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Kyle Busch – A Kentucky Thoroughbred?

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SM Staff
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Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 marks the third time in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history that the race will be held in the Bluegrass State at Kentucky Motor Speedway.  Over the years the state of Kentucky has developed a reputation for high quality horse racing.  They have produced a myriad of thoroughbreds throughout the years, and this weekend we shift from the idea of thoroughbred horses to thoroughbred NASCAR drivers.

The inaugural Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Motor Speedway was held on July 10, 2011.  Joe Gibbs Racing driver of the No. 18 Doublemint Toyota, Kyle Busch, led six times during the race for a total of 125 laps to become the noteworthy winner of NASCAR’s top series in the state.

Even though 2011 marked Kentucky’s first Sprint Cup Series first race, Busch’s winning history at Kentucky began eight years earlier when he was 18 years old.

In 2003, an eighteen year old Kyle Busch, won The Channel  5 205 NASCAR ARCA Series race.  That win marked the beginning of Busch’s stock-car stardom at Kentucky.  Busch has won one race in each of the stock-car divisions at Kentucky Motor Speedway.

His Kentucky victories consist of the 2003 Channel 5 205 ARCA Series race, the 2004 Meijer 300 Nationwide Series race, the 2011 UNOH 225 Camping World Truck Series race, and the 2011 Sprint Cup Series Quaker State 400.

When asked if he could put his finger on why he has been so good at Kentucky in all divisions, Busch commented, “I can’t actually, but I can remember going there for the first time back in 2003 and it was my second-ever ARCA race and the first time on a 1.5 mile oval.  It was a big deal and it was a fast racetrack and I ended up winning that weekend.  I had to do some maneuvering around Frank Kimmel to win.  It wasn’t easy.  But since then, going there in Nationwide and being fast there every time, and going back to race when Sprint Cup didn’t have a date, yet, just getting your feet wet for when that opportunity came when Sprint Cup did go there.  When we went with the Cup car, we were fast right when we unloaded.  Dave Rogers was my crew chief and he had won there several times as a Nationwide crew chief prior to that and had a lot of notes to understand what it took to get around Kentucky, and we ended up winning the first Cup race there.”

Reflecting on how it feels to be the Inaugural Sprint Cup winner at Kentucky, Busch said, “I think it’s cool.  You look at some of the new venues we’ve been to over the years and Jeff Gordon got to win a number of inaugural races, like the Brickyard, Fontana, and Kansas.  He was always the guy who was known to figure out places the fastest, but we were able to be the ones to do that at Kentucky.  There aren’t many opportunities these days to go to a new venue, so for us being able to win the first race there was extra special.”

Hoping to add to his Kentucky legacy, Busch will be running all three NASCAR races this weekend.

When asked what he enjoys about running races in all three NASCAR divisions, like at Kentucky this weekend, Busch said, “It’s a lot of on-track time.  On Thursday we practice all day, and then there’s the truck race that night.  It’s a busy schedule and you are running back and forth between garages and it’s typically hot there in Kentucky.  The biggest thing you get to work on, and enjoy, is essentially the on-track time and getting to figure out the bumps there, and you get extra track time to figure out if you need to get through them better or if you need to get your guys to give you a better setup to get through the bumps.  I have three divisions worth of chances, and three crew chiefs who have different mindsets that, by the time I get to Saturday, I have a feel for what I need to win the Cup race with our Doublemint Camry.”

Unfortunately, Busch fell short of a win in Thursday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series 3rd Annual UNOH 225 with his No. 51 ToyotaCare Toyota finishing in third place.  However, if Busch’s theory of benefiting from his extra track exposure this weekend pans out and he improves with each race, he is already only two improvements away from victory lane.

With six Nationwide Series wins and two Sprint Cup Series wins under his belt this season, his impressive history at Kentucky Motor Speedway, including being the inaugural Quaker State 400 winner, is it safe to say that Kyle Busch is a top Kentucky thoroughbred? Can there be any higher accolade in the Blue Grass State?

Track surface a hot topic at Kentucky

By
SM Staff
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Kentucky Motor Speedway has only been on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule for three years. The 1.5 mile speedway, however, has been in operation since 2000. As with any racetrack, the racing surface ages and changes due to environmental factors such as weather.

This weekend the track’s surface became a hot topic in the garage area. Drivers were commenting on the condition and “raceability” of the speedway nestled in northern Kentucky.

The most recent winner on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Martin Truex Jr. asked about the bumps at Kentucky replied saying, “The bumps, yes – it’s so rough. So difficult with these cars to get them working. We’re on bump stops. The splitter is very close to the ground in these cars.” continuing, “It’s kind of a fun to be able to do that. Definitely a cool place to race, for sure. Very, very challenging obviously. It’s a good place to race – I enjoy it.”

Truex was also asked if there could be more passing than in previous years. Truex commented, “That’s directly related to the banking on the track, the bumps on the track, There’s just not a lot of grip up high. Right now today, if you got out of the black it was pretty treacherous.”

Truex also had the same opinion of many other drivers, that he would not want it re-paved. “You hate to even say the word re-pave. I hate to say it because I’m not a big fan of re-paves.”

Richard Childress Racing driver, Kevin Harvick, who was fastest in first practice on Friday, was asked if had noticed any change in the surface this year. Harvick replied, “No, the track surface is pretty consistent. This is just a really rough race track. There is nothing wrong with the race track; it is just rough. We’d rather see a rough race track than a re-paved race track. I don’t feel that we had much difference from last year.”

Harvick’s Budweiser team used one of the four test permitted by NASCAR to test here at Kentucky, and was probably a major factor in the speed the team showed here on Friday. Harvick pointed out the reason he believes the decided to test here saying, “This one doesn’t really fall into much (comparing with other tracks) but we hadn’t run very well here, so I think that was probably why they decided to come here.”

Another point of discussion has been turn three and how hard it is to get into that corner without having a problem. Harvick said, “Turn three is just really flat getting into the corner, so you kind of drive into the banking and it progressively gets a little bit more as you come off of the corner. It’s really flat there, and you are carrying a lot of speed. You just wind up being loose into the corner for the most part. As you go through the weekend that will be the toughest part to navigate for sure.”

Many times we see the tracks with rougher surfaces and less grip produce better racing. When tracks are re-paved they are smooth and have a lot of grip. That leads to one groove racing. Ideally, we could see a fantastic race at Kentucky if we couple the rough surface with a tire that falls off a lot during a fuel run.

When lap times fall off one to two seconds during a run, a driver must move around, try different grooves in search for grip. This tends to lead to teams being on different strategies, and drivers having to “get up on the wheel” and drive. Some cars are falling back, while others with new tires are coming to the front. In these situations, the drivers ability comes into play much more, putting more emphasis on talent and less on aerodynamic downforce.

All of these factors are a recipe for a much more exciting race. The Quaker State 400 will go green Saturday night at 7:30pm local time.

CHEVY NSCS AT KENTUCKY: Jeff Gordon Press Conf. Transcript

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CHEVY NSCS AT KENTUCKY: Danica Patrick Press Conf. Transcript

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Matt Crafton making Nationwide Series debut at Kentucky

By
SM Staff
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Photo Credit: Kala Perkins/Speedway Media

Current Camping World Truck Series points leader, Matt Crafton, will make his Nationwide Series debut Friday at Kentucky Motor Speedway in the Feed The Children 300. He will be driving the No. 33 Menards Chevy for Richard Childress Racing. These are familiar colors for Crafton, as he drives a Menards sponsored Chevy for ThorSport racing in the truck series. Crafton has been affiliated with Menards since 2002.

Crafton is a series veteran with 302 career starts, fifteen of those coming at Kentucky. He has three wins, 61 top-5’s, and 164 top 10’s, including a tenth place finish in Thursday night’s UNOH 225 at the speedway. He currently has a 22 points lead in the standings over series rookie, Jeb Burton. He has, however, never started a race in the NASCAR Nationwide Series or Sprint Cup Series.

His debut race is off to an impressive start pacing first practice with a fast lap of 172.750 mph and a time of 31.259 secs. His lap was almost a full mph over second fastest, series regular, Sam Hornish, who had a lap of 171.854 mph.

Rounding out the top five in first practice were, Cole Whitt, Brad Keselowski, and points leader Regan Smith. Crafton’s RCR teammates, Austin Dillon and Brian Scott were ninth and tenth respectively.

Success continued for Crafton on Friday morning in “happy hour” practice, ending the session in second place with a lap of 175.867 mph. The lap was just shy of Travis Pastrana, who was fastest with a lap of 175.970 mph. Rookie Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon, and Brad Keselowski completed the top five.

Crafton’s long term sponsor Menards was instrumental in putting the deal together. When asked about the opportunity to drive for RCR, Crafton said,  “I have been looking forward to the opportunity to drive in the series with great equipment for a long time.”  He also pointed out that he will be back in the car at the second Kentucky race and at Chicago.

The Feed The Children 300 will take the green Friday night at 7:30pm local time.

 

CHEVY NSCS AT KENTUCKY: Kevin Harvick Press Conf. Transcript

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CHEVY NSCS AT KENTUCKY: Jimmie Johnson Press Conf. Transcript

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CHEVY NSCS AT KENTUCKY: Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Press Conf. Transcript

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Ford Kentucky Friday Cup Notes and Quotes (Brad Keselowski Thursday Press Conference)

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Ty Dillon passes Kyle Busch late to win UNOH 225 at Kentucky Speedway

By
SM Staff
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Photo Credit: John Harrelson/Getty Images

“This could be the start of something good…” Ty Dillon said on the radio as he crossed the finish line.

With 26 laps to go, Ty Dillon would pass Kyle Busch to take the lead and never looked back, taking the victory in the UNOH 225 at Kentucky Speedway.

“First things first, I got to thank the Lord,” the driver of the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet said in victory lane. “I was praying on the last restart. Got to thank him first. This couldn’t be a better day. So proud of Marcus Richmond and all of these guys.”

It marks second victory of Dillon’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career, the first of this season.

“We got a strong team,” the 21-year-old added. “We won’t give up. We’re going to put our superman cape from here on out.”

After battling hard with a really loose truck mid-race, Brad Keselowski would come back to finish second.

Busch would finish third after struggling with a loose truck late in the race.

“I was loose before the stop,” he commented. “We tried to tighten it up but it was loose. It seemed like clock work in the test – 9 o’ clock comes and it gets loose. Can’t believe we messed it up that bad.”

James Buescher would finish fourth while Ryan Blaney had to settle for fifth.

With 32 laps to go, Blaney was side-by-side with Busch for the lead, though would make contact with the outside wall.

“I was really excited about the run we were having – everybody did a good job at getting this truck better as the race went on,” he said. “I was running the bottom really good and I knew it was only a matter of time before I caught Busch. I went to the outside, he got loose, got up into me and put me in the wall. It just damaged the outside of the truck too much.”

“I got out of the throttle, turned it all the way to the left, but it kept taking the air off my spoiler and sliding up,” Busch commented on the contact.

Timothy Peters would finish sixth, followed by Miguel Paludo, German Quiroga, Jeb Burton and Matt Crafton. Crafton leads the points, still, 22 points ahead of Burton.

Joey Coulter was battling for eighth on the last lap when his truck got loose, causing him to make contact with the outside wall. As a result, Coulter finished 16th.

Darrell Wallace Jr. dominated the first half of the race, though would get loose on lap 86 while underneath Blaney and spin around, making contact with the outside wall.

“Just came around,” he said. “Just barely had room there. I mean, I’m not pissed off of Ryan. We’re good friends. Just frustrated. Haven’t been able to figure out these trucks yet. It seems everytime I get behind someone, I get really loose.”

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