Kyle Busch Wins NASCAR Race at Kentucky, Leads Standings

Saturday's NASCAR race in Kentucky made history since the Quaker State 400 was the first Sprint Cup race at Kentucky. But the weekend's schedule started with a truck series race, which was won by Kyle Busch. On Saturday night, Busch sought to match those results, and did just that with a dominant win. In fact, the victory put him right on top of the NASCAR standings for the first time this year, even if not everyone got to see it.

The action on the track was slightly overshadowed by the traffic jam outside of it, as thousands of fans were still in gridlock when the race started. It was far from an ideal NASCAR debut for the Kentucky Speedway, as the sport's first new location in 10 years still had some growing pains.

Busch was immune to it, however, as he led 125 of the event's 267 laps. His brother Kurt led 41 laps himself, but could only finish ninth, while David Reutimann, Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Newman and Carl Edwards rounded out the top five.

New points leader Kevin Harvick could only finish 16th, which cost him his advantage over Busch. After Edwards led the standings for most of the season, the results of the last few weeks have opened up a revolving door on top. Now Busch is the latest to reach No. 1, with a four point lead over Edwards and a 10 point advantage on Harvick.

The schedule has now reached its halfway point. At the least, the new points system has made things tighter in the standings so far, since the top six drivers are separated by only 22 points. But there are still two months left before the Chase for the Cup begins, and plenty of time for things to get even tighter.

The first half was defined by several big events, such as pairs racing at Daytona and Talladega, star making wins for Trevor Bayne and David Ragan, Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s attempts to break his losing streak, Jeff Gordon snapping his losing streak, Edwards' early consistency, and the usual Busch fireworks. It set the bar fairly high for the second half, but with the tighter points system, and Johnson's quest for a sixth straight title, it can be overcome.

The second half of the schedule will begin at Loudon, N.H., next Sunday, before NASCAR goes on a two-week break prior to the Brickyard 400. Will the results for the next 18 races keep Busch on top, elevate Johnson to another title, or crown a brand new champion?

Sources

Yahoo Sports- "Kyle Busch wins inaugural Cup race at Kentucky"

NASCAR.com- "Standings"

The Checkered Flag- "Kyle Busch Wins From The Back In Kentucky Trucks"