Brad Keselowski wins Quaker State 400

Tonight Penske Racing cars proved that they can back up their qualifying speeds in race trim. The Penske Racing cars of Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski have been incredible in qualifying this season. Both cars swept the front row in qualifying for tonight’s Quaker State 400 and never looked back once the green flag dropped at Kentucky Speedway. Brad Keselowski dominated the event by leading 199 of the 267 scheduled laps to score his 2nd victory of the season. Logano led the 2nd most laps and ran behind Keselowski for most of the night in a 1-2 display of power from the Penske organization. Logano’s engine started fading at the end of the race but he still managed to come home with a 9th place finish. Earlier this week in our newsletter, we highlighted the fact that Penske Racing cars were ahead of the competition when it came to 2014 shock packages. That advantage was especially clear tonight on Kentucky Speedway’s rough surface as both Penske cars were able to rotate strongly throughout the corners and keep their right front tires from overheating.

Several other cars ran into tire issues tonight including Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, and Matt Kenseth who all sustained right front blowouts. Hamlin and Larson’s night ended early when they pounded the outside retaining wall in the first two green flag runs of the night. Afterwards, Kenseth was able to feel his tire going down and hit pit road before any major damage occurred. Kenseth rallied back for a 4th place finisher and it is hard to ignore the fact that the #20 team has been really stout on the 1.5 tracks this season which is something we will keep in mind as the season progresses. As we wrap up the night, we cannot help but look ahead to next weekend’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway. The July 4th weekend race at Daytona has always been one of the most exciting races on the Sprint Cup schedule and rest assured we will be ready for some more exciting racing next Saturday night.

Quaker State 400 Finishing Order