This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series travels to Gallatin County in Northern Kentucky for their one and only visit of the season to Kentucky Speedway.  Coverage of the Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart can be seen on FOX Sports 1 starting at 2 p.m. with NASCAR RaceHub, followed by the race itself. The green flag is scheduled to drop around 2:50 p.m.  The race can also be heard on PRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).

Records and facts

Last year's Quaker State 400 saw Joey Logano in a good position to win late.  However, Bubba Wallace crashed and brought out a caution with six laps to go.  This resulted in a Green-White-Checker restart.

On the restart, Logano was swamped on both sides.  Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch and Erik Jones got past and went three-wide for the lead.  The brothers battled hard over the final two laps, but it was Kurt who emerged victorious in his most recent Cup victory.

Kyle Busch ended up second with Jones third.  Kyle Larson was fourth, while Denny Hamlin was fifth.  Logano dropped all the way to seventh.

There have only been nine Cup races at Kentucky Speedway.  These races have been won by five drivers.  Brad Keselowski has the most victories at Kentucky with three, the most recent coming in 2016. Truex and Kyle Busch have two victories each, while Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch have one each.

Track Facts

Track / Race Length: 1.5-mile tri-oval, 267 laps (400.5 miles)
Banking: 17 degrees in turns 1-2, 14 degrees in turns 3-4

Frontstretch: 1,662 ft., banked 10 degrees

Backstretch: 1,600 ft., banked 4 degrees

Grandstand Seating: 107,000
Pit Road Speed: 45 mph
Pace Car Speed: 55 mph
Opened: 2000, first Cup race in 2011

Website: http://www.kentuckyspeedway.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kentuckyspeedway

Twitter: http://twitter.com/kyspeedway

Say What?!

"I think the biggest thing we saw the last couple of years is that the groove goes from being so wide coming out of turn four and down the front straightaway, it kind of narrows up getting into turn one and the racetrack width narrows up, not to mention the groove is probably only one car wide. Then, on the other end getting into turn three, the track kind of widens out down there and you have plenty of room, but again it narrows down and there’s only one groove. Last year, it seemed, in turns one and two, the rubber laid down well but it was more of a challenge in turns three and four. We’ll see how it is this weekend." - Kyle Busch

"I think the biggest thing we saw the last couple of years is that the groove goes from being so wide coming out of turn four and down the front straightaway, it kind of narrows up getting into turn one and the racetrack width narrows up, not to mention the groove is probably only one car wide. Then, on the other end getting into turn three, the track kind of widens out down there and you have plenty of room, but again it narrows down and there’s only one groove. Last year, it seemed, in turns one and two, the rubber laid down well but it was more of a challenge in turns three and four. We’ll see how it is this weekend." - William Byron

"Kentucky is a very unique race track. It used to be really rough with several different racing groves. Since they paved it, it’s certainly changed a little bit, but it’s still an interesting race track. It has a very unique Turn 3. I would say that’s the trickiest part of the track. It’s a very flat transition and really easy to overdrive that corner. That will cause you to mess up Turn 4 and not have momentum down the front stretch. So, you really have to get your car to handle good and get down into the race track in Turn 3. I think the guys that run the best there are able to get that corner down better than everybody else and setup a strong exit out of Turn 4." - Matt Kenseth

Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.  The photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.