2015 Quaker State 400

Background , the track where the race was held. Kentucky Speedway is a tri-oval speedway in Sparta, Kentucky. Kevin Harvick entered Kentucky with a 63-point lead over Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jimmie Johnson entered 67 back, Joey Logano entered 75 back, and Martin Truex Jr. entered 87 back. New aero package On June 16, NASCAR announced that a new aero package would be used for this weekend's race at Kentucky Speedway. The changes included a smaller rear spoiler and other adjustments that significantly reduced aerodynamic downforce. The spoiler was tall. There was also a wide splitter extension. In addition, tires supplied by Goodyear provided drivers with more grip. "We want to see more lead changes on the racetrack," NASCAR Executive Vice-president and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O'Donnell said in a media teleconference. "We'll evaluate that and a number of different factors coming out of Kentucky, see what we can learn and implement down the road." Originally, the package was to be used at this year's All-Star Race, but the plan was scrubbed and NASCAR opted to use the package for a points race. "Let me be clear. This is not a test, this is a race," O'Donnell said of the rules package that was in effect for the 18th round of the 2015 Sprint Cup Series. "We've had an extensive testing plan with the industry over the last 18 months. We wouldn't implement this if we didn't feel confident as an industry to implement it at Kentucky." Tire allotment For this weekend's race, teams were given nine sets of Goodyear tires versus the normal allotment of eleven. Entry list The entry list for the Quaker State 400 was released on Monday, July 6 at 2:19 p.m. Eastern time. Forty-six drivers were entered for the race. All but the No. 30 Chevrolet of The Motorsports Group were entered for the previous week's Coke Zero 400. The three driver changes for this week were Will Kimmel in the No. 32 Go FAS Racing Ford, Alex Kennedy in the No. 33 Hillman-Circle Sport LLC Chevrolet, and Reed Sorenson in the No. 62 Premium Motorsports Chevrolet. ==First practice==

Kyle Larson was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 29.583 and a speed of . ==Qualifying==

, seen here at the 2015 Daytona 500, was awarded the first starting spot as a result of qualifying being canceled. Three rounds of knockout qualifying were to take place at 5:45 p.m., but the threat of rain forced NASCAR to cancel qualifying. The field was set by first practice speeds. "We've gone a long time and not missed a race with weather," said co-owner Eddie Wood. "Now, the numbers seem to be leveling out. If you're slow and you miss a race because you're not fast enough, it's a bad deal. That kills your soul, but you can't do anything about the weather. We're gonna run next week at Loudon (N.H.), so we'll head up that way and hope we don't get rained out. I'm going to stop looking at weather apps, I can tell you that." In his weekly appearance on the Sirius XM NASCAR Radio program The Morning Drive the Monday after the race, NASCAR Executive Vice-president and Chief Racing Officer Steve O'Donnell explained to Mike Bagley and Pete Pistone NASCAR's decision to cancel qualifying despite the final practice session being held at the time qualifying was scheduled to be held. He told them that NASCAR "could probably have done a better job of explaining it." Starting lineup ==Final practice==

Kyle Larson was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 30.267 and a speed of . ==Race==

First half Start The race was scheduled to start at 7:45 p.m. EDT but started two minutes later when Kyle Larson led the field to the green flag. He lost the lead to Brad Keselowski, who would lead the first lap. This would drop him to third place. The first caution of the race flew on lap 19 when J. J. Yeley, running on the outside, got loose and made contact with Josh Wise in turn 3, sending him into the wall. None of the leaders would pit under this caution, as they all stayed out. The race restarted on lap 24. The second caution of the race flew on lap 31 as a scheduled competition caution. Kyle Busch exited pit road with the lead after taking both right-side tires while Keselowski took four. Riding the high line, Yeley made contact with the wall. Stenhouse also made contact with the wall. "Yeah. It's easy to play the Saturday evening quarterback, but it just didn't come together for us," Keselowski said. "There are certainly some things I could have done better and we didn't have the best day on pit road. It's something to build off of, but I thought Kyle and I both had pretty good cars and we just didn't put it all together when it counted. We'll keep working on it." She retaliated by cursing him on the radio and ramming him on pit road. == Post-race ==

Driver comments "That right there is what we've got to do," Busch said. "Just to score as many points as we possibly can. To score those wins, that's what's going to get us to where we need to be. We led the most laps and we won the race, so that's all you can score. We'll just continue to push on and thrive." "Second just hurts, you know?" Logano said. "When you're that close to winning them, but we're still proud of what we did today. We had a fast car, we've improved our speed." "They're close. The tire definitely could be a little softer. I wore one out just grinding on it, abusing it too much," said Denny Hamlin, who rallied from two laps down to finish third. "That's on me, but when you abuse a tire, you should not get rewarded for it. We've made our tires so dummy-proof over the last 10 years that anyone can just abuse them and abuse them with no consequence. I abused mine and I wore it out. That's what racing's all about. The drivers, our hands are uncuffed with this package. We're able to manhandle the cars and really be aggressive with it." and that the package "sure kicked ass..." Lee Spencer of Motorsport.com said that "while it's too early to grade the new low downforce Sprint Cup package, Saturday night's Quaker State 400 was one of the best shows NASCAR has put on at an intermediate track in a long, long time." Nate Ryan of NBC Sports described it as "the best Sprint Cup race of a 2015 season lacking for the sort of indelible moments that ran on a continuous loop Saturday night at Kentucky Speedway," and that "there was enough compelling evidence for a strong case the package should get another shot beyond the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway." == Race results ==

Race statistics • 13 lead changes among 8 different drivers • 11 cautions for 49 laps • Time of race: 3 hours, 5 minutes, 42 seconds • Average speed: • Kyle Busch took home $214,316 in winnings Race awards • Coors Light Pole Award: None • 3M Lap Leader: Kyle Busch (163 laps) • American Ethanol Green Flag Restart Award: Kyle Busch • Duralast Brakes "Bake In The Race" Award: Brad Keselowski • Freescale "Wide Open": Matt Kenseth • Ingersoll Rand Power Move: Ryan Newman (3 positions) • MAHLE Clevite Engine Builder of the Race: Toyota Racing Development, #18 • Mobil 1 Driver of the Race: Kyle Busch (148.4 driver rating) • Moog Steering and Suspension Problem Solver of The Race: Carl Edwards (crew chief Darian Grubb (0.302 seconds)) • NASCAR Sprint Cup Leader Bonus: No winner: rolls over to $150,000 at next event • Sherwin-Williams Fastest Lap: Carl Edwards (Lap 148, 30.367, ) • Sunoco Rookie of The Race: Brett Moffitt ==Media==

Television NBC Sports had the television call for the race. Rick Allen, Jeff Burton, and Steve Letarte had the call in the booth for the race. Dave Burns, Mike Massaro, Marty Snider, and Kelli Stavast handled pit road for the television side. Radio PRN had the radio call for the race, which was simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Doug Rice, Mark Garrow, and Wendy Venturini called the race from the booth when the field went racing through the tri-oval. Rob Albright called the race from a billboard outside turn 1 when the field went racing through turns 1 & 2. Pat Patterson called the race from a billboard outside turn 4 when the field went racing through turns 3 & 4. Brad Gillie, Brett McMillan, Jim Noble, and Steve Richards worked pit road for the radio side. ==Standings after the race==

left Kentucky with a 68-point lead over Jimmie Johnson. ;Drivers' Championship standings ;Manufacturers' Championship standings • Note: Only the first sixteen positions are included for the driver standings. ==Notes==