Kyle Busch wins inaugural Sprint Cup race at Kentucky
Kyle Busch wins first Cup race in Kentucky |
Kyle Busch held off fast-closing David Reutimann and Jimmie Johnson in a two-lap stretch run to win Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 Sprint Cup Series race at Kentucky Speedway—the inaugural Cup event at the 1.5-mile speedway.
The victory was Busch’s third of the season and the 22nd of his Cup career. Reutimann ran second, followed by Johnson, Ryan Newman and Carl Edwards.
Busch regained the lead during a cycle of green-flag stops late in the race, but a caution for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s blown left front tire slowed the race for the fifth time and set up a restart on Lap 260 of 267.
Busch pulled away, with Johnson chasing, but Clint Bowyer’s wreck in Turn 2 bought out the sixth caution on Lap 262 to bunch the field for a restart with two laps left.
During a 105-lap green-flag run that began on Lap 36 after a competition caution and included two rounds of pit stops, Busch opened a lead of more than eight seconds, but his advantage disappeared when NASCAR called a caution on Lap 140 for debris on the backstretch.
Brad Keselowski and Tony Stewart opted not to put under the caution and restarted on the front row on Lap 147. Earnhardt, who had fallen off the lead lap during the long green-flag run, got his lap back on a wave-around, and a quick caution on Lap 151 gave him a chance to pit for fuel and tires.
Keselowski and Stewart ran 1-2 after a restart on Lap 158, but both drivers had to pit for fuel early in the next cycle, and Busch reclaimed the top spot when Keselowski brought the No. 2 Dodge to pit road on Lap 186.
When Jamie McMurray’s engine erupted like Vesuvius on Lap 200, bringing out the fourth caution of the race, the lead-lap cars were back on similar pit cycles.
Note: When the green flag waved to start the race, cars carrying fans to the track were backed up on I-71, trying to get to the parking lots. Midway through the event, Kentucky Speedway G.M. Mark Simendinger issued the following statement: “We’ve had an overwhelming response to our inaugural NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Quaker State 400. We know we had challenges related to traffic. We’re already planning improvements and looking forward to a much better situation for next year’s event."
Results
FIN |
ST | CAR | DRIVER | MAKE | SPONSOR | PTS/BNS | LAPS | STATUS |
1 | 1 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | M&M's | 48/2 | 267 | Running |
2 | 17 | 00 | David Reutimann | Toyota | Tums | 43/1 | 267 | Running |
3 | 5 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | Lowe's | 41/0 | 267 | Running |
4 | 18 | 39 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | Tornados | 40/0 | 267 | Running |
5 | 7 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Ford | Aflac | 39/0 | 267 | Running |
6 | 13 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | Crown Royal | 38/0 | 267 | Running |
7 | 6 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | Miller Lite | 38/1 | 267 | Running |
8 | 8 | 6 | David Ragan | Ford | UPS "We Love Logistics" | 37/1 | 267 | Running |
9 | 3 | 22 | Kurt Busch | Dodge | Shell / Pennzoil | 36/1 | 267 | Running |
10 | 26 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | FedEx Ground | 35/1 | 267 | Running |
11 | 14 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | DuPont | 33/0 | 267 | Running |
12 | 9 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | Office Depot Foundation / Mobil 1 | 33/1 | 267 | Running |
13 | 4 | 4 | Kasey Kahne | Toyota | Red Bull | 32/1 | 267 | Running |
14 | 15 | 20 | Joey Logano | Toyota | The Home Depot | 30/0 | 267 | Running |
15 | 2 | 42 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | Target | 29/0 | 267 | Running |
16 | 19 | 29 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | Budweiser | 28/0 | 267 | Running |
17 | 12 | 78 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | Furniture Row Companies | 27/0 | 267 | Running |
18 | 16 | 56 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | NAPA "Good To Go" Rebate | 27/1 | 267 | Running |
19 | 22 | 31 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | Caterpillar | 25/0 | 267 | Running |
20 | 11 | 9 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | Porter-Cable Power Tools | 24/0 | 267 | Running |
21 | 21 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 3M | 23/0 | 267 | Running |
22 | 28 | 5 | Mark Martin | Chevrolet | Quaker State / GoDaddy.com | 22/0 | 267 | Running |
23 | 30 | 51 | Landon Cassill | Chevrolet | Thank A Teacher Today / Security Benefit | 0 | 267 | Running |
24 | 10 | 27 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | Sylvania / Menards | 20/0 | 267 | Running |
25 | 25 | 13 | Casey Mears | Toyota | GEICO | 19/0 | 267 | Running |
26 | 24 | 47 | Bobby Labonte | Toyota | Cottonelle Clean Care | 18/0 | 267 | Running |
27 | 27 | 83 | Brian Vickers | Toyota | Red Bull | 17/0 | 265 | Running |
28 | 23 | 43 | A.J. Allmendinger | Ford | Valvoline | 16/0 | 265 | Running |
29 | 37 | 38 | Travis Kvapil | Ford | Long John Silver's | 0 | 265 | Running |
30 | 29 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | Diet Mountain Dew / National Guard | 14/0 | 265 | Running |
31 | 35 | 34 | David Gilliland | Ford | Taco Bell | 13/0 | 264 | Running |
32 | 39 | 71 | Andy Lally * | Ford | Cool Works Cup | 12/0 | 264 | Running |
33 | 32 | 36 | Dave Blaney | Chevrolet | Big Red | 11/0 | 264 | Running |
34 | 42 | 32 | Mike Bliss | Ford | Big Red | 0 | 264 | Running |
35 | 20 | 33 | Clint Bowyer | Chevrolet | Cheerios / Hamburger Helper | 9/0 | 259 | In Pit |
36 | 34 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | McDonald's | 8/0 | 198 | Out of Race |
37 | 43 | 7 | Scott Wimmer | Dodge | Speed Energy | 0 | 90 | Out of Race |
38 | 41 | 37 | Tony Raines | Ford | Front Row Motorsports | 6/0 | 38 | In Pit |
39 | 31 | 87 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | NEMCO Motorsports | 0 | 37 | In Pit |
40 | 36 | 46 | J.J. Yeley | Chevrolet | Red Line Oil | 5/1 | 35 | In Pit |
41 | 38 | 66 | Michael McDowell | Toyota | Standard Publishing / "Relentless Hope" | 3/0 | 32 | Out of Race |
42 | 40 | 181 | Scott Riggs | Chevrolet | WhitneysCollision.com | 0 | 28 | In Pit |
43 | 33 | 60 | Mike Skinner | Toyota | Big Red | 0 | 17 | Out of Race |