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NASCAR - Sprint Cup - Quaker State 400 Preview
From The Sports Network
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| DATE: Saturday, June 30th |
| SITE: Kentucky Speedway (2000) -- Sparta Kentucky |
| TRACK: 1.5-mile oval - 1,662 feet (Frontstretch); 1,600 feet (Backstretch) |
| CAPACITY: 117,000 (Grandstand seating) |
| ANNUAL: 2nd |
| TELEVISION: TNT |
| ANNOUNCERS: Adam Alexander, Wally Dallenbach Jr., Kyle Petty |
| RADIO: Performance Racing Network (PRN)/SIRIUS NASCAR Radio |
| START TIME: 7:30 p.m. (ET)/Green Flag: 7:46 p.m. (ET) |
| DEFENDING CHAMPION: Kyle Busch |
| RUNNER-UP: David Reutimann |
| POLE WINNER: Kyle Busch (Finished 1st) |
| LAPS: 267 |
| MILES: 400.5 |
| TOTAL PURSE: $4,925,697 (2011 figures) |
| PAYOUTS: 1st Place - $213,316; 2nd Place - $147,883; 3rd Place - $152,711 |
| 2011 Finish |
| Finish | Driver | Start | Finish | Driver | Start |
| 1 | Kyle Busch | 1 | 6 | Matt Kenseth | 13 |
| 2 | David Reutimann | 17 | 7 | Brad Keselowski | 6 |
| 3 | Jimmie Johnson | 5 | 8 | David Ragan | 8 |
| 4 | Ryan Newman | 18 | 9 | Kurt Busch | 3 |
| 5 | Carl Edwards | 7 | 10 | Jeff Gordon | 14 |
| 2011 Quaker State 400 Facts and Figures |
| AVERAGE SPEED: 137.314 m.p.h. |
| TIME OF RACE: 2 hours, 55 minutes |
| MARGIN OF VICTORY: 0.179 second |
| CAUTION FLAGS: 6 for 32 laps |
| LEAD CHANGES: 20 among 12 drivers |
| POLE WINNER: Kyle Busch (Awarded pole due to fastest overall in practice) |
| Past Quaker State 400 Winners (Starting Position) Car -- Speed |
| 2011 -- Kyle Busch (1st) -- Toyota -- 137.314 m.p.h. |
| Past Quaker State 400 Pole Winners (Finish) |
| 2011 -- None -- Weather |
| Last Race Results |
| RACE: Toyota/Save Mart 350 (June 24th) |
| SITE: Infineon Raceway -- Sonoma, California |
| MILES: 222.88 |
| LAPS: 112 |
| WINNER: Clint Bowyer |
| RUNNER-UP: Tony Stewart |
| THIRD: Kurt Busch |
| FOURTH: Brian Vickers |
| FIFTH: Jimmie Johnson |
| POLE WINNER: Marcos Ambrose (Finished 8th) |
| TIME OF RACE: 2 hours, 39 minutes, 55 seconds |
| MARGIN OF VICTORY: 0.829 second |
| AVERAGE SPEED: 83.624 m.p.h. |
| CAUTION FLAGS: 2 for 7 laps |
| LEAD CHANGES: 8 among 5 drivers |
| LAP LEADERS: M. Ambrose 1-11; J. Gordon 12-24; C. Bowyer 25-33; Kurt Busch 34; |
| M. Truex Jr. 35-47; C. Bowyer 48-70; Kurt Busch 71; M. Truex Jr. |
| 72-73; C. Bowyer 74-112. |
| Quaker State 400 Entry List |
| Car | Driver, Hometown | Car/Name |
| 1 | Jamie McMurray (Joplin, MO) | Chevrolet/McDonald's |
| 2 | Brad Keselowski (Rochester Hills, MI) | Dodge/Miller Lite |
| 5 | Kasey Kahne (Enumclaw, WA) | Chevrolet/Quaker State |
| 9 | Marcos Ambrose (Launceston, Australia) | Ford/Mac Tools |
| 10 | David Reutimann (Zephyrhills, FL) | Chevrolet/Tommy Baldwin Racing |
| 11 | Denny Hamlin (Chesterfield, VA) | Toyota/FedEx Express |
| 13 | Casey Mears (Bakersfield, CA) | Ford/Valvoline Nextgen |
| 14 | Tony Stewart (Columbus, IN) | Chevrolet/Office Depot/Mobil 1 |
| 15 | Clint Bowyer (Emporia, KS) | Toyota/5-Hour Energy |
| 16 | Greg Biffle (Vancouver, WA) | Ford/ARC |
| 17 | Matt Kenseth (Cambridge, WI) | Ford/Fifth Third |
| 18 * | Kyle Busch (Las Vegas, NV) | Toyota/M&M's Red-White-Blue |
| 19 | Mike Bliss (Milwaukie, OR) | Toyota/Humphrey Smith Racing |
| 20 | Joey Logano (Middletown, CT) | Toyota/Dollar General |
| 22 | A.J. Allmendinger (Los Gatos, CA) | Dodge/Shell/Pennzoil |
| 23 | Scott Riggs (Bahama, NC) | Chevrolet/North Texas Pipe |
| 24 | Jeff Gordon (Vallejo, CA) | Chevrolet/Drive to End Hunger |
| 26 | Josh Wise (Riverside, CA) | Ford/MDS Transport |
| 27 | Paul Menard (Eau Claire, WI) | Chevrolet/Menards/Sylvania |
| 29 | Kevin Harvick (Bakersfield, CA) | Chevrolet/Budweiser |
| 30 | David Stremme (South Bend, IN) | Toyota/Inception Motorsports |
| 31 | Jeff Burton (South Boston, VA) | Chevrolet/Caterpillar |
| 32 | Ken Schrader (Fenton, MO) | Ford/Federated Auto Parts |
| 33 | Stephen Leicht (Asheville, NC) | Chevrolet/littlejoesautos.com |
| 34 | David Ragan (Unadilla, GA) | Ford/TBA |
| 36 | Dave Blaney (Hartford, OH) | Chevrolet/Seal Wrap |
| 38 | David Gilliland (Riverside, CA) | Ford/Taco Bell |
| 39 | Ryan Newman (South Bend, IN) | Chevrolet/Tornados |
| 42 | Juan Pablo Montoya (Bogota, Colombia) | Chevrolet/Target |
| 43 | Aric Almirola (Tampa, FL) | Ford/Eckrich |
| 47 | Bobby Labonte (Corpus Christi, TX) | Toyota/Scotts Products |
| 48 | Jimmie Johnson (El Cajon, CA) | Chevrolet/Lowe's Ermine White |
| 49 | J.J. Yeley (Phoenix, AZ) | Toyota/JPO Absorbents |
| 51 | Kurt Busch (Las Vegas, NV) | Chevrolet/Phoenix Construction |
| 52 | Mike Skinner (Susanville, CA) | Toyota/crusaderstaffing.com |
| 55 | Michael Waltrip (Owensboro, KY) | Toyota/Aaron's Dream Machine |
| 56 | Martin Truex Jr. (Mayetta, NJ) | Toyota/NAPA Auto Parts |
| 74 | Stacy Compton (Hurt, VA) | Chevrolet/Turn One Racing |
| 78 | Regan Smith (Cato, NY) | Chevrolet/Furniture Row |
| 83 | Landon Cassill (Cedar Rapids, IA) | Toyota/Burger King |
| 87 | Joe Nemechek (Lakeland, FL) | Toyota/AM FM Energy Wood&Pellet |
| 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Kannapolis, NC) | Chevrolet/Mtn. Dew/Nat'l Guard |
| 93 | Travis Kvapil (Janesville, WI) | Toyota/Burger King |
| 95 | Scott Speed (Manteca, CA) | Ford/Leavine Family Racing |
| 98 | Michael McDowell (Glendale, AZ) | Ford/Phil Parsons Racing |
| 99 | Carl Edwards (Columbia, MO) | Ford/UPS |
| Leading Contenders (Finish last year) |
| Driver | 2011 | | | | | | | | |
| Kyle Busch | Won | | | | | | | | |
| David Reutimann | 2nd | | | | | | | | |
| Jimmie Johnson | 3rd | | | | | | | | |
| Ryan Newman | 4th | | | | | | | | |
| Carl Edwards | 5th | | | | | | | | |
| Matt Kenseth | 6th | | | | | | | | |
| Brad Keselowski | 7th | | | | | | | | |
| David Ragan | 8th | | | | | | | | |
| Kurt Busch | 9th | | | | | | | | |
| Jeff Gordon | 10th | | | | | | | | |
| Denny Hamlin | 11th | | | | | | | | |
| Tony Stewart | 12th | | | | | | | | |
| Kasey Kahne | 13th | | | | | | | | |
| Joey Logano | 14th | | | | | | | | |
| Juan Pablo Montoya | 15th | | | | | | | | |
| Kevin Harvick | 16th | | | | | | | | |
| Martin Truex Jr. | 18th | | | | | | | | |
| Jeff Burton | 19th | | | | | | | | |
| Marcos Ambrose | 20th | | | | | | | | |
| Greg Biffle | 21st | | | | | | | | |
| Mark Martin | 22nd | | | | | | | | |
| Paul Menard | 24th | | | | | | | | |
| A.J. Allmendinger | 28th | | | | | | | | |
| Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 30th | | | | | | | | |
| Clint Bowyer | 35th | | | | | | | | |
| Jamie McMurray | 36th | | | | | | | | |
| Mover of the Week |
| Jeff Burton - Started in 35th position and finished 11th |
| Sports Network Selections |
| Pick to Win - Kyle Busch |
| Darkhorse - Jeff Gordon |
| Last Week's Pick to Win (Jimmie Johnson) - Finished 5th |
| Last Week's Darkhorse (Marcos Ambrose) - Finished 8th |
| NOTES: |
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Despite leading the Sprint Cup points list, Matt Kenseth and Roush
Fenway Racing have announced that the driver will be leaving the team at
season's end.
Kenseth owns a slim 11-point advantage over Greg Biffle, almost halfway through
the season, with Dale Earnhardt Jr just 14 points back. Kenseth, the 2003
series champion, has been with Roush Fenway in NASCAR's premier series since
his 2000 rookie-of-the-year season.
Last year, the Sprint Cup Series made its inaugural visit to Kentucky Speedway,
as Kyle Busch raced to victory. The 2011 race featured 20 lead changes among 20
drivers, as 23 of the 43-car field finished on the lead lap, with 34 cars
running at the finish.
Busch, the awarded pole sitter due to inclement weather in 2011, held off David
Reutimann and Jimmie Johnson in a two-lap shootout to the finish. An incident
involving Clint Bowyer with six laps to go setup the two-lap sprint.
After the restart, Johnson challenged Busch for the lead, but Busch pulled away
and then cruised to his third Sprint Cup win of the season and the 22nd of 24
career wins. Busch dominated most of the 400-mile race by leading 125 laps. He
took the lead for the final time after a round of green-flag pit stops
concluded with 11 laps to go.
Currently 12th on the points list, Busch has failed to crack the top-10 in his
last four starts.
This will actually be the third all-time race in the state of Kentucky, as
NASCAR raced at Corbin Speedway in 1954, with Lee Petty defeating Hershel
McGriff, followed by Buck Baker and Herb Thomas fourth.
Since 2000, the track has hosted 11 NASCAR Nationwide Series (2001-2011) and 13
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races (2000-2011).
With the addition of Kentucky to the NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule, Jeff Gordon
and Tony Stewart now have two tracks they have never won at. Gordon is also
winless at Homestead-Miami Speedway, while Stewart, in addition to Kentucky has
not captured the checkered flag at Darlington.
Dale Earnhardt Jr needs 18 laps led to reach 7,000 career laps led, while
Jimmie Johnson needs 98 laps led to reach 13,000 laps led.
The Sprint Cup Series returns to Daytona International Speedway for the July
7th running of the Coke Zero 400. David Ragan is the defending champion.
06/26 17:27:43 ET
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As of June 26, 2012, at 05:27 PM ET
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