Kyle wins in Kentucky but talk is about what happened outside the track

Kentucky Speedway’s inaugural Sprint Cup race had all the festivities of a first-time event and also some of the headaches that go with it. A day that started with long lines of traffic ended with Kyle Busch scoring his third win of the season and taking the points lead.

Busch led 125 of the 267 laps and held off David Reutimann (2nd) and Jimmie Johnson (3rd) on a final restart with two laps to go to score what he considered one of the biggest wins of his career.

“This one ranks right up there with the best of them,’’ Busch said after his 22nd career Cup win and 99th career NASCAR win (for Cup, Nationwide & Trucks). “ I haven't won any of the big races, unfortunately, yet.  But, you know, it ranks right up there with Las Vegas being another of my prestigious wins that I feel like I've accomplished so far. ‘’

Busch credited crew chief Dave Rogers with helping make the car so strong Saturday night.

“I was pretty confident that we were the car to beat.  Whether you stay the car to beat is the next question because how long this race is, how you change from daytime to twilight to nighttime, the track goes through a lot of different changes. Dave had to do a lot of thinking on his own that I was telling him the car is good, but he would still make a change knowing what the track is going to do.  That's just experience.  Knowing this racetrack pretty well, for us it worked well. 

"We kept up with it. We stayed up front all the night, made it seem easy, but certainly it wasn't.  There at the end there was a couple tense moments, but we prevailed. ‘’

On the issue of winning a 1.5-mile track, which is key in the Chase, this is what Busch said: “That's something that Dave and I have talked about and looked at and know that we need to get better at our mileandahalf program.  The 11 was certainly really good at it last year.  We've been looking a lot at their stuff, trying to figure out why, what we were doing differently that we could do better to run up front with those guys.

“We had it here tonight certainly.  It was really good to figure this place out in Kentucky.  But, you know, the next steps are, of course, going to be the Chase races that are the mileandahalf's, like Chicago and Texas, Charlotte is in there, Homestead is in there.  Those places we've run well at in the past, but maybe not on a consistent basis.  It would certainly be nice to know that we're figuring things out.

ARE YOU NOT SURPRISED?

There are limited ways to get to Kentucky Speedway. With track officials adding 40,000-plus seats, expanding the seating capacity to 107,000, there was no doubt that traffic was going to be an issue. There were reports of very long lines and of people missing the start of the race because of traffic.

Let’s be honest on a couple of things:

1. If you’re track officials, why wouldn’t you expand your seating as much as possible if you had a sense the excitement of an inaugural event would fill all those seats? That’s money to be made.

2. Yet, one should know the additional traffic more than 40,000 people would create and be better prepared for it.

The track put out a statement from GM Mark Simendinger during the race about the traffic, which read:

“We’ve had an overwhelming response to our inaugural NASCAR Sprint Cup Series “Quaker State 400.” We know we had challenges related to traffic. We’re already planning improvements and looking forward to a much better situation for next year’s event.’’

Said Jimmie Johnson about the situation:  “The stories I heard sounds like there's some upset fans, people that were turned away and weren't able to get into the event today. It's disappointing.  I mean, the SMI group knows racetracks and does a very good job at all the racetracks they own.  It's unfortunate we were unable to look ahead and see where these potential problems were.''

The key question is going to be if fans who were at Saturday night’s race will want to return to the track for next year’s race? Or will they decide to go to Bristol? Or Indianapolis or another track? Or not go after this experience?

In one sense it’s a great problem for a NASCAR track to have such a demand for a race _ although we’ll have to see if this is a one-time thing or will continue in the future. In another sense, it’s a nightmare for a track and even a sport when it can’t get everybody in its facility at the start or close to it.

THEY SAID IT

David Reutimann (2nd): “It was hit or miss the first part of the race.  We would make it better, then make it worse.  Every time we put four tires on, we couldn't go anywhere, too tight.  My guys did a good job.  Kept adjusting on it.  Either the track was changing or tightening up more or we weren't changing enough, taking big enough swings on it. We unfortunately have a bit of a history of being fast when it doesn't really matter.  Tonight worked out where we were fast at the end of the race, which is evidently what you got to do. Proud of my guys.  New configuration car, different than what we brought all year.  Guys in the fab shop have been busting tail trying to get things done.  It's off to a good start anyway.’’

Jimmie Johnson (3rd):  “I think the racetrack has plenty of character.  Wish that we could get higher on the racetrack than what we are.  For some reason, I don't know if the track is not taking any rubber.  I've heard from some people there's a different grooving pattern above where we're running, that's why the cars aren't comfortable up there, but something to widen out the lanes would put on a better show. “I think it's a challenging place.  If I could pick, I heard there's been plenty of trouble trying to get everybody into the facility, I think coming back next year that would be the priority.  Leave the surface alone on the racetrack and make sure that the fans have the experience they deserve to have.’’

Ryan Newman (4th): “Got a lap down and finally got it back. Just made the best of a good situation. We got lucky when the caution came out there and gained a lot of positions due to that. We proved that we had a decent race car, just took forever for us to get there."

Carl Edwards (5th): “That was a pretty wild last couple of laps there. I am really proud of my guys and our Ford Fusion. Obviously we would want to be over there in victory lane.  We picked up one point on the points lead and are four points out of the lead now, so that is a good thing. It was a really good time, especially there at the end. That was some really, really hard driving out there.”

Matt Kenseth (6th): “Overall that was a good result. Everybody pitted except for me and Kyle there and it was kind of my fault. Me and Jimmy didn’t really discuss if we were going to pit or not and I didn’t really realize. We would have took all four for something like that. That was kind of my bad. I did a terrible job on the restart with Kyle. I didn’t get my tires cleaned off and got hung three wide and lost a bunch of spots. I had a better restart the second time and got a decent finish out of it.”

Brad Keselowski (7th): “At the end, the restarts are just a crapshoot.  If you get the bottom lane, you’re going backwards.  I kept getting in an odd position and just kept getting on the bottom lane.  Every restart just kept playing against us.  A great effort by this race team and that makes me proud.  We led laps and were competitive all night.  I’m proud of the effort of this race team, but disappointed in the results.  It’s just a product of double-file restarts.   That’s why drivers hate them because some tracks are great and they put on a good show, and then there are tracks like this where it just completely screws your day.”

David Ragan (8th): “Consistency is what we need each week to put ourselves in a position to make the Chase. I'm proud of our guys and I'm looking forward to New Hampshire. We've got a lot of Roush Fenway fans up in that area, so it will be another fun weekend.”

Kurt Busch (9th): “We were sixth, two guys stayed out in front of us, came in under caution and put four Goodyears on the car and the car just wouldn’t turn.  Our car was really fast early in the race, but it wasn’t as fast as we wanted it once the sun went down and we went racing in the night.  We grabbed another top-10 finish, but I think we’ll look back at this one and think we maybe let one slip away late.  We were in the catbird seat on the last restart, but we just couldn’t execute.  I’m proud of my guys.  It’s hot.  They worked hard all night.  We’ll take the ninth-place and head to Loudon.”

Jeff Gordon (10th): “When the green flag dropped I was surprised with how little grip there was because we had so much grip throughout the weekend. So that caught us off guard. We were off a little bit. But we mainly just needed track position and we had some great things go our way there towards the end to catch a caution and came back up there to a good position and then we were actually able to maintain. Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) made a great call to take a two-tire stop and if you just picked us up and put us in the top, maybe seven or eight, we could stay there. It was so impossible to pass here. … I think the only thing that made this a great race today was the green-white-checkered and the excitement and energy of the fans. I think when Bruton (Smith) is looking at how to get the traffic in here he’s going to have to look at the race track as well. It’s rough. It’s really hard to pass. The layout needs a little help; but the surface most importantly, to give these fans what they really deserve. You never know how it’s going to go. It was certainly exciting there at the finish, so that’s cool.”

Denny Hamlin (11th): “It was a fight.  We just would not get any practice, so it was just tough to overcome that.  It was just all traffic -- just really nobody could make a lot of moves and pass.  We were a victim of one of those cars.  We couldn’t make any moves, especially when it came night time it seemed like our car went away from us. “I think everyone was just being patient in the beginning and I think by the end the intensity picks up.  It becomes harder to pass.  Everybody gets a little anxious as soon as the night time comes.”

Joey Logano (14th): “We should have finished better than where we did.  At the beginning of the race we were way, way, way too tight -- couldn't get it better.  We were struggling there to get it better.  Got it good at one point at the middle part of the race.  We worked our way back up there and it felt like we we’re a top-10 car.  Then for some reason as the speed started picking up, the sun went down and it got tighter again.  Trying to free it back up.  Then we caught every caution exactly the wrong way every time there was cycling through we were the ones who got caught -- got caught under the green and then the caution come out, so had the wave around twice, which didn’t give us the time to adjust on my car and make it better.  I’m proud of what we did today.  We definitely fought hard.  All of us worked real good together.  I’m proud of that, for sure.  Probably we just screwed out of a couple of spots by those things and really do much about that -- about cautions falling out that way.  Feel like we should have finished in the top 10, but we fought back strong.  I think we finished 14th -- not where we wanted, but overall our performance was there today.”

Martin Truex Jr. (18th): “That was a tough night for the team. We started slow and then it looked like we were going to get a good finish but our car kind of plowed there at the end.  We are gaining on it and I'm looking forward to New Hampshire.”

AJ Allmendinger (28th): “Our Ford started out okay, but after the first pit stop everything changed. We aren’t sure why either. Man, it’s a shame we weren’t able to put on a better show for Valvoline and the fans here at Kentucky. We just gotta get back in the shop and figure out what the deal is and get it fixed and head to New Hampshire.”

Travis Kvapil (29th): "This was a tough track and we fought it the best we could. We fought a tight race car for much of the night and were looking for grip.  We made some good changes that helped our lap times, but there were some long green-flag runs that didn't really help us make up more ground. An okay night but was hoping for a little better."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (30th): “We were okay. We were as fast as everybody in front of me and behind me, too. I’d move around and try to find speed and it would just go slower. So I had this one line that I just ran over and over and over; and I didn’t catch anybody, and if I was lucky, nobody caught me. And that was pretty much how it went. … We have that kind of racing a lot but we just didn’t have a real good car; not as good as I thought. When we showed up we were real happy and we dialed ourselves out from there. We didn’t ride the bumps good. The car didn’t cut the corner good. We could change the balance but it wouldn’t make us go faster; when we were too loose and we would tighten it up, we wouldn’t find any speed in that. So we just didn’t have a good set-up in there for whatever reason. And we would have finished well if we could have gotten some track position; but damn, we would never get it because it’s too hard to get. We were just so slow all night we could never take any chances on track position and stuff like that. We were just too slow. I don’t know. I was real disappointed though, overall. … (On what caused his tire to blow late in the race) “I slid the left front tire real bad coming on to pit road. It was all my fault.”

David Gilliland (31st): “Our Ford wasn't all that bad.  We got bit by some cautions at the wrong time. That really hurt us.  We lost two or three laps because of yellows coming out right after we pitted.  Wasn't what we hoped for in our return to Kentucky, but it was still good to be back."

ODDS AND ENDS

# Of the 20 lead changes in Saturday night’s race, eight of them (40 percent) happened under caution.

# Kyle Busch is tied with Terry Labonte with 22 career Cup wins, putting Kyle in a tie for 27th on the all-time wins list.

# David Reutimann’s 2nd-place finish was his best of the year (previous best was 9th at Coca-Cola 600).

# Kasey Kahne finished 13th on Saturday. He has one top-10 finish in his last eight races.

# Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 30th _ marking the fourth consecutive race he’s finished worse than 15th.

# Since finishing 2nd at Dover in May, Mark Martin has one top-10 finish in his last seven starts.

# David Ragan’s eighth-place finish came after his win at Daytona last weekend. It marked the second time this season he’s had back-to-back top-10 finishes.

SOMETHING TO MAKE YOU GO HMMM

Of Kyle Busch’s 22 Cup wins, Saturday night’s win marked only his 4th on a 1.5-mile track. His other victories on such tracks were at Las Vegas in 2009, Chicago in 2008 and Atlanta in 2008. Before Saturday’s win, Kyle’s last six Cup wins had come on tracks 1 mile or less in length.

RESULTS

1. Kyle Busch

2. David Reutimann

3. Jimmie Johnson

4. Ryan Newman

5. Carl Edwards

6. Matt Kenseth

7. Brad Keselowski

8. David Ragan

9. Kurt Busch

10. Jeff Gordon

11. Denny Hamlin

12. Tony Stewart

13. Kasey Kahne

14. Joey Logano

15. Juan Pablo Montoya

16. Kevin Harvick

17. Regan Smith

18. Martin Truex Jr.

19. Jeff Burton

20. Marcos Ambrose

21. Greg Biffle

22. Mark Martin

23. Landon Cassill

24. Paul Menard

25. Casey Mears

26. Bobby Labonte

27. Brian Vickers

28. AJ Allmendinger

29. Travis Kvapil

30. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

31. David Gilliland

32. Andy Lally

33. Dave Blaney

34. Mike Bliss

35. Clint Bowyer

36. Jamie McMurray

37. Scott Wimmer

38. Tony Raines

39. Joe Nemechek

40. J.J. Yeley

41. Michael McDowell

42. Scott Riggs

43. Mike Skinner

POINTS

1. Kyle Busch … 624 points

2. Carl Edwards … 4 points behind leader

3. Kevin Harvick … 10 points behind leader

4. Kurt Busch … 18 points behind leader

5. Jimmie Johnson … 19 points behind leader

6. Matt Kenseth … 22 points behind leader

7. Jeff Gordon … 71 points behind leader

8. Dale Earnhardt Jr. … 76 points behind leader

9. Ryan Newman … 86 points behind leader

10. Denny Hamlin … 95 points behind leader

11. Tony Stewart … 2 points behind 10th

12. Clint Bowyer … 15 points behind 10th

13. Juan Pablo Montoya … 32 points behind 10th

14. Greg Biffle … 33 points behind 10th

15. David Ragan (1 win) … 35 points behind 10th

16. Paul Menard … 43 points behind 10th

17. Kasey Kahne … 45 points behind 10th

18. AJ Allmendinger … 46 points behind 10th

19. Mark Martin … 52 points behind 10th

20. Joey Logano … 60 points behind 10th

21. Brad Keselowski (1 win) … 3 points behind 20th

22. Marcos Ambrose … 10 points behind 20th

23. Martin Truex Jr. … 20 points behind 20th

24. David Reutimann … 46 points behind 20th

25. Jeff Burton … 52 points behind 20th

26. Brian Vickers … 64 points behind 20th

27. Regan Smith (1 win) … 70 points behind 20th

28. Jamie McMurray … 83 points behind 20th

29. Bobby Labonte … 106 points behind 20th

30. David Gilliland … 141 points behind 20th

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