2013 Quaker State 400

The 2013 Quaker State 400 presented by Advance Auto Parts was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race scheduled to be held on June 29, 2013, at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Kentucky, United States, but was postponed to June 30 due to persistent rain. Contested over 267 laps on the 1.5-mile (2.4 km) tri-oval, it was the seventeenth race of the 2013 Sprint Cup Series championship. Matt Kenseth of Joe Gibbs Racing won the race, his fourth win of the 2013 season, while Jamie McMurray finished second. Clint Bowyer, Joey Logano, and Kyle Busch rounded out the top five.

Report

Background

Entry list

(R) - Denotes rookie driver.

(i) - Denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.

Practice and qualifying

Two practice sessions were held on June 28 in preparation for the race. The first session was 60 minutes in duration, while the second session was 90 minutes long.

During the first practice session, Kevin Harvick, for the Richard Childress Racing team, was quickest ahead of Jimmie Johnson in second and Brad Keselowski in third. Kurt Busch scored fourth and Jeff Gordon managed fifth. Kyle Busch, Brian Vickers, Juan Pablo Montoya, Paul Menard, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. rounded out the top ten quickest drivers in the session. In the final practice session for the race, Johnson was quickest with a time of 29.819 seconds. Carl Edwards followed in second ahead of Kyle Busch and Jeff Gordon in third and fourth. Jeff Burton, who was twelfth quickest in second practice, managed fifth.

During qualifying, Dale Earnhardt Jr. clinched his twelfth career pole position, with a record lap time of 29.406 seconds and a speed of 183.636 miles per hour (295.533 km/h). After his qualifying run, Earnhardt Jr. said, "We thought we had a top-five car in practice, and we got some good cloud cover about six or seven cars in front of us before we went to qualify, and that brought the track temp down to give us a good advantage," Earnhardt said. "It gave us a good opportunity to run a bit quicker lap than maybe what the car had in it." He was joined on the front row of the grid by Edwards. Johnson qualified third, Kyle Busch took fourth, and Marcos Ambrose started fifth. Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman, Brad Keselowski, Brian Vickers, and Juan Pablo Montoya completed the first ten positions on the grid.

Race

Start

First half

The race was scheduled to start on the Saturday at 8:00 p.m., but was delayed until the following afternoon due to rain, with the new start time set at 12:00 p.m. E.T. This change in schedule prompted NASCAR to impose a competition caution on lap 30 ahead of the race to allow teams to check their tire wear and make adjustments.

Carl Edwards led lap 1. The race ran without incident until the scheduled competition caution was brought out on lap 29, and ended on lap 36. The second caution of the race was issued for a tire blowout on lap 39 and lasted until lap 48. The third caution occurred on lap 49 for a multi-car wreck including Brad Keselowski, Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, and others. It started with Brad Keselowski spinning in the grass, taking out multiple cars in the process. The wreck caused the red flag to be displayed with Jimmie Johnson as the race leader. The fourth caution came out on lap 89 for debris on the track.

Second half

David Gilliland blew a tire Kasey Kahne won the free pass, and the race restarted on lap 94. The fifth caution of the race came out on lap 149; Jeff Gordon won the free pass under caution, and the race restarted on lap 154. Jimmie Johnson took the lead, and then the next caution was on lap 241 for a tire blowout.

Final wreck and finish

The race restarted on lap 243, and on 246, the sixth caution came out. The race restarted on lap 250, and Matt Kenseth won his first race at Kentucky.

Results

Qualifying

Race results

Notes

1. ^ Points include 3 Chase for the Sprint Cup points for winning, 1 point for leading a lap, and 1 point for most laps led.

2. a b c d e f Ineligible for driver's championship points.

3. ^ Post entry, driver and owner did not score points.

Standings after the race