Martin Truex Jr., the driver of the #78 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota, takes the checkered flag to win the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart at Kentucky Speedway on July 14, 2018, in Sparta, Kentucky. Photo – Sarah Crabill/Getty Images
In years past, the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Motor Speedway has been a challenge for the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup series. The banking in turns three and four is different than the banking in turns one and two. The long sweeping turns of this track, along with the differences in banking can really shake a drivers confidence. However, the race on Saturday night told a different story.
Martin Truex Jr. started alongside Erik Jones for an all Toyota front row, but after the race got going, it was all Truex Jr. He was fast and he looked to be back in the shape that he was in last year. Truex Jr. controlled the race from the number one position. Truex Jr. dominated last years race at Kentucky in the same fashion that he did last night by leading 174 laps last night including the one that brought the win home.
Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch were the only other drivers who led laps for a decent amount of time. There were only a few cautions, one of which consisted of Alex Bowman getting into the wall. This wreck ended Bowman’s night and he was on the move too. He started toward the middle of the field, but he was making some ground on the guys in the lead.
Not a lot going on in the race at Kentucky. These races at 1.5-mile tracks have always been dominated by one driver in the field. Whoever is leading on that night does not seem to get any competition. Last night, there was some hard racing for the lead, but only on the restarts of stages and on the few cautions. The race went three wide for second place at one point, but that got smothered real quick with guys falling back in line.
The hype going into this race versus how the race actually played out is what annoyed some of the fans. All week, TV commercials displayed how drivers felt about racing in Kentucky. Kentucky is known for the differences in banking in the turns, and this is what some of the commercials were about. The hype was all centered around throwing caution in turns three and four, but drivers seemed to have it down last night. A few years ago, there were a lot of wrecks here in Kentucky. Most of which happened in turns three and four. This year, drivers seemed to manage it well.
This is a racetrack that will be on the schedule for a while. In fact, Quaker State just extended its sponsorship contract with NASCAR to sponsor this race through 2022. So this track is on the schedule for years to come. Next week, the Cup Series will race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. This unique track will offer another great show with tight corners with very little banking and should also offer hard racing into the corners to get track position. Denny Hamlin is the defending champ at this track, and it will be interesting to see if he can earn his spot into the playoffs this year.