Kyle Busch wins Quaker State 400: 5 things learned

It was a night filled with cautions and wacky occurrences as Kyle Busch won the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway.

The week leading up to Kentucky may have created doubt because of the weather, but by Saturday, there wasn’t a problem at all as NASCAR was able to get a race in without any weather problems.

In fact, the only problem this week was a record amount of cautions at Kentucky, which slowed down the race a bit. While there wasn’t the big wrecks that occurred at Daytona last week, there was a fair bit of smoking and debris on the track that led to NASCAR bringing out the yellow flag on occasion.

However on Saturday, it was Kyle Busch that outlasted everyone else to pick up a desperate second win of the season as he tries to pick up as many points as possible to secure himself a spot in the chase.

After everything that Kyle Busch has had to overcome this season, the fact that he picked up another win when he needed it most is of no surprise. Now, he will need to keep the momentum going if he’s going to have a chance to compete for a Sprint Cup Championship.

It is Busch’s second career win at Kentucky, after winning the inaugural race back in 2011.

With Busch picking up the huge win, here are five things learned at Kentucky.

1. Kyle Busch still has a chance

Coming into tonight, Kyle Busch needed to start putting some strong performances together if he was going to get one of the last spots in “The Chase” and compete for a Sprint Cup Championship. After missing a good majority of the beginning of the season due to injury, Busch was given a waiver and a chance to compete if he could pick up a win and be in the top-30 in points.

Well Busch got the win, but some wrecks have made it a little difficult on Busch as he has to average a top 14 finish over the final nine races if he is going to get in.

Well Saturday, was another huge step toward getting there. By picking up the win at Kentucky, and the bonus points that come with it, Busch’s odds of getting one of the last few spots greatly increased.

Now, he just needs to put a few more top finishes together and he should be able to get in. If he picks up another win, then there is no doubt that he would get in. Two wins are great, but a third would be even better.

2. Brad Keselowski is a bit wild in the pits

There’s just something about Brad Keselowski having issue with equipment when he pulls in for a pit stop. At the Coca-Cola 600, Keselowski launched an ethanol can into the pit stall in front of him while exiting. At Michigan, he dragged the air wrench of Martin Truex Jr.’s team with him as he exited.

At Kentucky, he had another moment in the pits as he almost ran over his crew member and sent a loose tire bouncing away.

Luckily for Keselowski, he wasn’t penalized and his crew member did a sweet barrel roll to avoid getting injured.

3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. needs a new set of brakes

After a big time victory at Daytona last week, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was arguably the hottest driver on the track. After this week, he needs a big time reset as Kentucky was not kind to the No. 88 or his brakes.

All night Earnhardt Jr. struggled with his brakes and it was evident in many instances. The first instance came when Earnhardt Jr. had trouble and hit the wall.

Then later in the race he couldn’t stop and got into the back of Danica Patrick which sent both to the pits.

Patrick would give him a little bump in the pits, but it didn’t appear that there was anything that Earnhardt Jr. could do with those brakes. Perhaps he can bounce back next week, because this week sure wasn’t working for him.

4. Minions are everywhere

This week the major motion picture “Minions” came out to theaters nationwide. For those that have turned on a television in the past five years and are tuned into pop culture even at the slightest know of the little yellow guys that create mischief.

Well with their heightened popularity, they were on the car of Carl Edwards this week. Not only that, they were also in his pit stall and helped push his car out to start the race.

The crazy yellow henchmen are on their way to a big opening weekend at the box office and they were also good luck for Carl Edwards as he picked up a good finish as he finished fourth on the night.

5. Kyle Busch gets a giant jukebox for winning

One of the great things in NASCAR is the cool trophies that you get for winning a race. When you win Kentucky, not only do you get a giant trophy, but you also get a jukebox. How sweet is that?

Now, Kyle Busch already has a jukebox from winning the race in 2011, but everyone knows that two is better than one and Kyle Busch can now put his second jukebox in another room.

The trophy itself is sweet too, honoring Kentucky’s time honored tradition with a majestic horse head on it.

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