Brad Keselowski's the king at Kentucky Speedway (VIDEO) - MotorSportsTalk

For the second time in as many nights at Kentucky Speedway, Brad Keselowski was the dominant driver. But in tonight’s Sprint Cup race, he was able to follow through.

A late speeding penalty may have kept Keselowski from winning last night’s Nationwide Series race. But he would not be denied in the Quaker State 400, leading 199 of 267 laps and capturing his second Sprint Cup win of the season.

Keselowski and Team Penske teammate Joey Logano had led every lap of the night prior to the two of them pitting under a Lap 214 caution. He took the subsequent restart at Lap 220 in sixth place, but charged to the front and re-took the point for good when he passed Kyle Busch with 19 laps to go.

“It was kind of one of those races where you know you just have a really fast car…and you’re just waiting for something to go wrong,” Keselowski told TNT. “And it did there on that last yellow. It just caught us out of sequence and we restarted sixth.

“We got a decent restart but I didn’t think I was gonna catch Kyle. But the car was that great. [Crew chief] Paul Wolfe and these guys are doing an awesome job. It’s just an incredible feeling to have a car this fast. I hope we can keep on this.

“I really want another championship and I think this team – we’re getting closer to that position if we keep running like this.”

For a moment, it looked like luck would go against Keselowski when that caution at Lap 214 occurred for an incident involving Aric Almirola.

Busch, along with Ryan Newman and Dale Earnhardt Jr., were all pitting when that caution occurred and moved up to first, second and third respectively when Keselowski, Logano and the rest of the leaders pitted.

But knowing how good Keselowski was all night, Busch ran as hard as he could in a bid to stretch a gap to Keselowski that would prove insurmountable. It wasn’t.

“Obviously, with clean air, you’ve got to take advantage of it as much as you can,” said the Joe Gibbs Racing driver. “So, I tried to hustle as much as I could early to get a big lead and once I got to traffic, I knew I’d back up a little bit.

“But that was the loosest I was the whole race, the loosest I was at the end, especially in traffic, too. I was just trying to hang on to it as best I could and not wreck. I about did probably 10 times on that last run.”

Busch still managed to earn the runner-up ahead of Richard Childress Racing’s Ryan Newman, who secured his first Top-5 result of the year with a third-place finish.

Matt Kenseth complimented teammate Busch’s second with a fourth-place finish that had him overcome a right-front tire failure under green at Lap 120. Earnhardt also had a great run and pulled out a fifth-place result after starting 29th.

As for Logano, who was for so long tonight the only driver that could really hang with Keselowski, he ran into trouble around 25 laps to go when his engine reportedly went down a cylinder.

Logano finally fell from the reaches of the Top 2, but was able to nurse home his sick motor and come away with an ninth-place finish – perhaps not what he ultimately wanted, but much better than the alternative.

Jeff Gordon sought a win tonight at Kentucky to become the first driver ever to win at every active NASCAR Sprint Cup track. Instead, he finished a still respectable sixth ahead of Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne, Logano and Jimmie Johnson in Positions 7-10.

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NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES AT KENTUCKY – Quaker State 400
Unofficial Results
1. Brad Keselowski, led 199 laps
2. Kyle Busch, led 31 laps
3. Ryan Newman
4. Matt Kenseth
5. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
6. Jeff Gordon
7. Kevin Harvick
8. Kasey Kahne
9. Joey Logano, led 37 laps
10. Jimmie Johnson
11. Tony Stewart
12. Kurt Busch
13. Marcos Ambrose
14. Greg Biffle
15. Paul Menard
16. Austin Dillon
17. Carl Edwards
18. Michael Annett
19. Martin Truex Jr.
20. Casey Mears
21. Danica Patrick
ONE LAP DOWN
22. AJ Allmendinger
23. Clint Bowyer
24. Justin Allgaier
25. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
26. Brian Vickers
TWO LAPS DOWN
27. Reed Sorenson
THREE LAPS DOWN
28. Cole Whitt
FOUR LAPS DOWN
29. Josh Wise
30. David Gilliland
FIVE LAPS DOWN
31. David Ragan
32. Landon Cassill
SIX LAPS DOWN
33. Ryan Truex
EIGHT LAPS DOWN
34. Travis Kvapil
—
35. David Stremme, Lap 257, Running
36. Alex Bowman, Lap 255, Running
37. Jamie McMurray, Lap 250, Running
38. Joe Nemechek, Lap 239, Running
39. Aric Almirola, Lap 175, Accident
40. Kyle Larson, Lap 75, Accident
41. Mike Bliss, Lap 30, Transmission
42. Denny Hamlin, Lap 27, Accident

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(Editor’s note: This story on the Heart of Racing sports cars shootout for women is one in an occasional Motorsports Talk series focusing on women in racing during March, which is Women’s History Month.)

Heart of Racing driver and team manager Ian James says his daughter, Gabby, isn’t so interested in auto racing. But she is interested (as a New York-based journalist) in writing about the sport’s efforts and growth in gender equality

It’s a topic that also was brought up by James’ wife, Kim.

“They’re always saying, ‘Hey, you manage all these guys, and you help them, so why not a woman?’ ” Ian James told NBC Sports. “And I feel like there are a lot of women that haven’t had a fair crack at it in sports car racing.

“Our whole DNA at Heart of Racing is we give people opportunities in all types of situations where there’s been crew personnel or drivers. And I felt like we hadn’t really addressed the female driver situation. I felt like there was a void to give somebody a chance to really prove themselves.”

During the offseason, the team took a major step toward remedying that.

*Hannah Grisham at the Heart of Racing shootout (Mike Levitt/LAT)*

Heart of Racing held its first female driver shootout last November at the APEX Motor Club in Phoenix, Arizona, to select two women who will co-drive an Aston Martin Vantage GT4 in the SRO SprintX Championship.

The season will begin this weekend at Sonoma Raceway with Hannah Grisham and Rianna O’Meara-Hunt behind the wheel. The team also picked a third driver, 17-year-old Annie Rhule, for a 2023 testing program.

The Phoenix audition included 10 finalists who were selected from 130 applicants to the program, which has been fully underwritten by Heart of Racing’s sponsors.

“We didn’t want it to be someone who just comes from a socio-economic background that could afford to do it on their own course,” James said. “We can pick on pure talent. We’re committed to three years to do this and see if we can find the right person. I’m very hopeful.”

So is Grisham, a Southern California native who has been racing since she was 6 in go-karts and since has won championships in Mazda and Miata ladder series. She has several victories in the World Racing League GP2 (an amateur sports car endurance series). The last two years, Grisham has worked as a test driver for the Pirelli tire company (she lives near Pirelli’s U.S. headquarters in Rome, Georgia, and tests about 30 times a year).

Starting with the Sonoma during SprintX event weekends (which feature races Saturday and Sunday), she will split the Heart of Racing car with O’Meara-Hunt (a New Zealand native she got to know at the shootout).

“It’s huge; the biggest opportunity I’ve had in this sport,” Grisham, 23, told NBC Sports. “Now it’s up to me to perform how I know I can. But I’m super lucky to be with such an amazing team and have a good teammate. The Heart of Racing has a family vibe and energy to it that’s really amazing. It’s super exciting. It’s hard to put into words.”

Grisham is hopeful that a strong performance eventually could lead to a full-time ride with Heart of Racing. The team has full-time entries in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and won the GTD category of the 2023 Rolex 24 at Daytona with the No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 piloted by James, Darren Turner, Roman DeAngelis and Marco Sorensen.

James said “there’s no guarantee” of placement in an IMSA entry for Grisham and O’Meara-Hunt, but “if they prove themselves, we’ll continue to help them throughout their career and our team. The GT3 program is an obvious home for that. If they get the opportunity and don’t quite make it, we’ll be looking for the next two. The next three years, we’ll cycle through drivers until we find the right one.”

Grisham described the two-day shootout as a friendly but intense environment. After a day of getting acclimated to their cars, drivers qualified on new tires the second day and then did two 25-minute stints to simulate a race.

*Hannah Grisham reviews data with Heart of Racing sports car driver Gray Newell during the team’s shootout last November (Mike Levitt/LAT).*

“Everyone was super nice,” she said. “Once everyone gets in the car, it’s a different level. A different switch gets turned on. Everyone was super nice; everyone was quick. I feel we had an adequate amount of seat time, which is definitely helpful.

“It’s always cool to meet more women in the sport because there’s not too many of us, even though there’s more and more. It’s always cool to meet really talented women, especially there were so many from all over the world.”

IMSA has celebrated female champions and race winners, notably Katherine Legge (who is running GTD full time this season with Sheena Monk for Gradient Racing). The field at Sebring and Daytona also included the Iron Dames Lamborghini (a female-dominated team).

*The Heart of Racing’s female driver shootout drew interested candidates from around the world (Mike Levitt/LAT).*

James believes “a breakout female driver will be competing with the best of them” in the next five years as gender barriers slowly recede in motorsports.

“It’s been a male-dominated sport,” James said. “It’s still a very minute number of women drivers compared to the guys. I’m sure back in the day there were physical hurdles about it that were judged. But now the cars are not very physical to drive, and it’s more about technique and mental strength and stuff like that, and there’s no reason a girl shouldn’t do just as well as a guy. What we’re just trying to achieve is that there isn’t an obvious barrier to saying ‘Hey, I can’t hire a guy or a girl.’ We just want to put girls in front of people and our own program that are legitimate choices going forward for people.”

“There’s been some really good female drivers, but a lot of them just haven’t been able to sustain it, and a lot of that comes from sponsorship. I think (with the shootout), there’s no pressure of raising money and worrying about crash damage. We’ve taken care of all that so they can really focus on the job at hand.”

Funding always has been a hurdle for Grisham, who caught the racing bug from her father, Tom, an off-road driver who raced the Baja 1000 several times.

“I don’t come from a lot of money by any means,” she said. “So since a young age, I’ve always had to find sponsorships and get people to help me, whether it was buying tires, paying for entry fees, paying for the shipment of a car to an actual race. Literally knocking on the doors of people or businesses in my town.

“So yeah, it’s definitely something I’ve always struggled with and held me back because the sport revolves so much around money. So again to get this opportunity is insane.”

*Rianna O’Meara-Hunt was one of two women selected by the Heart of Racing to drive in the SRO SprintX Championship this year (Mike Levitt/LAT).*

Grisham credits racing pioneer Lyn St. James (an Indy 500 veteran and sports car champion) as a role model who has helped propel her career. She was hooked by the sights, smells and sounds of racing but also its competitive fire.

“There’s a zone you get in, that subconscious state of mind when you’re driving. It’s like addictive almost. I love it. Also I’m just a very competitive person as I think most race car drivers are.

“For sure I want to stay with the Heart of Racing. Obviously, I’m still getting to know everyone, but it’s a super family vibe. That’s how I grew up in the sport with just my dad and I wrenching on the cars. That’s what I love about this sport is all the amazing people you meet. And I think this is one of the most promising teams in this country. For sure, I want to learn as much as I can from them and hopefully continue. I feel so lucky and grateful to be one of those chosen.”

Brad Keselowski’s the king at Kentucky Speedway (VIDEO)

Heart of Racing program aims to elevate new generation of women to star in sports cars