Despite having the dominant car Friday night at Kentucky Speedway, race winner Brad Keselowski said it all came down to a fuel mind game between him and Kevin Harvick.
Keselowski’s Dodge had the fuel mileage, on the final stint, to hold off Harvick’s Chevrolet. Harvick was told he was running out of gas and made a move toward the pits then changed course, back to the track, opening up just enough of margin to allow Keselowski to coast to the victory.
“I wasn’t sure if he was playing games and if he was, I wasn’t sure what that game was. Essentially, it opened the box up for me to be more aggressive saving fuel. I don’t know if we would have run out or not. It’s hard to tell. That opened up the box for us and kind of guaranteed us that we’d be OK.”
Having led a race-high 132 lap, Harvick’s night was frustrating as much for poor communication as poor fuel mileage and confusion from the pit box regarding the right time to take his final pit stop of the race.
“I knew I had a good lap to two laps that I had saved under caution because I came right out of the pits (on lap 138) and started saving gas. They never told me on the radio that I needed to do anything until eight or nine laps to go. We just have to learn to race better,” Harvick, who also owns his Nationwide team, said.
Joe Gibbs Racing driver Kyle Busch followed up Thursday night’s Camping World Truck Series race victory with a third-place showing. That marked his third career top-five NNS finish in the Commonwealth.
Elliott Sadler, who finished fifth, now has a four-point lead over Reed Sorenson in the Series standings.
Keselowski’s Dodge had the fuel mileage, on the final stint, to hold off Harvick’s Chevrolet. Harvick was told he was running out of gas and made a move toward the pits then changed course, back to the track, opening up just enough of margin to allow Keselowski to coast to the victory.
“I wasn’t sure if he was playing games and if he was, I wasn’t sure what that game was. Essentially, it opened the box up for me to be more aggressive saving fuel. I don’t know if we would have run out or not. It’s hard to tell. That opened up the box for us and kind of guaranteed us that we’d be OK.”
Having led a race-high 132 lap, Harvick’s night was frustrating as much for poor communication as poor fuel mileage and confusion from the pit box regarding the right time to take his final pit stop of the race.
“I knew I had a good lap to two laps that I had saved under caution because I came right out of the pits (on lap 138) and started saving gas. They never told me on the radio that I needed to do anything until eight or nine laps to go. We just have to learn to race better,” Harvick, who also owns his Nationwide team, said.
Joe Gibbs Racing driver Kyle Busch followed up Thursday night’s Camping World Truck Series race victory with a third-place showing. That marked his third career top-five NNS finish in the Commonwealth.
Elliott Sadler, who finished fifth, now has a four-point lead over Reed Sorenson in the Series standings.