A Closer Look at Kentucky Speedway
The NASCAR season rolls on with their 13th race since returning from the COVID-19 pandemic back in May. After a rousing race at the historic grounds of Indianapolis Motor Speedway last week, where racing in some form or fashion has gone on since 1909, things shift to the Bluegrass State this week for the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway. While the racing is competitive, the track is a relative newcomer to the circuit so there isn’t nearly the amount of history that you would find at other tracks like Martinsville, Bristol, Darlington or Talladega. Today, we give you some information on the track and some background on how guys have performed there in recent years.
Kentucky Speedway began its construction in 1998 and the track ran its first race of any kind on June 16, 2000 with a Slim Jim All Pro Series race. The first race with any of the NASCAR circuits came a day later when Greg Biffle took the checkered flag in the Kroger 225, beating Jack Sprague by 2.182 seconds. Kevin Harvick won the first Xfinity Series (then the Busch Series) event at the track, taking the Outback Steakhouse 300 by 1.311 seconds over Biffle on June 16, 2001. In 2002, Jason Priestley of Beverly Hills, 90210 fame suffered serious injuries, including a concussion and fractures in his thoracic spine and his feet. That marked the first major injury that occurred at the track. After originally seating 66,000 people, the track increased its seating capacity to 107,000 in 2010-11.
The track at Kentucky Speedway is a 1.5-mile tri-oval, similar to Dayton and Talladega. In turns one and two, the track is banked at 17 degrees while the banking drops to 14 degrees in turns three and four. The straightaways are banked at four degrees while the tri-oval itself is banked between eight and ten degrees at a progressive level. While the track is 72 feet wide for the majority of the track, it narrows to 56 feet in turns one and two, which can lead to a little bit of a bottleneck situation. The backstretch is 1,600 feet long with the banking descending from the start of turn four through the exit of it.
Kentucky Speedway’s first NASCAR Cup Series race came on July 9, 2011 with the Quaker State 400. Kyle Busch earned the victory as he held off David Reutimann by .179 seconds. Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Newman and Carl Edwards rounded out the top five in that race. There were six caution flags covering 32 of the 267 laps in the race and 20 lead changes. Busch took the lead for good on lap 257 and held it the final 11 laps that day to earn the checkered flag in the inaugural NASCAR Cup race in the Bluegrass State.
Among current drivers, there are nearly a dozen drivers who have run at the track in each of the nine races. Jimmie Johnson, Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, David Ragan, Ryan Newman, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano have all taken part in all nine races. Despite that, only five drivers have accounted for the nine victories on the track. Keselowski leads the way with three wins while Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch each have two. Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch both have one victory here in their careers, with Kurt Busch taking the checkered flag in 2019 to make him the defending champ.
When it comes to top-five finishes, Kyle Busch is far and away the leader in that department as he has recorded seven of them in his nine runs. Denny Hamlin and Keselowski each have four such finishes, while Kenseth and Newman round out the top five with three top-five runs in their careers here. Kyle Busch also has the most top-10 finishes at the track with eight. Logano, Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Kenseth and Harvick are next in line with six such finishes. No active driver has won the pole more than once here, though with the drawing for position, that isn’t as much of a factor here. Kyle Busch has led 621 laps here to hold the top spot among active drivers. Keselowski is second with 524 laps led while Truex Jr. (373), Johnson (206) and Kurt Busch (137) round out the top five there. In addition, Kyle Busch is the lone driver to finish on the lead lap in all nine races.
It’s a busy weekend at Kentucky Speedway. On Thursday night, Austin Cindric took the checkered flag in the Shady Rays 200 as he got past Chase Briscoe in overtime shortly before a multi-car wreck ended the race under caution. On Friday night, the Xfinity Series takes center stage again with the Alsco 300 before the ARCA series runs Saturday afternoon. Saturday evening brings the truck series out as the Buckle Up In Your Truck 225 kicks off at 6 pm ET. The Quaker State 400 goes off on Sunday afternoon with the green flag scheduled to go off at 2:30 pm ET. Television coverage will be provided by FS1 and the Performance Racing Network.
Entering the race Sunday, Harvick leads the NASCAR Cup standings by 85 points over Chase Elliott. Keselowski (88 points back), Ryan Blaney (103 points behind) and Hamlin (109 points off the pace) round out the top five.