SPARTA, Ky. — Simmering drivers in overheating cars, all vying for an open lane and struggling to get out of heavy traffic - and that was just the fans on the way to Kentucky Speedway a year ago.
Designed to be a showcase of big-time racing in the commonwealth, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race instead was a fiasco. Some may remember that Kyle Busch won. But almost everybody recalls the long lines of angry drivers who sat for hours in traffic, many eventually forced to turn around and go home.
Call it the Bluegrass black eye.
It was so bad that the track general manager, Mark Simendinger, issued an apology to fans a day later.
“The plan looked great on a piece of paper,” he said of the prerace preparations. “It just didn’t work.”
Now the stock cars have returned this weekend. Track officials have taken major steps to make sure most of the problems won’t.
Last year ’s problems touched the drivers, too.
“It was almost like I was sitting in traffic like I was in Richmond years ago as a race fan driving in,” said Denny Hamlin, who barely made the drivers’ meeting Saturday because of the congestion.
Five-time Cup driving champ Jimmie Johnson said it was a shame what happened and hoped that the problems had been remedied.
“I was at the racetrack in my motorhome and didn’t have to face the problems a lot of people did,” he said. “It was unfortunate to hear that everybody that bought a ticket wasn’t able to get here and people were turned away. You never want that to happen. But, it did. I think we’ve got a chance to make it right - well not ‘we,’ but whoever is in charge of what the issues were.”
That means Simendinger and others who had thought they had anticipated everything a year ago but still watched everything turn sour.
“The story was, ‘Oh my God, the traffic was terrible!’ ” Simendinger said. “And for all of us who had worked so hard to do all the other things, to get it to that point and to have the takeaway be a negative story about traffic, was a bitter pill.”
Speedway MotorsportsInc. owner Bruton Smith has dug deep into his own pockets. The commonwealth has made dramatic improvements at and near the raceway located midway between Cincinnati and Louisville, Ky.
Track and government officials built wider highway ramps and stretched the state highway leading to the track from five to seven lanes. A new infield tunnel road overpass was built, as was another tunnel linked to new parking. An additional 20,000 vehicles can be accommodated on or near the grounds this year.
Driver Brad Keselowski said the drivers shoulder a share of the burden of erasing last year’s debacle.
“It’d be nice to see an aerial shot to really get an idea of all the differences [that have been made] but you know from our perspective, we just have to trust the track and the management group to do the best job they can,” he said. “Then, we need to go out and do our job, which is to put on the best race possible.”
There are other subplots that overshadow the trip to the track this year.
A lot of the eyes will be on series leader Matt Kenseth since he announced earlier this week he will leave Roush Fenway Racing afterthe season. Kenseth and his team have won 22 times over the past 15 years, including two Daytona 500s.
“It is a distraction,” Kenseth said. “But it is something for next year, not this year, and we have a ton of racing to do this year. We will all give it 100 percent and try to finish the season on a strong note.”NASCAR Sprint Cup Quaker State 400 lineupAfter Friday qualifying; race today At Kentucky Speedway Sparta, Ky.
Lap length: 1.5 miles (Car number in parentheses) 1. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevy, 181.818 mph.
(18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 181.421.
(11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 181.147.
(29) Kevin Harvick, Chevy, 180.367.
(39) Ryan Newman, Chevy, 180.337.
(15) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 180.228.
(88) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevy, 180.222.
(2) Brad Keselowski, Dodge, 180.204.
(24) Jeff Gordon, Chevy, 180.036.
(56) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 179.964.
(16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 179.754.
(9) Marcos Ambrose, Ford, 179.509.
(43) Aric Almirola, Ford, 179.336.
(51) Kurt Busch, Chevy, 179.206.
(27) Paul Menard, Chevy, 179.075.
(22) A J Allmendinger, Dodge, 179.045.
(1) Jamie McMurray, Chevy, 178.992.
(20) Joey Logano, Toyota, 178.867.
(5) Kasey Kahne, Chevy, 178.737.
(17) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 178.23.
(13) Casey Mears, Ford, 177.825.
(14) Tony Stewart, Chevy, 177.801.
(83) Landon Cassill, Toyota, 177.02.
(95) Scott Speed, Ford, 176.505.
(99) Carl Edwards, Ford, 176.217.
(78) Regan Smith, Chevy, 175.97.
(87) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, 175.73.
(47) Bobby Labonte, Toyota, 175.615.
(31) Jeff Burton, Chevy, 175.211.
(26) Josh Wise, Ford, 175.08.
(42) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevy, 175.063.
(30) David Stremme, Toyota, 174.757.
(34) David Ragan, Ford, 174.695.
(93) Travis Kvapil, Toyota, 174.402.
(98) Michael McDowell, Ford, 174.402.
(23) Scott Riggs, Chevy, 174.345.
(19) Mike Bliss, Toyota, 174.272.
(10) David Reutimann, Chevy, 173.511.
(55) Michael Waltrip, Toyota, 172.199.
(38) David Gilliland, Ford, Owner Points.
(32) Ken Schrader, Ford, Owner Points.
(36) Dave Blaney, Chevy, Owner Points.
(33) Stephen Leicht, Chevy, 173.132.
FAILED TO QUALIFY 44. (49) J.J. Yeley, Toyota, 172.612.
- (52) Mike Skinner, Toyota, 171.876.
Sports, Pages 24 on 06/30/2012