{"id":28643,"date":"2016-07-11T10:42:46","date_gmt":"2016-07-11T17:42:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=28643"},"modified":"2016-07-11T10:42:46","modified_gmt":"2016-07-11T17:42:46","slug":"keselowski-wins-kentucky-on-empty-gas-tank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/keselowski-wins-kentucky-on-empty-gas-tank\/","title":{"rendered":"Keselowski Wins Kentucky on Empty Gas Tank"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"SPARTA,<\/a>
SPARTA, KY – JULY 09: Brad Keselowski, driver of the #2 Miller Lite Ford, takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway on July 9, 2016 in Sparta, Kentucky. (Photo by Drew Hallowell\/NASCAR via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Brad Keselowski cut his Team Penske Ford\u2019s fuel mileage to such a razor thin level that he couldn\u2019t do his celebratory donuts after the race, but going 71 laps without stopping was just enough to hold off the Toyota of Carl Edwards by .175 of a second to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway.
\nThe race was steered by first Kevin Harvick showing his Stewart-Haas prowess and then later, Martin Truex, Jr. showing the way for a combined 175 laps of 276, but there were a number of cars that didn\u2019t pit all running on fumes. The set up for the finish allowed Keselowski to reach his fourth win of the season with Edwards, Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart in his 600th start rounding out the top five.
\nIt was Keselowski\u2019s second straight win after taking Daytona last week and 21st overall in his career and his third victory out of six tries at Kentucky leading for 75 laps on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

\"SPARTA,<\/a>
SPARTA, KY – JULY 09: Brad Keselowski, driver of the #2 Miller Lite Ford, leads a pack of cars during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway on July 9, 2016 in Sparta, Kentucky. (Photo by Jerry Markland\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

“We knew the fuel mileage,” said Keselowski, becoming the first driver to officially clinch a spot in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. “We went out and we set a really fast pace there on that restart and were just using fuel, and then it became obvious that you were going to have to save fuel at the end, but I already used so much.
\n“It\u2019s a testament to our guys to have the fuel mileage that we did, to be able to get back what I burnt early in the run and get the Miller Lite Ford in Victory Lane. Usually, these repaves are kind of my Achilles heel, but to get a win here at Kentucky, I know it\u2019s been a good track for us in the past, but this isn\u2019t the same Kentucky, I can tell you that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SPARTA,<\/a>
SPARTA, KY – JULY 09: Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Busch Light Chevrolet, and Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #78 Furniture Row Toyota, lead the field in a restart during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway on July 9, 2016 in Sparta, Kentucky. (Photo by Drew Hallowell\/NASCAR via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

When Keselowski slowed through Turn 4 on the next-to-last lap, Edwards thought he had the race won, but in retrospect, Edwards was shaking his head not believing he had been beaten by such a move. Keselowski waited until the last moment coming off turn 4 to re-fire and use his remaining fuel to jet off from a fast approaching Edwards for one more lap.<\/p>\n

“I guess I’m impressed that he did beat me, but I don’t want to be,\u201d sighed Edwards. \u201cHe waited. He basically shut the car off and went right off of four and matched it perfectly to where I couldn’t get by him down the front straightaway, and then he ran like heck through 1 and 2, and then I thought maybe he’ll run out down the back straight. Man, I dove it down in there trying to catch him into 3, and I couldn’t even get to him.”
\nTruex had taken the lead off pit road on Lap 196, but NASCAR sent him to the rear of the field for passing Harvick, then the race leader, on the entry to pit road. For the last 68 laps, Truex drove like a madman, advancing from 23rd to as high as third before pitting for fuel and finishing 10th.
\n“It wasn\u2019t my night on that deal,” Truex said. “It\u2019s frustrating; we had the car to beat. We came out with the lead and they took it away from us. It\u2019s just the way it goes, I guess.”
\nNext stop for the NASCAR Sprint Cup takes the tour to the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon on Sunday, July 17.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brad Keselowski cuts this win real thin,<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":28647,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17,3424,22],"tags":[4067,3053,547,127,1632],"class_list":["post-28643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guest-column","category-nascar","category-event-coverage","tag-2016-nascar-sprint-cup-series","tag-brad-keselowski","tag-jay-wells","tag-nascar","tag-racing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/KYS_070916_121.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-7rZ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28643"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28648,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28643\/revisions\/28648"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}