2016 NASCAR Week 18 Preview: Kentucky

Quaker State 400

Kentucky Speedway

By Richard Tix

Who want's to place a bet that according to Jeff Gluck's twitter pole after this race, that it places as one of the lowest six rated all season (don't get this line, check out the last power rankings)? Another week and another night race. I do enjoy seeing car's under the lights, but prime time races are hard to catch live and seem to have lost their luster.

However, maybe Kentucky can change that trend? Again, my money is on it might not be remembered as one of the better races of 2016. Why? Because Kentucky just repaved it's surface and we know how those first new races typically go, poorly.

I will leave the judgement up to you as I will be in Northern Minnesota this weekend and will have to catch the race via twitter. Hopefully I am wrong and the race out produces expectations!

**This section is just a quick look at some of Cup drivers latest finishes. This is not a tool for fantasy purposes and NBTW only is looking at end results. No deep statistic's are involved, but rather it is just a quick way to get ready for the race and get caught up on who has finished well at each track**

The Good

• Kyle Busch- In five Kentucky races only four drivers posted a top 10 every race and Kyle is one of those guys. Actually, he has two wins and four top 5's in all five Kentucky races. He has been the best driver here since Cup started making a yearly stop.
• Brad Keselowski- BK is actually not one of those four drivers with top 10's in every stop here, but he does have two wins and four top 10's in those five races.
• Matt Kenseth- Kenseth has five top 10's in the first five stops here and a win to go with those. He has the second best average finish behind Kyle Busch (4.6).

The Middle

• Kasey Kahne- Kahne seems like a driver stuck in the middle a lot latetly. Actually, some of his fans would welcome him averaging finishing around 13th right now. Kahne has two top 10's and four top 10's in five races.

The Bad

• Austin Dillon- Everyone has limited data here at Kentucky, so Dillons three career starts here actually falls in line with many other guys (only five Cup races at Kentucky). In those three two of them have been outside the top 20 and none of them were top 15's.
• Tony Stewart- Kentucky's five races just happen to coincide with Smokes poor seasons, so he finds himself down here. Smoke only has two top 15's and three top 20's in five career Kentucky races.
• Greg Biffle- Biffle only has one top 15 and two top 20's in his five career starts here at Kentucky.

About the Track: Kentucky

Track Stats

• Brad Keselowksi (2), Kyle Busch (2), and Matt Kenseth are the only three drivers to win a Cup race at Kentucky.
• Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson, and Jeff Gordon have all finished top 10 in each of the four races.
• Ky Busch has lead the most career laps at Kentucky (437) followed by BK (408), and Jimmie Johnson (203).
• Kyle Busch is the only driver to have 4 top 5's in the first five races at Kentucky (four drivers have two). 
• Only 7 drivers have run every lap at Kentucky in the four Cup races.

Track Info

• Surface
• Asphalt
• Length
• 1.5 miels
• Banking
• Turns: 14 degrees
• Tri-Oval: 8-10 degrees
• Straight: 4 degrees