Cup - Kyle Busch Wins Inaugural Kentucky Race

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Kyle Busch held off Jimmie Johnson on a late restart to win Saturday night's Quaker State 400, the inaugural Cup race at Kentucky Speedway.

Busch dominated the event, leading a race-high 125 (of  267) laps, but had to hold off Johnson on a restart with two laps to go to take home the trophy.  The pair entered Turn One side-by-side on the restart, but Busch had the momentum in the outside lane and pulled ahead coming out of Turn Two.  Johnson then had to contend with a hard-charging David Reutimann.  Reutimann passed Johnson for second place as they came to the stripe.

It was Busch's third win of the season, tying him with Kevin Harvick for the most in the Sprint Cup Series.  It was his 22nd career Cup victory, and his 99th victory in the three national series combined.

Ryan Newman finished fourth, followed by Carl Edwards.  Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski, David Ragan, Kurt Busch and Jeff Gordon rounded out the Top 10.  (Race results)

It's never a good sign when the big story after a race is the traffic, but the race was a snoozefest until the end and the traffic jam was the mother of all traffic jams.  

It seems that Kentucky Speedway is just another 1.5-mile cookie cutter oval where aerodynamics are king.  The bumps in the track that were supposed to add drama didn't, and the only good racing came on the restarts.  There were long stretches of green-flag runs where the field got strung out and the leader, racing in clean air, checked out.

But the traffic jam was what will be remembered for years to come.  The line of cars stretched some 20 miles down Interstate 71 and track officials ran out of places to park cars.  After many spent hours trying to get to the track, they were turned away when officials began reversing the traffic patterns to get everyone out after the race was over.  Track owner Bruton Smith estimated that 15,000-20,000 ticket holders never made it in.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. continued his free fall in the points standings for the fourth straight week.  He pitted under green late in the race and took fuel only, then blew his left front tire as he re-entered the track.  The tire shredded and destroyed his fender, bringing out a caution on Lap 254.  Clint Bowyer spun and hit the wall just a couple of laps after the restart setting up the final two-lap sprint to the checkers.

With the win, Busch jumped two spots to take the lead in the series points standings, four points ahead of Edwards.  Harvick (-10) dropped two spots to third, followed by Kurt Busch (-18), Johnson (-19), Kenseth (-22), Gordon (-72), Earnhardt (-76), Newman (-86) and Denny Hamlin (-94).  Tony Stewart is just three points behind Hamlin for the tenth spot.  Bowyer dropped out of the Top 10 and is now 16 points behind Hamlin.  Ragan holds one wildcard spot for the Chase.  Keselowski is just three points behind Joey Logano for 20th place in the standings and the other wildcard spot.

Nationwide - Keselowski Stretches His Fuel Mileage to Win at Kentucky

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Brad Keselowski dominated Friday night's Feed the Children 300 at Kentucky Speedway, leading 132 of the 200 laps, but it came down to fuel mileage at the end.  Keselowski conserved enough to take the checkered flag.

Keselowski's only real challenge came from Kevin Harvick, who was also in fuel conservation mode.  But Harvick's crew made a crucial mistake in the closing laps, calling Harvick to the pits for fuel, then changing their minds at the last minute and telling him to stay out.  A car had spun out and they were looking for a caution that never came.  Harvick couldn't make up the lost time, allowing Keselowski to cruise to a 1.180-second victory.

It was Keselowski's first win of the season and the 13th of his career.  It was his first win at Kentucky Speedway in his fourth start.

On Lap 134, Robert Richardson spun and backed into the wall to bring out the fifth and final caution of the race.  Keselowski took fuel only and was the first off of pit road.  Keselowski pulled away on the restart and led the rest of the way.

Kyle Busch started in the rear of the field after wrecking in practice and switching to his backup car.  He quickly worked his way toward the front, but never challenged Keselowski and Harvick.  He finished third, followed by Kasey Kahne and Elliott Sadler.  (Race results)

Sadler took over the lead in the series points standings from Reed Sorenson, who finished 17th.  Sorenson had pit troubles earlier in the race, leaving the pits with the track bar wrench still in the back of the car.  Sadler now leads Sorenson by four points.  Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (-27) is third, followed by Justin Allgaier (-43) and Jason Leffler (-73).

Trucks - Busch Finds a Way to Win at Kentucky

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It didn't seem like Kyle Busch had the truck to win, but, after some great late restarts and some misfortune for most of the other contenders, he cruised to victory in Thursday night's University of Northwestern Ohio 225 at Kentucky Speedway.

Busch started in the rear of the field after missing the drivers' meeting, but quickly charged toward the front, finally taking the lead for the first time on Lap 61.  He led twice for 61 laps, including the last 18.  Toward the end, his was not the fastest truck, but most of the other contenders fell by the wayside.

Polesitter Johnny Sauter passed Busch for the lead on Lap 103, but broke a rear axle while trying to leave his pit on a green-flag stop on Lap 124.  About eight laps later, Austin Dillon challenged Busch for the lead, but his hood came loose and folded back over his windshield.  He had to pit to have it cut loose.

With ten laps to go, Charlie Vest spun.  He didn't hit anything, but NASCAR finally had to throw the caution because he was blocking the entrance to pit road and couldn't get the engine restarted.  About the time the caution waved, Steve Arpin spun straight toward Vest, but he finally had it running again and moved out of the way in time to avoid the collision.

That set up a restart with five laps to go.  Busch got a great restart, but Joey Coulter did not.  He dropped back and bunched the rest of the field up.  Nelson Piquet Jr., another contender, got pushed back in the middle of a three-wide pack.  He got into the rear of the other Brazilian in the race, Miguel Paludo, and they both went hard into the wall.

That set up the green-white-checkered finish.  Again, Busch got a great jump, but Jason White did not.  Busch cruised to victory.  Parker Klingerman, Brendan Gaughan and Todd Bodine got around White to finish second, third and fourth respectively.  White came home fifth.  (Race results)

It was Busch's first win at Kentucky Speedway, his fifth Camping World Truck Series win of the season and the 29th of his career.  It was his 98th national series win, third most all-time.  The race went 152 laps, two past the scheduled distance.

Ron Hornaday made the bonehead move of the race.  After a restart on Lap 76, he was challenging Cole Whitt for fourth place.  Hornaday got loose and came up into Whitt and they both went into the wall.  That would have been the end of it if Hornaday had stayed on the brakes, but he tried to straighten out his heavily damaged truck and keep moving.  He slammed Jack Smith into the wall, then slid down the track and took out John King and Josh Richards.

The series points standings were shuffled a bit.  Sauter stayed in first, and even gained three more points on Whitt (-23).  Dillon (-25) moved up a spot to third.  James Buescher (-32) and Klingerman (-35) each moved up three spots to fourth and fifth respectively as Hornaday (-37) dropped three spots to sixth.

Cup - Ragan Gets First Career Win at Daytona

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David Ragan cruised to his first career Cup Series win in Saturday night's Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

Racing in the two-car drafts that have become commonplace at the superspeedways, the top four finished in single file. Ragan was pushed to victory by his Roush Fenway teammate Matt Kenseth.  The tandem of Joey Logano and Kasey Kahne didn't try to challenge the finish and finished third and fourth respectively.

A sedate race by Daytona standards turned treacherous at the end.  It took two green-white-checkered finishes and ten extra laps to settle this one.  With two separate wrecks occurring simultaneously on the final lap, NASCAR let it play out to the finish and didn't throw the caution until the leaders had crossed the line.

After three cautions in the first 50 laps, the race settled down into a long green flag run from Lap 53 to Lap 157.  Then with just three laps left to go, Kahne got together with his Red Bull teammate Brian Vickers, pushing Jeff Gordon up into Kyle Busch and Logano.  It was slight contact, but was enough to send Gordon sideways in traffic.  Gordon made a tremendous save to get the car straightened out again, but that brought out the caution and set up the first GWC attempt.

The first attempt didn't make it through Turn Two.  Racing three wide through the turn, Mark Martin drifted down on Logano, triggering the Big One.  Somewhere in the neighborhood of fifteen cars were involved in various degrees.

They lined up again for a second GWC.  Ragan got a great push from Kenseth to stay out front, but Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin challenged.  Logano and Kahne went outside to make it three wide, and Newman and Hamlin were stranded in the middle and fell back.  On the final lap, Landon Cassill got together with Marcos Ambrose, triggering a multi-car crash.  As that one was playing out, Jamie McMurray got together with Dale Earnhardt Jr., triggering another melee closer to the front of the field.

Kyle Busch finished fifth, followed by Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Paul Menard, Juan Montoya, and A. J. Allmendinger.  (Race results)

Ragan atoned for a big mistake at the Daytona 500 in February.  Leading the field to green on a late restart, Ragan was penalized for changing lanes before he crossed the start/finish line, ending his chances for a win.

Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne's hopes for a repeat at the track ended early on Lap 5.  A push from Brad Keselowski hooked him into the wall and ended his day.

Carl Edwards's day also ended early.  On Lap 23, he was hooked by his Roush Fenway teammate Greg Biffle.  Biffle slapped the outside wall; Edwards slid through the infield and smacked the inside wall hard.  Edwards came into the race with a 25-point lead in the series points standings, but finished 37th and relinquished the lead to Harvick.

Harvick now leads Edwards by five points.  Kyle Busch jumped two spots to third, ten points behind Harvick.  Kurt Busch (-16) is fourth.  Kenseth (-22) is fifth.  Jimmie Johnson (-22) got caught up in the last-lap melees and finished 20th, dropping him three spots to sixth in the standings.  Earnhardt (-52) is seventh, followed by Gordon (-67), Clint Bowyer (-81) and Newman (-88).  With just nine races left before the Chase, Hamlin has closed to within three points of tenth.  Tony Stewart is just four points behind Newman now.  (Points standings)

Related articles

• Ragan may have saved his job (msn.foxsports.com)
• WINNERS & LOSERS: David Ragan and Matt Kenseth make Roush Fenway Racing the big winner at Daytona (scenedaily.com)

From the Twitter Machine

One of the big stories before Friday night's Subway Jalapeno 250 at Daytona International Speedway was Kevin Harvick Inc.'s four-car mega-team that was entered in the race.  KHI had cars for Harvick, Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer and Elliott Sadler.

Harvick won the pole, followed by Stewart, Sadler and Bowyer to give KHI a sweep of the first two rows.  It was the first time in series history that a team had started a race 1-2-3-4.  Things didn't go so well after that.  Harvick turned Bowyer into the wall on Lap 80.  All the other cars were wrecked on the final lap.

This was Harvick's wife DeLana's reaction on Twitter after the race...

Well that was expensive.....Sat Jul 02 01:43:14 via SeesmicDeLana Harvick
DeLanaHarvick

Nationwide - Busch Pushes Logano to Daytona Win

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Joey Logano got a big push from his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch to win Friday night's Subway Jalapeno 250 at Daytona International Speedway.  Logano held off a late charge by Jason Leffler to win by 0.040 seconds.

Logano started at the rear of the field after his crew made unapproved modifications to his car before the race.  He was turned early in the race by teammate Brian Scott as they tried to go below the yellow line to pass the slower car of Kevin LaPage, but somehow saved it.  Logano didn't lead in the race until the final half-mile.

It was Logano's ninth career Nationwide Series win, his first of the season and his first at Daytona.

As Logano crossed the stripe, the Big One unfolded behind him.  Mike Wallace ran Danica Patrick up into the wall.  She bounced back down into the pack, triggering an eight-car crash.

Reed Sorenson finished third and collected the first of four $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonuses Nationwide is giving away this season.  Busch was fourth, followed by Justin Allgaier and Michael Annett.  Kenny Wallace took seventh place going through the infield grass.  The wrecked cars of Elliott Sadler, Aric Almirola and Patrick made it across the line to round out the Top Ten.  (Race results)

On Lap 44, Eric McClure was turned hard into the wall by Mike Bliss.  McClure walked away from the wreck, but was taken to the infield care center, then to a local hospital for further evaluation.

The top eleven spots in the series points standings stayed the same, but Sorenson extended his lead to nine points over Sadler.  Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (-31) is third, followed by Allgaier (-37) and Leffler (-73).