Kurt Busch told his team that the track was like ice – and that was before rain washed out part of Friday's practice and canceled qualifying for Saturday night's Quaker State 400.
At Kentucky Speedway, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is facing an unusual racing weekend.
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First, there's a triple dose of change with a revamped 1.5-mile track (it's been repaved with the banking in turns 1 and 2 changed), an aero package designed to lower downforce and side force on the cars and a new set of Goodyear tires at the track (the lefts from Las Vegas and the rights from Michigan, except with a single tread). In basic terms, that means there's a whole lot to manage this weekend.
The aero package debuted at Michigan International Speedway in June, so at least drivers have a race with it. The track, though, offers a unique challenge. Especially after rain hampered on-track activities on Friday.
A storm raced through the area, pelting the track as a storm shortened the Friday morning practice session.
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Kevin Harvick, who will start from the pole position in Saturday's race (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN), offered his take on how the rain would impact drivers.
"Yeah, it definitely puts us in a little bit different box," Harvick said. "We have been sitting up there for a couple of hours just trying to figure out the four or five things that you want to try. What happens after that is you put the pieces together and you make your best educated guess upon the things that you have tried, pace that you think the cars are going to run and go from there.
"It is really not about how fast you run at this particular point it's how much you can try and how many pieces of the puzzle you can insert into the equation of trying to come up with the solution when you get done with practice."
Matt Kenseth, who has finished in the top 10 in all five races at the track, said that the repave definitely altered the feel of the track.
"I'd say it's the roughest repave on the circuit," he said on Friday. "They didn't get rid of all the bumps — that's for sure — but it's a lot different. It was really unique before with all the bumps and the seams that were getting wider and all that stuff, so it's definitely a lot different than what it was. It's kind of a typical repave. There's some bumps, but it's pretty typical.
It could be a race that comes down to strategy.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. said that Goodyear generally brings a durable tire to the tracks after repaves. Therefore, teams can opt to take two tires or no tires on pit stops.
With passing expected to be difficult at the track as well, the right call on a stop could be the difference in the racing come Saturday night.
"That is a great way to get track position if everybody else isn't doing that same thing," he said. "You can get off sequence and not pit at all. It just depends. …
"It is going to present a lot of challenges as far as trying to get around the track and trying to pass. Going into turn 1 and 2 side-by-side it's going to be… somebody is going to have to make a decision to give up the spot. I don't think you are going to see many guys challenge anybody on the outside there."