NASCAR Cup Series: 2018 Quaker State 400 results – Martin Truex Jr. dominates
By Asher Fair
Martin Truex Jr. earned his fourth victory of the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season in the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway.
Furniture Row Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. entered the 2018 Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway as the only NASCAR Cup Series driver who had ever won a stage at the track, as he won the first two stages of the race and the race itself last year in the first season of stage racing.
Exiting the Quaker State 400, this is still the case, as Truex Jr. won the first two stages as well as the race itself once again after he started from the pole position to claim his fourth victory of the 2018 Cup Series season and his third victory in the last six races.
Truex Jr. led 174 laps of the 267-lap race around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Kentucky en route to winning it in his #78 Toyota by 1.901 seconds by the race’s highest finishing Ford driver, Ryan Blaney. Blaney finished in second place in his #12 Team Penske Ford.
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Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski finished in third place in his #2 Ford. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick rounded out the top five in fourth and fifth in their #18 Toyota and #4 Ford, respectively.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyle Larson, who qualified for the race in 18th place but was sent to the back of the field for the start of it after he missed driver introductions, was the race’s highest finishing Chevrolet driver. He finished in ninth place in his #42 Chevrolet.
The race featured a total of 14 lead changes among seven drivers. Aside of Truex Jr., six drivers led at least one lap of the race. Those six drivers were Blaney, Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson and Alex Bowman.
The race also featured a total of four caution flag periods, of which two took place as a result of on-track incidents and two took place as a result of the endings of stages one and two like they usually do. Those four caution flag periods lasted for a combined 22 laps.
A total of 39 drivers started the race, and of those 39 drivers, 36 finished the race, which is a pretty large total for a Cup Series race. Only Bowman, J.J. Yeley and Matt DiBenedetto started the race but failed to finish it. Of the 36 drivers who finished the race, 21 finished it on the lead lap.
Here are the full race results of the 2018 Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway.
| Rank | Driver | Car, Team, Manufacturer |
| 1 | Martin Truex Jr. | #78, Furniture Row Racing, Toyota |
| 2 | Ryan Blaney | #12, Team Penske, Ford |
| 3 | Brad Keselowski | #2, Team Penske, Ford |
| 4 | Kyle Busch | #18, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota |
| 5 | Kevin Harvick | #4, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford |
| 6 | Kurt Busch | #41, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford |
| 7 | Erik Jones | #20, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota |
| 8 | Aric Almirola | #10, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford |
| 9 | Kyle Larson | #42, Chip Ganassi Racing, Chevrolet |
| 10 | Joey Logano | #22, Team Penske, Ford |
| 11 | Paul Menard | #21, Wood Brothers Racing, Ford |
| 12 | Clint Bowyer | #14, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford |
| 13 | Chase Elliott | #9, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet |
| 14 | Jimmie Johnson | #48, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet |
| 15 | Daniel Suarez | #19, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota |
| 16 | Denny Hamlin | #11, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota |
| 17 | Jamie McMurray | #1, Chip Ganassi Racing, Chevrolet |
| 18 | David Ragan | #38, Front Row Motorsports, Ford |
| 19 | Matt Kenseth | #6, Roush Fenway Racing, Ford |
| 20 | William Byron | #24, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet |
| 21 | Ryan Newman | #31, Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet |
| 22 | Austin Dillon | #3, Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet |
| 23 | Chris Buescher | #37, JTG Daugherty Racing, Chevrolet |
| 24 | Michael McDowell | #34, Front Row Motorsports, Ford |
| 25 | Kasey Kahne | #95, Leavine Family Racing, Chevrolet |
| 26 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | #17, Roush Fenway Racing, Ford |
| 27 | Darrell Wallace Jr. | #43, Richard Petty Motorsports, Chevrolet |
| 28 | Ross Chastain | #15, Premium Motorsports, Chevrolet |
| 29 | Ty Dillon | #13, Germain Racing, Chevrolet |
| 30 | A.J. Allmendinger | #47, JTG Daugherty Racing, Chevrolet |
| 31 | Corey Lajoie | #72, TriStar Motorsports, Chevrolet |
| 32 | B.J. McLeod | #51, Rick Ware Racing, Chevrolet |
| 33 | Landon Cassill | #00, StarCom Racing, Chevrolet |
| 34 | Timmy Hill | #66, MBM Motorsports, Toyota |
| 35 | Jesse Little | #7, Premium Motorsports, Chevrolet |
| 36 | Garrett Smithley | #99, StarCom Racing, Chevrolet |
| 37 | Matt DiBenedetto | #32, Go Fas Racing, Ford |
| 38 | J.J. Yeley | #23, BK Racing, Toyota |
| 39 | Alex Bowman | #88, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet |
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Tune in to NBC Sports Network next Sunday, July 22 to watch the live broadcast of the next NASCAR Cup Series race. That race is the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301, which is scheduled to take place at New Hampshire Motor Speedway at 2:00 p.m. ET on that date.