With Martin Truex Jr. the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series’ second three-race winner, here’s what we learned from the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky.
Martin Truex Jr. snagged his third Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win on Saturday night in the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway, but it wasn’t without talking points.
Truex finally converted all of his stage wins—he has more as an individual than any other team in NASCAR—to another race victory. But to do it, he had to get through the second week in a row of overtime racing and hold off a very determined Kyle Larson in a battle of the top two Cup Series points contenders.
Plus, a couple of people did some housekeeping on Saturday, repainting the walls and mowing the lawn.
Here’s what we learned from the Quaker State 400:
1) The racing gods still like to mess with Martin Truex Jr.
Truex may have won the Quaker State 400, but that didn’t mean his legendarily weird relationship with the racing gods didn’t hamper him on Saturday. Truex was leading by a whopping 14 seconds with 15 laps to go and should have been able to coast to victory.
Indeed, he was on his way to taking the white flag…when a caution came out, evaporated that big lead, and sent the race into overtime. Not only that, but everyone else took advantage of the call to go to pit lane, leaving the No. 78 as the only frontrunner on old tires. Truex admitted in his post-race TV interview that he “thought we were dead,” and he wasn’t the only one.
The powers that be tried everything to take that win away from him except having his car spontaneously catch fire, but luckily he was still able to hang on for the win.
2) Kyle Larson is a mutant
We mean of the X-Men variety. Superpowers might be the only way to explain how the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing car had to start from the rear and climbed his way up to a second-place finish. And that’s not the first time Larson has had to begin a race in dead last this season! You have to hand it to him for how he’s able to make something out of the worst possible starting spot.
Of course, it’d be a lot better if he just stops missing qualifying and doesn’t have to do that every week, but then that wouldn’t be nearly as interesting.
3) It wasn’t a great night to have a low-numbered car
The No. 2 of Brad Keselowski, No. 3 of Austin Dillon, No. 5 of Kasey Kahne and No. 6 of Trevor Bayne all were involved in incidents during the Quaker State 400, including Kahne and Bayne (nice rhyme) together.
At least the No. 1 of Jamie McMurray and the No. 4 of Kevin Harvick were able to finish in the Top 10. Speaking of McMurray, when you pair his seventh-place finish with that of Larson’s, Saturday was another good day at the office for Chip Ganassi Racing, which will look to keep the good times rolling in Sunday’s Verizon IndyCar Series race.
4) It’s another wild weekend for Jimmie Johnson
Only Jimmie Johnson can make something good out of a wreck. Johnson’s No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was collected in a crash between Keselowski and Clint Bowyer at the Quaker State 400, resulting in him finishing absolute last.
And yet, because of Truex’s win, he’s sitting in second place in the overall Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series points standings. He obviously didn’t want to leave Kentucky in pieces but when it comes to the big picture, he could almost chalk this up as a decent weekend.
5) There’s always a first time for overtime
Saturday night was the first time NASCAR has ever had overtime in a Kentucky race. It definitely made things interesting in the Quaker State 400, but next week at Loudon we’ll be perfectly fine if the race ends when it’s supposed to.
Next: 25 NASCAR drivers to consider for that last heist
Next up for NASCAR is the Overton’s 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday, July 16. For the latest NASCAR news, follow the NASCAR category at FanSided here.