the finish to win Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway. Swapping sheet metal with brother Kyle Busch as the siblings battled for the victory throughout the overtime, Busch collected his first victory of the season in the No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. The 2004 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion won for the first time at Kentucky and theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Daniel Suarez saved the best for last in Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying on Friday at Kentucky Speedway. The 27-year-old driver from Monterrey, Mexico, was the last to run a qualifying lap at the 1.5-mile track, and he used the opportunity to Knock Stewart-Haas Racing teammate off the provisional pole for Saturday’s Quaker State 400 (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.) Suarez covered the distance in 29.254 seconds (184.590 mph) to beat out Almirola (183.799 mph) for the topRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor The 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season is officially at the halfway point, crossing the threshold last weekend in Daytona. To kick off the second half of the season, the series heads to the Bluegrass State for Saturday night’s running of the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway. Kentucky first joined the Cup Series schedule in 2011 and has played host ever since, with just four different drivers claiming victory in the eight races held at the track so far. The track was knownRead 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 – 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