Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Kentucky NASCAR: Brad Keselowski dominates night race

Brad Keselowski dominated from pole to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup night race at Kentucky Speedway

Having swept the front row in Friday's qualifying session, Keselowski and Penske team-mate Joey Logano were untouchable for most of the race as well, with 2012 champion Keselowski leading 199 of the 267 laps.

Keselowski lost the lead to Logano during pitstops on three occasions, but he was always able to repass the sister car on track soon afterwards.

The only man other than the Penske duo to hold first place at any stage was Kyle Busch, who was one of several driver to vault to the front by virtue of good pitstop timing when the final yellow of the race came out.

That shuffle was the sole time all night that Keselowski had traffic to deal with, but his Ford proved just as competitive as it had in clean air, and he was swiftly back in front.

Logano would not join him there in the end, though, as a misfire on his car meant he only finished ninth.

Joe Gibbs Toyota racer Busch remained second, taking the flag 1.015 seconds behind Keselowski.

Ryan Newman's third place was his first top-five finish since joining Richard Childress Racing.

Matt Kenseth took fourth, while after its mediocre qualifying session, Hendrick got all four cars in the top 10 - Dale Earnhardt Jr, Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne and Jimmie Johnson taking fifth, sixth, eighth and 10th, with Kevin Harvick sandwiched among them in seventh.

Both Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson crashed early on due to blown tyres while among the frontrunners.

Results - 267 laps:

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                     Time/Gap
 1.  Brad Keselowski     Penske Ford              2h51m59.000s
 2.  Kyle Busch          Joe Gibbs Toyota              +1.015s
 3.  Ryan Newman         Childress Chevrolet           +2.191s
 4.  Matt Kenseth        Joe Gibbs Toyota              +3.895s
 5.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Hendrick Chevrolet            +4.795s
 6.  Jeff Gordon         Hendrick Chevrolet            +5.198s
 7.  Kevin Harvick       Stewart-Haas Chevrolet        +7.668s
 8.  Kasey Kahne         Hendrick Chevrolet           +11.495s
 9.  Joey Logano         Penske Ford                  +12.228s
10.  Jimmie Johnson      Hendrick Chevrolet           +14.145s
11.  Tony Stewart        Stewart-Haas Chevrolet       +17.929s
12.  Kurt Busch          Stewart-Haas Chevrolet       +18.613s
13.  Marcos Ambrose      Petty Ford                   +21.471s
14.  Greg Biffle         Roush Fenway Ford            +21.891s
15.  Paul Menard         Childress Chevrolet          +23.027s
16.  Austin Dillon       Childress Chevrolet          +27.518s
17.  Carl Edwards        Roush Fenway Ford            +29.318s
18.  Michael Annett      Baldwin Chevrolet            +29.907s
19.  Martin Truex Jr     Furniture Row Chevrolet      +30.632s
20.  Casey Mears         Germain Chevrolet            +31.350s
21.  Danica Patrick      Stewart-Haas Chevrolet       +31.472s
22.  AJ Allmendinger     JTG Daugherty Chevrolet        -1 lap
23.  Clint Bowyer        Waltrip Toyota                 -1 lap
24.  Justin Allgaier     Hscott Chevrolet               -1 lap
25.  Ricky Stenhouse Jr  Roush Fenway Ford              -1 lap
26.  Brian Vickers       Waltrip Toyota                 -1 lap
27.  Reed Sorenson       Baldwin Chevrolet             -2 laps
28.  Cole Whitt          BK Toyota                     -3 laps
29.  Josh Wise           Parsons Chevrolet             -4 laps
30.  David Gilliland     Front Row Ford                -4 laps
31.  David Ragan         Front Row Ford                -5 laps
32.  Landon Cassill      Hillman Chevrolet             -5 laps
33.  Ryan Truex          BK Toyota                     -6 laps
34.  Travis Kvapil       FAS Lane Ford                 -8 laps
35.  David Stremme       Circle Sport Chevrolet       -10 laps
36.  Alex Bowman         BK Toyota                    -12 laps
37.  Jamie McMurray      Ganassi Chevrolet            -17 laps
38.  Joe Nemechek        Robinson Toyota              -28 laps

Retirements:

     Aric Almirola       Petty Ford                   175 laps
     Kyle Larson         Ganassi Chevrolet             75 laps
     Mike Bliss          BK Toyota                     30 laps
     Denny Hamlin        Joe Gibbs Toyota              27 laps

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Kentucky NASCAR: Brad Keselowski leads all-Penske front row
Next article NASCAR Daytona: David Gilliland tops rain-shortened qualifying

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe