There have been eight NASCAR Cup races on the 1.5-mile layout at Kentucky Speedway and seven of these have been obtained between three motorists, the very same three drivers who have united to win the races in 2019.
Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr, and Brad Keselowski have combined to win 11 of the 18 races this season and they’ve dominated at Kentucky, which is why they’re the big favorites to win Saturday night’s Quaker State 400.
Kyle Busch won the inaugural Kentucky race 2011 from the rod and he also won the 2015 event. His finish was 12th in 2016. He leads all drivers with six top-five endings, a fifth-place ordinary finish and 549 rebounds led. He won three Xfinity Series races and two Truck Series races along with also an ARCA race there.
Truex Jr. is connected with Busch with a series-leading four wins this year and has just two top-fives at Kentucky, but they’ve both come from the previous two seasons and they were both dominating wins. It might be the most dominating performances I have ever seen. In 2017, he began second, won the first two phases and directed 152 of the 274 laps prior to winning. Last year , he took it up another notch by winning from the pole, leading 174 laps and winning the first two phases.
Keselowski was the final driver before Truex took over to win at Kentucky. He is the track boss with three Cup wins (2012, 2014, 2016) and he’s also got three Xfinity Series wins. He’s headed laps in six of the eight Cup starts, such as 38 laps led last year when he started fourth and finished third. He has three wins this year and two of these arrived on 1.5-mile tracks. He is the only driver with multiple wins between both races run on 1.5s in 2019.
Truex won at Charlotte in May top 116 laps for his only win on a 1.5 this season, but amazingly, Busch does not have a win on any of these yet. His wins using this race package with aero ducts along with 550 horsepower came on the 2-mile layout at Fontana and the 2.5 catchy triangle in Pocono.
Another winners on 1.5s besides Keselowski and Truex have been Joey Logano at vegas, Denny Hamlin in Texas, and Alex Bowman at Chicagoland and three of those should be considered this week as well since their odds ought to be boosted higher than normal because of the reduced odds posted on the three favorites.
Logano ought to be a driver to hunt around to find the best chances. He’s never won a Cup race in Kentucky but has led laps in four of his last five starts there with a best end of jelqing in 2015. In addition, he won three straight seasons in Kentucky in the Xfinity Series (2008-10). He has been third or better in the last two races on 1.5-mile tracks.
Bowman is going to be the true interesting chances look this week based on how strong he’s been in the previous three races on 1.5s — runner-up at Kansas leading 63 laps, seventh at Charlotte, also leading 88 laps and winning at Chicagoland two weeks ago. Hendrick Motorsports has turned the corner and I am expecting more wins out of the group in the second half of the season from Bowman, Chase Elliott, and Jimmie Johnson.
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