SPARTA, Ky. — The post-race victory burnout sequence was more exciting for Martin Truex Jr. than the actual race, as the pole sitter repeated as the Quaker State 400 champion at Kentucky Speedway Saturday night. The reigning Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion dominated the race for the second straight year, then performed an extended scorching of his tires as fans stood and cheered.
With his No. 78 Toyota still smoking, Truex started to climb out of his car as it continued moving. Truex escaped the car and it rolled gently down the tack toward the start-finish line, coming to a stop as fans tried to recall ever having seen something like that. "The car was just sitting on the banking in second or third gear and it just started rolling," Truex explained. I kind of felt it start and I thought yeah, whatever, I'm just gonna jump off here."
Truex also was trying to shake free for a post-race TV interview on the track. "Just left it in gear and it just rolled away," Truex said, smiling. "Ghost-riding it. Remember when you were a kid and you would ghost-ride your bike? Take off pedaling and ghost-ride off a jump? That's kind of what it was."
While his on-track celebration may have differed from last season, but his race playoed out much like his 2017 victory. It was the second straight year that Truex swept both stages and also won the race at Kentucky Speedway.
Saturday night's victory was the fourth win this season and 19th of his career for the 38-year-old native of Trenton, N.J. "I enjoy every single one of these wins like it's my first because you never know when it's going to end, " Truex said. "I'm just trying to ride the wave of momentum and go for another championship."
The Furniture Row Racing driver led 174 of 267 laps on the 1.5-mile track to collect another win for this season's "Big Three." Truex, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick have combined to win 14 of 19 Cup Series races this season. Truex was asked if such imbalance is bad for the sport. "I really don't care," he said. "Our job is to win races. I think all three of us have great teams and it's pretty amazing to be part of this group, honestly."
Ryan Blaney finished second Saturday in his No. 12 Ford, followed by three-time Kentucky winner Brad Keselowski in third place in his No. 2 Ford. "Every defeat, we've got to look at the positives," Blaney said. "We've gotten a lot better but it's not good enough." Blaney entered the night No. 11 in season points, and improved to 10th with his Saturday runner-up finish. Keselowski led some laps Saturday but, like everyone else, did not have nearly enough for Truex. Keselowski is fifth in the points but has yet to win this year. "We can see the end of the tunnel," Keselowski said. "It's just a matter of getting there."
Truex led the first 37 laps and went on to win both the first and second stages with two-time Kentucky winner Kyle Busch in the No. 18 Toyota the main challenger early. Busch and Harvick, who have five wins apiece this season, finished fourth and fifth respectively.
Less than 20 laps into the race, Truex already was lapping slower cars. When the first pit stops began to cycle, Keselowski was penalized on Lap 41 for going too fast on pit road. The Team Penske driver had to come back down pit road to for a pass-through, and he fell out of the top 20. Keselowski eventually worked his way back into contention, and took the lead entering the final 100 laps before Truex resumed the lead.
FINAL COUNTDOWN: Keselowski, who had not been challenging for the lead, worked his way up as Stage Two ended. Gambling with a two-tire pitstop ahead of the restart to open Stage Three, Keselowski jumped Truex for the lead.
Truex then fell back to third place behind Kyle Larson, who had started from the back of the field after missing driver introductions. But just as Larson was making his charge, he reported a track bar issue, which necessitated a major adjustment on pit road. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver rallied again in the latter stages of the final segment to finish ninth.
By Lap 200, Truex regained the lead when Keselowski got loose in Turn 4. Then came a caution on Lap 205, when J.J. Yeley blew a motor and ran into the Turn 4 wall. Yeley's car came to a stop against the wall, and most of the leaders subsequently pitted to prepare for the final 50-plus laps. On the re-start on Lap 214, Kurt Busch zipped ahead of Truex for the lead. By Lap 223, Truex overtook Busch to regain first place. The win gave Truex 25 playoff points.
WATER PROBLEM: At about 10 p.m. ET, some infield sprinklers turned on and caused water to pool near the pit road exit. The sprinklers apparently are on a timer. NASCAR did not stop the race, and the drivers did not have to deal with the water as most were done pitting for the night.
STAGE TWO: Joey Logano, who did not pit at the end of Stage One, was the leader on the re-start for the second stage. Logano was overtaken by Kurt Busch on a lap-88 restart. By Lap 98, Truex had overtaken Busch and was back in the lead. Truex still held the lead as Stage Two ended on Lap 160, with Kyle Busch running second.
FIRST YELLOW: There were no accidents until Lap 109, when Alex Bowman's No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet blew a tire and hit the wall in Turn 4. Bowman drove into the pits with heavy damage on the car's right side and was forced to end his night.
