The 2017 Winston Cup Series: Truex Jr. wins at Kentucky

Martin Truex Jr. gets his 10th career win at Kentucky Speedway. Truex Jr. dominated, leading 152 of 274 laps

Martin Truex Jr. continued his stellar season last night with a solid win at Kentucky. It was nearly a heartbreaking finish for him, when the caution came out with two to go, thanks to Kurt Busch’s blown engine... It’s only fitting Truex Jr. held on for the win, after leading the field by over half a lap in the closing stages. Even though Truex was on old tires, he got a good enough jump on the final restart to secure his 10^th career win. The dominant car won the race, something that we don’t always see. Other notable finishes include Darrell Wallace Jr. with an 11^th, Danica Patrick in 15^th, and Jeffrey Earnhardt with a decent finish of 29^th.

Clint Bowyer, Jimmie Johnson, and Brad Keselowski (not visible) bring out the caution on lap 88. The accident takes out Keselowski and Johnson, they finish 39th and 40th

The biggest surprise/disappointment was the accident that took out Brad Keselowski and Jimmie Johnson. Keselowski has dominated at Kentucky, winning three of the six previous races here, only to lose control under Clint Bowyer in turn three. A third of the way into the night, he was done.

This was actually the first time I watched the Kentucky race (it’s a fairly new track on the schedule). Aside from the accidents on restarts, it felt like a pretty clean race… I know it’s another cookie-cutter, but being only 5-6 hours away in Michigan, I’ll have to make my way down there sometime to see it in person. The grandstands look high enough where you’d probably have a great view of the whole track.

Here’s a look at the classic points after Kentucky, the official halfway point of the season. With the win and the most laps led, Truex Jr. gains some points on Larson, but not as much as he does with stage wins (Truex actually got 60 points last night winning all three stages, here I only score him for 45). Chase Elliott’s third place helped him jump four spots to fifth in the classic points… Both Johnson and Keselowski drop substantially because of their crash.

Next week the Cup series heads to Loudon, New Hampshire. A fun fact: Kenseth, Newman, Johnson, and Kurt Busch all have three wins at New Hampshire. Jeff Burton holds the Cup series record with four. Another fun fact, of all active drivers, Dale Jr. holds the title of most starts at New Hampshire without a win, with 33. Let’s see how he does on his 34^th and final visit...