The NASCAR Cup Series caps off a busy weekend at Kentucky Speedway with the Quaker State 400. The fifth race in four days, Kentucky has hosted races in the Xfinity, ARCA, Gander RV and Outdoors Truck, and NASCAR Cup Series this weekend without fans as NASCAR continues its 2020 racing season.
After missing a race for the first time in his NASCAR Cup Series racing career, Jimmie Johnson returns to the track to race this weekend.
After a random draw based on car owner points, Kyle Busch will sit on the pole and bring the field to the green flag with Joey Logano starting alongside on the front row.
During the pre race inspection process, the number 19 Joe Gibbs Racing car driven by Martin Truex Jr and the number 42 Chip Ganassi Racing car driven by Matt Kenseth failed inspection twice and will have to start the race from the back of the field. Both drivers were slated to start the race in the top 20.
The starting line up for the Quaker State 400:
Kyle Busch
Joey Logano
Kevin Harvick
Aric Almirola
Alex Bowman
Brad Keselowski
Kurt Busch
Chase Elliott
Martin Truex Jr – moved to the back of the field after failing inspection
Matt DiBenedetto
Ryan Blaney
Denny Hamlin
Chris Buescher
Ricky Stenhouse Jr
Clint Bowyer
Erik Jones
Matt Kenseth – moved to the back of the field after failing inspection
Bubba Wallace
Austin Dillon
Jimmie Johnson
William Byron
John Hunter Nemechek
Ryan Newman
Tyler Reddick
Garrett Smithley
Josh Bilicki
Corey LaJoie
Quin Houff
Cole Custer
Michael McDowell
Brennan Poole
Ryan Preece
Ty Dillon
Christopher Bell
Joey Gase
JJ Yeley
Daniel Suarez
Timmy Hill
Award winning peddle steel guitarist Robert Randolph performed the National Anthem after the prayer by NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Darrell Waltrip.
Stages one and two of the race are 80 laps each with stage three lasting 107 laps for a total of 267 laps around the mile and a half track.
NASCAR has called for a competition caution on lap 25.
Kyle Busch brings the field down for the green flag start of the race from the outside laneand goes nose to nose with Joey Logano before getting out in front for the lead.
Lap two, Kyle Busch Aric Almirola, Joey logano, Brad Keselowski, and Alex Bowman round out the top five.
Lap four, Kyle Busch has a half second lead on Aric Almiroola; Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, and Alex Bowman round out the top five.
Lap seven, Kyle Busch continues to lead the race but by only a quarter of a second on Aric Almirola; Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, and Alex Bowman round out the top five.
Lap eight, Aric Almirola challenges Kyle Busch for the lead but Busch holds him off so far.
Lap 10, Aric Almirola gets around Kyle Busch to take the lead.
Lap 16, Aric Almirola has pulled out to a lead of over half a second on Kyle Busch; Joey Logano, Alex Bowman, and Brad Keselowski round out the top five. There are 34 cars on the lead lap.
Lap 20, Aric Almirola has increased his lead to over a second on Kyle Busch; Joey Logano, Alex Bowman, and Brad Keselowski round out the top five.
Lap 21, after starting the race from the back of the field after failing inspection, Martn Truex Jr has moved up 15 spots.to 20th place.
Lap 23, Aric Almirola has a second and a half lead on Kyle Busch.
The drivers are getting three and four wide across the track as they battle for position.
On lap 26, NASCAR puts out the yellow flag for the competition caution.
Nearly all of the drivers bring their cars down pit road for service. Aric Almirola wins the race off of pit road.
Aric Almirola brings the field down for the green flag restart on lap 31 from the outside lane and goes nose to nose the Joey Logano before edging out in front for the lead.
Lap 32, Aric Almirola leads the race with Chase Elliott in second; Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, and Matt DiBenedetto round out the top five.
Ty Dillon was charged with a commitment line violation during the pit stop and had to restart the race from the back of the field.
Lap 35, Cole Custer has set the fastest lap of the day.
Lap 35, Aric Almirola has a near one second lead on Chase Elliott; Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick and Ryan Blaney round out the top five.
Eleventh place driver Kyle Busch has some debris on his grille.
Lap 41, Aric Almrola has a lead of over a second on Chase Elliott; Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, and Kevin Harvick round out the top five.
Lap 46, Aric Almirola continues to lead the race with Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, and Kevin Harvick rounding out the top five.
Lap 49, Aric Almirola has pulled out to a lead of over two seconds on Chase Elliott; Joey Logano, Matt DiBenedetto, and Kevin Harvick round out the top five.
Ryan Blaney is reporting that something broke in his car after the gear shift jumped out of fourth gear. Blaney was asking the team for a bungy cord or something to make a quick fix.
Lap 55, Aric Almirola has a lead of over two seconds on Chase Elliott; Joey Logano, Matt DiBenedetto, and Kevin Harvick round out the top five.
There are 32 cars on the lead lap with all 38 cars still on the track.
Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch have both reported “chatter” in their cars.
Lap 60, Chase Elliott has closed the gap on leader Aric Almirola to under two seconds; Joey Logano, Matt DiBenedetto, and Ryan Blaney round out the top five.
Lap 63, in heavy traffic, Aric Almirola’s lead is down to under a second on Chase Elliott with Matt DiBenedetto in third.
With eleven laps remaining in stage one, Aric Almirola has increased his lead to nearly two and a half seconds on Chase Elliott; Matt DiBenedetto, Joey Logano, and Ryan Blaney round out the top five with 27 cars on the lead lap.
Lap 73, John Hunter Nemechek gets really loose on the track but saves the car and the track stays green.
Lap 74, Aric Almirola is running away with the race, he has a lead of over four seconds on Chase Elliott.
Timmy Hill is off the track.
With 25 cars on the lead lap, Aric Almirola wins stage one by over four seconds for his second stage win of the season.
The top 10 at the end of stage one:
Aric Almirola
Chase Elliott
Joey Logano
Matt DiBenedetto
Ryan Blaney
Kevin Harvick
Alex Bowman
Kurt Busch
Clint Bowyer
Martin Truex Jr
Ryan Newman is the “lucky dog”.
Aric Almirola wins the race off of pit road with Joey Logano coming out second.
Blaney gets a bungy cord to work on his shifter.
Ty Dillon was caught speeding on pit road.
Aric Almirola brings the field down for the green flag start of stage two from the outside lane on lap 87 and finally gets out in front of Joey Logano for the lead; Matt DiBenedetto, Chase Elliott, and Alex Bowman round out the top five.
Timmy Hill is back on the track eleven laps down.
Lap 93, Aric Almirola has a lead of nearly half a second on Joey Logano; Matt DiBenedetto, Chase Elliott, and Ryan Blaney round out the top five.
Lap 94, Aric Almirola has increased his lead to over half a second on Joey Logano.
Lap 96, Aric Almirola now has a lead of over a second on Joey Logano; Matt DiBenedetto, Ryan Blaney, and Chase Elliott round out the top five.
Lap 104, Aric Almirola has a two second lead on Joey Logano; Matt DiBenedetto, Ryan Blaney, and Alex Bowman round out the top five.
Kevin Harvick reports that whatever adjustments the team did made things worse; adding that the car is just plowing. Harvick is “feeling the pressure” after his son Keelan won his first go kart race on Saturday.
Lap 110, Aric Almirola is dominating the race with consistent two plus second leads on the second place driver.
Lap 115, with Aric Almirola out in front by over two seconds; Joey Logano, Matt DiBenedetto, Ryan Blaney, and Alex Bowman round out the top five.
Halfway through stage two, there have been no caution flags for on track incidents.
Lap 125, Aric Almirola has a lead of over two secondson Ryan Blaney; Joey Logano, Matt DiBenedetto, and Alex Bowman round out the top five.
Since getting around Joey Logano for second place, Ryan Blaney is slowly closing the gap on leader Aric Almirola.
Lap 130, Aric Almirola has a lead of just under two seconds on Ryan Blaney; Joey Logano, Matt DiBenedetto, and Alex Bowman round out the top five.
Lap 132, Aric Almirola’s lead is down to under a second and a half on Ryan Blaney with 25 cars on the lead lap.
Lap 139, Ryan Blaney gets around Aric Almirola to take the lead. Blaney has had some shifter issues in his car and at times is driving one handed while he holds on to the broken shifter.
Lap 142, Ryan Blaney has pulled out to a lead of over two seconds on Aric Almirola; Joey Logano, Matt DiBenedetto, and Alex Bowman round out the top five.
Lap 144, Joey Logano passes Aric Almirola for secnd place. Ryan Blaney has a near three second lead on Logano.
Tyler Reddick becomes the first driver to make a green flag pit stop and begin the cycle of green flag pit stops.
Lap 150, leader Ryan Blaney comes down pit road for his stop and gives the lead over the Matt DiBenedetto.
Lap 152, Matt DiBenedetto makes his pit stop and gives the lead over to Brad Keselowski.
Lap 154, Brad Keselowski makes his pit stop.
Lap 154, Matt Kenseth brings out the first caution flag of the race for an on track incident when he gets loose with a flat tire.
Even though he was on pit road, Brad Keselowski is listed as the leader of the race with Ryan Blaney in second.
Ryan Newman is the “lucky dog”.
With just one lap remaining in stage two, Brad Keselowski brings the field down for the green flag restart with team mate Ryan Blaney alongside. Brad Keselowski takes the lead.
Brad Keselowski wins stage two for his fourth stage win of the season.
The top 10 at the end of stage two:
Brad Keselowski
Ryan Blaney
Cole Custer
Joey Logano
Martin Truex Jr
Alex Bowman
Austin Dillon
Jimmie Johnson
Matt DiBenedetto
Erik Jones
Ryan Preece has taken his car to the garage with a transmission issue.
Brennan Poole, Quin Houff, and Corey LaJoie were all caught speeding on pit road during green flag pit stops.
Only a few drivers come down pit road for service after making green flag stops only a few laps ago.
Kyle Busch is reporting some sort of issue with his car; saying it is motor boating.
Michael McDowell is the “lucky dog”.
Brad Keselowski brings the field down for the green flag start of stage three with 100 laps remaining in the race. Keselowski takes the lead with Martin Truex Jr in second; Ryan Blaney, Jimmie Johnson, and Kurt Busch round out the top five. Drivers were getting three and four wide across the track.
With 97 laps remaining in the rce, Brad Keselowski has a lead of a third of a second on Martin Truex Jr.
Kyle Busch gets into the wall but save the car and the track stays green.
Ninety four to go, Martn Truex Jr takes the lead form Brad Keselowski but Keselowski comes back to retake the lead; Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Blaney, and Kurt Busch round out the top five.
With 86 laps remaining in the race, Martin Truex Jr gets around Brad Keselowski to take the lead; Ryan Blaney, Jimmie Johnson, and Kurt Busch round out the top five.
Eighty one to go, Martin Truex Jr has pulled out to a half second lead on Brad Keselowski; Ryan Blaney, Jimmie Johnson, and Kurt Busch round out the top five.
Seventy five to go, Martin Truex Jr has a near one second lead on Brad Keselowski; Ryan Blaney, Jimmie Johnson, and Kurt Bsuch round out the top five.
Seventy to go, Martin Truex continues to lead the race by a half second on Brad Keselowski with Ryan Blaney, Jimmie Johnson, and Kurt Busch rounding out the top five. There are 24 cars on the lead lap.
Lap 202, Martin Truex Jr has pulled out to a lead of over a second on Brad Keselowski; Ryan Blaney, Jimmie Johnson, and Kurt Busch round out the top five.
Sixty to go, Martin Truex Jr continues to increase his lead on Brad Keselowski which is now over two seconds.
Jimmie Johnson brings his car down for an unscheduled pit road with a vibration issue. The drivers will have to make at least one pit stop to complete the race and they are now in the pit window.
Alex Bowman brings his car donw pit road for service.
With 56 laps to go, drivers are making green flag pit stops.
Martin Truex Jr has a lead of nearly three seconds on Brad Keselowski; Ryan Blaney, Kurt Busch, and Clint Bowyer round out the top five. There are only 20 cars on the lead lap with just one car out of the race.
Fifty three to go, Martin Truex Jr’s lead is now nearly four seconds on Brad Keselowski.
Fifty go go, drivers continue to make green flag pit stops. Martin Truex Jr now has a lead of almost five seconds on Brad Keselowski; Ryan Blaney, Kurt Busch, and Clint Bowyer round out the top five.
Top five driver Kurt Busch makes his pit stop reporting a vibration.
With 47 laps to go, leader Martin Truex Jr brings his stuttering car down pit road for fuel and gives the lead over the Brad Keselowski who has yet to make a pit stop.
Forty four to go, leader Brad Keselowski brings his car down pit road and gives the lead over to Cole Custer.
There are only 12 cars on the lead lap.
Forty to go, leader Cole Custer comes down pit road and gives the lead over to William Byron.
The caution flag comes out with 38 laps remaining in the race when Brennan Poole cuts a tire and leaves some debris on the track. Austin Dillon spins out and bumps the wall trying to avoid the debris.
After pit stops cycle through, Martin Truex Jr is in the lead and will bring the field down for the green flag restart with just 30 laps remaining in the race; Ryan Blaney restarts alongside on the front row. Turex and Blaney go nose to nose as drivers get theree wide across the track. Truex takes the lead.
With 29 laps remaining in the race, Martin Truex Jr is in the lead with Ryan Blaney in second; Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, and Jimmie Johnson round out the top five.
With 26 laps to go, Jimmie Johnson has run the fastest lap of the race.
With 25 laps remaining in the race, Martin Truex Jr has run his fastest laps of the race.
John Hunter Nemechek brings hout the caution flag when he gets into the wall with just 24 laps remaining in the race.
Ryan Blaney brings the field down for the green flag restart with just 19 laps remaining in the race. Brad Keselowski and Jimmie Johnson make contact on the restart, sending Johnson into the grass, and brings out the caution flag.
Ryan Blaney brins the field down for the green flag restart from the outside lane with just 13 laps remaining in the race. Kevin Harvick makes it a three wide run and takes the lead. Drivers are getting three wide all through the field as they battle for positon in the final laps.
Top five five are Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, and Austin Dillon.
Kentucky is the only track on the circuit that Kevin Harvick has not won a race. He has yet to win the Roval in Charlotte, but he has won a race at Charlotte.
Lap 259, Martin Truex Jr and Kevin Harvick battle for the lead. The caution comes out for Matt Kenseth who gets slideways on the track and spins on pit road.
There are six laps remaining in the race.
One more time…With just two laps to go, Kevin Harvick brings the field down for the restart of the race with Martin Truex Jr alongside. After going nose to nose, Ryan Blaney makes it a three wide race and Cole Custer makes it four wide briefly before taking the lead.
Rookie driver Cole Custer wins the race! The last time a rookie won the race at Kentucky, it was Erik Jones who took the win.
Custer’s team runs across the track to come celebrate with their rookie driver. Custer called the car the best he had ever had. The win also put Custer in the All Star race.
The unofficial results of the Quaker State 400:
Cole Custer
Martin Truex Jr
Matt DiBenedetto
Kevin Harvick
Kurt Busch
Ryan Blaney
Christopher Bell
Aric Almirola
Brad Keselowski
Tyler Reddick
William Byron
Denny Hamlin
Austin Dillon
Clint Bowyer
Joey Logano
Ty Dillon
Ryan Newman
Jimmie Johnson
Alex Bowman
Chris Buescher
Kyle Busch
Erik Jones
Chase Elliott
Michael McDowell
Matt Kenseht
Daniel Suarez
Bubba Wallace
Corey LaJoie
Ricky Stenhouse Jr
JJ Yeley
Brennan Poole
Josh Bilicki
Garrett Smithley
Joey Gase
Quin Houff
John Hunter Nemechek
Timmy Hill
Ryan Preece