SPARTA, Ky. – Stewart-Haas Racing's Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman had teamed for three victories this season but had nothing but bad luck during Saturday's Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway.
By Jared C. Tilton, Getty Images
Tony Stewart pulls into the pits after slowing early in Saturday's Quaker State 400.
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Stewart, a two-time winner this year, started in the 22nd position but quickly found himself out of contention for the victory, slowing on lap 27 and heading to the garage.
"It is like the ignition has taken a (dump) or something," Stewart said. "I'm so … appreciative of our electronic ignitions. Great idea."
Stewart eventually returned to the track 34 laps down after his team replaced the car's electronic fuel injection. He completed 231 of the 267 laps and finished in 32nd place.
Newman was running in the top 10 but spun and hit the wall in between Turns 1 and 2 on lap 211 and went out of the race. He finished 34th.
Edwards runs out late:Carl Edwards started 25th but had moved up to third place before being forced to pit for fuel in the final laps. He finished 20th.
"At the end, with some fuel, I think we would have had a chance to win it," Edwards said.
Most of the field refueled after Newman's spin led to a caution flag on lap 211, but Edwards didn't.
"I was already so far around that cone that I just didn't feel right cutting across traffic and slamming the splitter down to make it to pit road," Edwards said. "We were put in a box. We hopes there would be a caution, but there wasn't."
Kenseth battles:Sprint Cup Series points leader Matt Kenseth finished seventh after starting from the 20th position.
Kenseth said his team struggled on pit road.
"In the long runs we had reasonable speed, but in the short runs we weren't very good," Kenseth said. "I'm glad to finish seventh with as uphill battle as it was all night."
Busch battles shock problems:Kyle Busch, the 2011 Quaker State 400 winner, led a race-best 118 laps but battled shock problems and finished 10th.
"We salvaged a heck of a finish for what all we had to go through," said Busch, whose last lead came on lap 209. "Definitely not any fun to drive but had to do what we could on three pogo sticks."
Busch made contact with the backstretch wall on lap 118 but said that's not what caused the shock problem.
"There was about 80 laps of separation," Busch said.
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