Drivers expected racing at Kentucky Speedway to be challenging. It certainly was.
Saturday night's NASCAR Sprint Cup race started with a series of crashes and ended in a fuel-mileage showdown.
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For some, it was an unusually long night. For others, it was a chance to make up ground on the competition.
Just what happened in the Quaker State 400?
Contenders Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth pitted for fuel in the closing laps — then watched Brad Keselowski nurse his car to his third NASCAR Sprint Cup victory at Kentucky Speedway.
Someone needs an assist... 😂 😂 😂 https://t.co/ZL7khrHfCY
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 10, 2016
But early on, the race was all about the crashes. The 1.5-mile track was repaved with alteration to the banking in turns 1 and 2 since 2015's race. Drivers were also competing with the lower downforce rules used in the June 12 race at Michigan International Speedway and with a tire package that changed since several drivers tested at Kentucky last month.
It all added up to a race in which pretty much everyone said they had no idea what to expect.
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Early on, what they found were several crashes.
How much trouble were drivers having?
Six cautions for crashes in the first 100 laps. Thirteen drivers involved in those crashes, including six-time champion Jimmie Johnson and Joey Logano. Johnson was already in a backup car after a crash in practice. Logano won the June 12 race at Michigan International Speedway in the previous running with these lower-downforce cars.
Rookie of the year leading contenders Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney crashed into one another . Fellow rookies Brian Scott and Chris Buescher were caught up in a crash a few laps later. AJ Allmendinger was also involved in that crash, and then got heavy damage to his car in another crash. He came out of the care center with his wrist wrapped and said he would have X-rays later.
AJ Allmendinger, wrecked and peeved (Getty Images)
In the end, the race had 11 cautions for 53 laps. Keselowski, by the way, ran out of gas during his post-race celebration. His car was pushed to victory lane — one last chore on a busy night for the wrecker truck.
Drivers offered a bit of mixed reaction after the race. Was it a good race?
"Tonight was one of those nights where I think everybody is challenged to define what great racing is," Keselowski said, adding that the new rules package "requires a lot more precision as a racecar driver, and I can appreciate that about the race."
Not everyone was pleased, though.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished 13h, didn't seem to be a fan.
"Not fun," he said when asked about the racing overall. "One groove, slick, slick, slick."
Ran out of gas with a lap to go. Happy/LUCKY to get 13th. Great car at times. Tested @NHMS so looking forward to next weekend.
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) July 10, 2016
Sprint Cup runs at New Hampshire on Sunday, July 17 .
Ryan Newman, who finished third, seemed to have more mixed feelings on it.
"Everybody had a hard time getting through Turn 3," he said. "It's kind of a design aspect of the racetrack, but I was happy that we didn't have any tire problems like the Xfinity cars and the truck cars did, so kudos to Goodyear making that tire change after the tire test. As much as we hate that coming to a tire test as a group, as organizations, to change a tire after a test, it looks like it was the right call."
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Tony Stewart, who finished fifth, described the race as having "tough conditions." He pointed out that with many of the crashes coming in "zero to five laps" after a caution, things got more complicated.
"Really hard to figure out what to do, but just had to try to keep it stable to where you could race," he said. "It's really nobody's fault."
While Stewart said there was no one to blame, he also pointed out to how hard the tires were — but also that things will get better going forward.
The tires were "the hardest thing on the planet," he said. "NHL doesn't have anything on them on a hard puck. Like every other repave, as they get laps and more races on this track it will get to where they can come off the hardness of the tire and it will be better for everybody."
Still, not everyone was questioning the conditions.
Matt Kenseth, who ran near the front most of the night and was in the lead when he pitted for fuel with six to go, said things went about as well as one could hope. Considering.
"I thought it was pretty good," he said. "I thought it was as good as you could expect for a repave track. Racing three- and four-wide was good off of the corners. Overall it was pretty good."