All the question marks leading into the first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on the newly repaved Kentucky Speedway got answers in Saturday night's Quaker State 400 Presented by Advance Auto Parts. But the topsy-turvy event made some of the answers less clear-cut than most, with drivers' mixed reviews expressing their quibbles about the 1.5-mile track's treacherous conditions but their understanding about why the race played out the way it did.
NASCAR used a reduced downforce package as a potential preview of 2017's aero rules for its top division, but did so on a freshly repaved and reconfigured layout. Competition and track officials took as many measures as possible to synthetically age the track, but the racing groove remained a narrow path for the duration of the 267-lap race, making passing a dicey proposition and contributing to 11 yellow flags, a figure that tied a track record.
Tires also played a prominent role in altering the race's complexion. After some instances of blistering during a test last month, Goodyear changed course on the tire compound for the Kentucky race, trading grip and faster wear for more durable rubber. The harder compound became a lament for several drivers, though several acknowledged that safety was paramount in the decision.
"It's really nobody's fault," said Tony Stewart , who secured his second top-five finish of the season in making his 600th career start Saturday night. "I mean, Goodyear's trying to do what they can to protect themselves and make sure they don't have tire problems. They didn't have to worry about that -- it was the hardest thing on the planet. NHL doesn't have anything on them on a hard puck, but like every other repave, as they get laps and more races on this track, it'll get to where they can come off the hardness of the tire and it'll be better for everybody. This is as bad as it's going to get; it'll get better from here. …
"It's kind of hard when you have conditions like that, but the track's going to be fine, NASCAR did the right thing. It's easy to point the finger at Goodyear, but they had to do what they thought was right and what was conservative for them. It's just way too hard, and the wrecks kind of proved that."
Dale Earnhardt Jr. , who faded to a 13th-place finish after his No. 88 Chevrolet sputtered out of fuel on the last lap, agreed.
"It's a conservative tire. I understand why they did it because of the blistering they had in the test," Earnhardt said. "We can't come here and blister right-fronts (tires) and have guys pounding the fence at 190 miles an hour. And the low downforce -- I don't know if all that stuff is a great combination. … I mean, you couldn't hustle the car at all. You're just on pins and needles all the time on restarts, like 'uhhhh, I don't want to lose any ground.' Boy, if I have a big slip, I'm going to lose all kinds of track position, which happened over and over."
Race winner Brad Keselowski had a more pressing issue with saving fuel over the final green-flag stretch, but acknowledged the challenges specifically posed by the track's new asymmetrical layout. With more banking in the speedier Turns 1 and 2 (17 degrees) than in Turns 3 and 4 (14 degrees), drivers required more brake and finesse on one end of the track than the other.
"I'm not sure, but it took a lot discipline to run this track tonight," said Keselowski, who wrapped up his third Kentucky win in the Sprint Cup Series. "If you got into Turn 3 and 4 the least bit wrong, you wrecked. That's just the way the race was, and I think that's what we saw. There's arguments to be made good or bad for that. I think it's a good challenge. We're professional race car drivers. It shouldn't be easy. It wasn't tonight. It was very, very difficult. You had to certainly be very smart."
Scott Miller, NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition, said afterward that competition officials have no plans to try the rules package again this season as a possible prelude to 2017. He said that the aerodynamic setup performed as it should, while recognizing the challenges presented by Kentucky's new pavement.
"We've known as an industry that the repaves are very, very difficult historically," Miller said. "This was no different. But really the action in all three of the events this weekend I thought for a repave, it turned out really well, and we had obviously tonight a lot of action, like Brad said, a little dicey getting down there in Turn 3 on the restarts especially.
"I think the low, low downforce package, if that's what we're calling it now, helped at this race on the repave. I think the corner speeds would have been extremely high, and with the higher downforce stepping out of the groove might have even had more consequences than we had tonight."
The onward march of time and weather will likely help the racing groove expand for future races. Other variables will remain moving targets, but much like the Bluegrass State's trademark bourbon, the Kentucky Speedway asphalt should only grow better with age.
"I think this package will work great at some other tracks with a different tire, a different surface," Earnhardt said. "This was probably as good as they could've expected with a repave. They're always nasty races, you know."