79°
Date: Saturday, June 29
Start Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
Site: Kentucky Speedway -- Sparta, Ky.
Track: 1.5-mile oval
Laps: 267
Miles: 400.5
Capacity: 107,000 (Grandstand seating)
Total purse:
Payouts:
Year: 3rd
On TV: TNT
Announcers:
On Radio: Performance Racing Network (PRN)/SIRIUS NASCAR Radio
Race record: Brad Keselowski, 2012 (145.607 mph)
Qualifying record: Jimmie Johnson, 2012 (181.818 mph)
2012 Finish
Defending champion: Brad Keselowski
Runner up: Kasey Kahne
Pole winner: Jimmie Johnson (181.818 mph)
Top 10:
1. Brad Keselowski (Start: 8)
2. Kasey Kahne (19)
3. Denny Hamlin (3)
4. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (7)
5. Jeff Gordon (9)
6. Jimmie Johnson (1)
7. Matt Kenseth (20)
8. Martin Truex Jr. (10)
9. A.J. Allmendinger (16)
10. Kyle Busch (2)
Average speed: 145.607 mph
Time of race: 2 hrs., 45 mins., 2 secs.
Margin of victory: 4.399 secs.
Caution flags: 4 for 24 laps
Lead changes: 17 among 6 drivers
Past winners
2012 Brad Keselowski, Dodge, 145.607 mph
2011 Kyle Busch, Toyota, 137.314 mph
Last race
Race: Toyota/Save Mart 350 (June 23)
Site: Sonoma Raceway -- Sonoma, Calif.
Miles: 219
Laps: 110
Finish line order: Martin Truex Jr., Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Kurt Busch, Clint Bowyer
Time of Race: 2 hrs., 51 mins., 20 secs.
Average speed: 76.658 mph
Margin of victory: 8.133 secs.
Caution flags: 7 for 19 laps
Lead changes: 10 among 8 drivers
Lap leaders: J. McMurray - pole; M. Ambrose 1-18; Kurt Busch 19-33; B. J. McMurray - pole; M. Ambrose 1-18; Kurt Busch 19-33; B. Keselowski 34-40; M. Truex Jr. 41-61; B. Vickers 62-64; J. McMurray 65-66; M. Truex Jr. 67-68; J. Logano 69-78; J. Gordon 79-82; M. Truex Jr. 83-110.
Entry list
#1 Jamie McMurray (Joplin, MO) Chevrolet/Hellmann's
#2 * Brad Keselowski (Rochester Hills, MI) Ford/Miller Lite
#5 Kasey Kahne (Enumclaw, WA) Chevrolet/Quaker State
#7 Dave Blaney (Hartford, OH) Chevrolet/TBA
#9 Marcos Ambrose (Launceston, Australia) Ford/Mac Tools
#10 Danica Patrick (Roscoe, IL) Chevrolet/GoDaddy.com
#11 Denny Hamlin (Chesterfield, VA) Toyota/FedEx Office
#13 Casey Mears (Bakersfield, CA) Ford/NextGen Ford
#14 Tony Stewart (Columbus, IN) Chevrolet/Bass Pro Shops
#15 Clint Bowyer (Emporia, KS) Toyota/Toyota Let's Go Places
#16 Greg Biffle (Vancouver, WA) Ford/3M
#17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (Olive Branch, MS) Ford/Fifth Third
#18 Kyle Busch (Las Vegas, NV) Toyota/Doublemint
#19 Mike Bliss (Milwaukie, OR) Toyota/Plinker Tactical
#20 Matt Kenseth (Cambridge, WI) Toyota/Dollar General
#22 Joey Logano (Middletown, CT) Ford/Shell/Pennzoil
#24 Jeff Gordon (Vallejo, CA) Chevrolet/Drive to End Hunger
#27 Paul Menard (Eau Claire, WI) Chevrolet/Menards/Sylvania
#29 Kevin Harvick (Bakersfield, CA) Chevrolet/Budweiser
#30 David Stremme (South Bend, IN) Toyota/Swan Energy
#31 Jeff Burton (South Boston, VA) Chevrolet/Caterpillar
#32 Ken Schrader (Fenton, MO) Ford/Federated Auto Parts
#33 Landon Cassill (Fairfax, IA) Chevrolet/Little Joe's Auto
#34 David Ragan (Unadilla, GA) Ford/Taco Bell
#35 Josh Wise (Riverside, CA) Ford/MDS Transport
#36 J.J. Yeley (Phoenix, AZ) Chevrolet/United Mining Equip.
#38 David Gilliland (Riverside, CA) Ford/Long John Silver's
#39 Ryan Newman (South Bend, IN) Chevrolet/Quicken Loans
#42 Juan Pablo Montoya (Bogota, Colombia) Chevrolet/Target
#43 Aric Almirola (Tampa, FL) Ford/Eckrich
#44 Scott Riggs (Bahama, NC) Ford/No Label
#47 A.J. Allmendinger (Los Gatos, CA) Toyota/Charter
#48 Jimmie Johnson (El Cajon, CA) Chevrolet/Lowe's
#51 Austin Dillon (Welcome, NC) Chevrolet/Phoenix Construction
#55 Brian Vickers (Thomasville, NC) Toyota/Aaron's
#56 Martin Truex Jr. (Mayetta, NJ) Toyota/NAPA Auto Parts
#78 Kurt Busch (Las Vegas, NV) Chevrolet/Furniture Row
#83 David Reutimann (Zephyrhills, FL) Toyota/Burger King/Dr. Pepper
#87 Joe Nemechek (Lakeland, FL) Toyota/TBA
#88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Kannapolis, NC) Chevrolet/National Guard
#93 Travis Kvapil (Janesville, WI) Toyota/Burger King/Dr. Pepper
#98 Michael McDowell (Glendale, AZ) Ford/Phil Parsons Racing
#99 Carl Edwards (Columbia, MO) Ford/UPS
Leading contenders
| Name | 2011 | 2012 |
|---|---|---|
| Brad Keselowski | 7 | Won |
| Kasey Kahne | 13 | 2 |
| Denny Hamlin | 11 | 3 |
| Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 30 | 4 |
| Jeff Gordon | 10 | 5 |
| Jimmie Johnson | 3 | 6 |
| Matt Kenseth | 6 | 7 |
| Martin Truex Jr. | 18 | 8 |
| Kyle Busch | Won | 10 |
| Kevin Harvick | 16 | 11 |
| Clint Bowyer | 35 | 16 |
| Kurt Busch | 9 | 19 |
| Carl Edwards | 5 | 20 |
| Greg Biffle | 21 | 21 |
| Joey Logano | 14 | 22 |
| Tony Stewart | 12 | 32 |
| Ryan Newman | 4 | 34 |
Notes
Located roughly 40 miles southwest of Cincinnati, Kentucky Speedway is a 1.5- mile oval with 14 degrees of banking in all of its turns, as well as 8 degrees of banking on both the frontstretch and backstretch. The length of the frontstretch is 1,662 feet, and the backstretch measures 1,600 feet.
Kentucky has hosted 13 Nationwide Series races and 15 Camping World Truck Series events since the track opened in 2000. The Sprint Cup Series began competing here two years ago.
After more than a decade of requesting a Sprint Cup date, Kentucky was added to the 2011 schedule. Speedway Motorsports Inc., the parent company of this racetrack, moved its spring event at Atlanta Motor Speedway to Kentucky. SMI bought this track in 2008.
Before 2011, the Commonwealth of Kentucky had hosted only one race in NASCAR's premier series. The series ran at Corbin Speedway -- a half-mile dirt track in Corbin, Ky. -- on Aug. 29, 1954. Lee Petty won that event, while Hershel McGriff finished second. They were the only drivers who finished on the lead lap.
Kyle Busch won the inaugural Sprint Cup race at Kentucky Speedway on July 9, 2011. Busch, the pole sitter, led the most laps with 125. He 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.
Brad Keselowski won last year's race at Kentucky. Using a backup car after crashing his primary one in practice the day before, Keselowski gambled on fuel in the late going and crossed the finish line 4.4 seconds ahead of Kasey Kahne for his third win of the 2012 season. Keselowski went on to score two more victories during the season, en route to the Sprint Cup championship.
The next race is the July 6 Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway. Tony Stewart is the defending race winner.
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