By Cole Cusumano

Anti-climatic and uneventful, the conclusion of the 10th NASCAR Cup Series event at Kentucky would end up being a finish race fans won’t anytime soon forget. 

Furthering outcry of the failed 550-horsepower package, action around the 1.5-mile track was kept at a minimum. Aside from some decent restarts and the last 30 or so laps, this was arguably the blandest race since Atlanta Motor Speedway last month.

Riding a streak of five consecutive top-fives, Aric Almirola paced Stage One after getting by pole-sitter, Kyle Busch en route to a dominant second stage win of 2020. This impressive drive carried well into the Stage Two; he led a career-high 128 laps before relinquishing the top position to Ryan Blaney with about 25 laps remaining in the segment. This would ultimately result in the Cuba-native having to settle for eighth.

Blaney went on to have quite an eventful day, after succumbing to a loose shifter on Lap 48 that would plague him for the remainder of the race. Unable to resolve the issue, this was not enough to hamper the driver of the No. 12 from having one the most competitive cars of the day. The racing prodigy ended up sixth when it was all said and done, but played a large role in the outcome — more on that in a bit.

Stage Two ended with Brad Keselowski up front as a result of a bold call by crew chief, Jeremy Bullins, to stay out during the closing laps. With luck on their side, the first real caution of the day came out on Lap 157 and allowed the Michigan-native to play a factor in the remainder of the 400-mile event. 

The driver of the No. 2 also headlined the closing laps after an incident involving Jimmie Johnson. With just 13 laps remaining, the seven-time Champion restarted on the second row in a prime position to potentially challenge for the win on fresh tires. His triumphant return from COVID-19 the prior week would get cut short after he threw a late block on Keselowski and was sent spinning through the infield grass.

Johnson was able to salvage an 18th-place finish, while Keselowski placed ninth. In an interesting turn of events, the seven-time Champion took to Twitter post-race saying, “I do look forward to my next restart behind @keselowski though.”

The final stage was paced by Martin Truex Jr., who led more than half the laps in the closing segment after taking the green flag from the tail-end of the field due to failing pre-race inspection twice. The driver of the No. 19 was the class of the field for Joe Gibbs Racing, as the Toyota team’s woes for 2020 continued.

Starting from the pole was the highlight of Kyle Busch’s day, who would only lead the first nine laps before missing their marks all day. Battling with an ill handling car and a broken shock at the end of Stage Two, the No. 18 team should be in full panic mode after finishing 21st at a track they usually dominate.

Denny Hamlin finished outside of the top-10 for the second consecutive week in 12th, and Erik Jones fizzled out of a quality run to place behind his teammate in 22nd.

Kevin Harvick was able to back up his win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with another top-five. Finishing fourth, the driver of the No. 4 was challenging Truex for the lead with a handful of laps remaining, and even started first on the final restart. 

In the end it was his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate, Cole Custer, who went on to become the ninth different winner of 2020 to score his first Cup Series victory.

This was no superspeedway or weather inflicted victory; Custer earned this one. Restarting sixth during the green-white-checkered, the driver of the No. 41 took Harvick, Blaney and Truex four-wide to snatch the victory from the high line after Blaney body slammed the other Stewart-Haas Racing machine.

There are largely two attributions to the 22-year-old’s win — Mike Shiplett and Matt DiBenedetto. 

In a move that both the driver and crew chief cited as the one that put them in position to win, the call was made before the caution came late in Stage Two for a fuel-only pit stop to maximize points efforts for the day. Not only did this result in a third-place finish in the second stage, but potentially the race win.

Matt DiBenedetto silently had one of the strongest cars all day. Picking up points in both stages and running near the top-five all day, the Wood Brother Racing driver was running 18th with seven laps remaining and ended up rebounding to third for his second top-five of the season.

Arguably the most significant move of the day came when DiBenedetto restarted behind Custer with one-lap remaining and he gave the No. 41 a huge shove from behind in Turns 1 and 2. Still assuming the bridesmaid role, the driver of the No. 21 was unable to secure his first Cup victory, but was pleased to help a fellow Ford driver to victory. He joked post-race saying the 22-year-old owes him $100 now.

Custer now finds himself locked into the All-Star Race Wednesday and a Playoff spot with nine races remaining in the regular season and seven positions up for grabs. This, and of course bragging rights over the NASCAR Xfinity Series ‘Big Three’ for the first rookie to win in the Cup Series.

Overall, there needs to be a change in the 550-horsepower program at 1.5-mile tracks, but, thankfully, the drivers were able to put on a show for fans in the closing 35 laps of the race. While the racing itself was forgetful, the outcome will be one that fans are talking about for years to follow.