NASCAR: What to watch for in the 2018 Quaker State 400

Race 19 brings the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series under the lights for the second week in a row to Kentucky Speedway for the Quaker State 400.

This week, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series provides another edition of night racing on Saturday evening at Kentucky Speedway for the Quaker State 400. Saturday’s race will be the eighth Cup Series race held at Kentucky Speedway. Kentucky has quite the challenge ahead when it comes to topping the last couple of weeks of racing.

Rumor has it that the crews at Daytona International Speedway are still picking up sheet metal left behind after the Cup Series came to town last weekend. In a crash-filled affair, it was Erik Jones capturing his first career Cup Series win. The talk of the town, however, has been swirling around Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Stenhouse Jr.’s car looked more like a bowling ball trying to take out as many pins as possible as opposed to a race car.

On Saturday, the Cup Series will battle at a more traditional-style oval track in Kentucky. The schedule is slowly starting to dwindle down to having just a few races remaining before the playoffs begin. It’s crunch time for those without wins to start improving their place in the championship standings or find a way to win to relieve some of the pressure. Here is what you can look for this weekend at Kentucky Speedway.

What to Watch

Payback for “Wrecking Ball” Ricky

There are several drivers not too happy with Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and they have legitimate reasons to be mad at him. Stenhouse Jr. caused the first “big one”, which wasn’t completely his fault. William Byron went low to block Brad Keselowski, causing Stenhouse Jr. to tag Keselowski and take out more than half of the field.

Later on, Stenhouse Jr. faded up the track between turns three and four, collecting Kyle Busch and several others, including Byron. It will be interesting to see if anyone whose day was ruined at Daytona will want payback this Saturday at Kentucky. I personally find it hard to believe everyone will forget about Stenhouse Jr. during the week.

Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick…who wins?

We’re back to yet another 1.5-mile oval in Kentucky Speedway, and the “big three” have dominated at this kind of track as of late. In fact, the previous Kentucky race winner is Martin Truex Jr. It’s really hard to predict anyone other than Truex Jr, Busch or Harvick finding victory lane on Saturday. Keselowski has shown signs of success at Kentucky by winning three times in the seven races the Cup Series has contested there thus far, but it’s just not in me to think that any other driver has a shot at beating the likes of Busch, Harvick or Truex Jr.

Late caution

It’s been a while since we had one of those “phantom” debris cautions late in the race to shake things up a bit. Don’t be surprised if it looks like a driver is just a few laps away from a sure victory when the yellow flag is displayed for no apparent reason. The sport of NASCAR is in full desperation mode to keep and attract fans, and this is one of the most heavily utilized options.

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What will you be watching for on Saturday night at Kentucky Speedway? Tune into NBC Sports Network at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 14 to catch all of the action in the Quaker State 400!