Kurt Busch took little time making his move to the lead, overhauling polesitter – and brother – Kyle Busch for the top spot on the opening lap of the Quaker State 400 at the Kentucky Speedway. The younger Busch battled back inside of Kurt before settling in behind him. Busch led all 30 laps until the first yellow of the race. NASCAR called a competition because of the rain that cancelled qualifying Friday.
The racing has been mostly tame throughout the opening stages of the inaugural Sprint Cup race at Kentucky, but there were a pair of brushes between drivers. Ryan Newman made contact with the left rear of Jeff Gordon exiting turn four, while Greg Biffle got into the back of Joey Logano in the middle of turns three and four several laps later. Both pairs of drivers have a history of on-track incidents, but both appeared unintentional.
In off-track news, there are reports of a fatality in a helicopter crash about 30 miles away from the Kentucky Speedway, but it is not yet known whether the helicopter was heading to the race.