Kenseth Pulls Away Late to Win Sprint
Matt Kenseth is the new master of the Magic Mile. “I felt like we were pretty strong today from what I saw”. Thanks to everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing. “I was like, ‘Man, you know how cool it’s going to be to win three in a row?”
“Last fall, we squeaked one out, a little more fuel than Kevin and a little different strategy, but not quite as good a auto”, Kenseth said.
“A failure at track doesn’t necessarily mean a failure once we get it back to the R&D Center”, said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer, on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s “The Morning Drive” on Monday. “It was a fun day”.
Stewart ended up second after he passed Logano with four laps to go.
And surprise, there was Greg Biffle finishing fifth.
“This track has always had a history of one lane prevailing over the others”, said Stewart. “I think overall it’s TRD. all the folks that do this and us teammates working together that give us those results”. Overall, proud of the effort the team put in – never-quit attitude. It really paid off. He held off Kenseth on the restart, but his JGR teammate got past him on lap 271.
His vehicle failed post-race laser inspection and based on comments from NASCAR, Kenseth could lose the three bonus points that go along with a win come Chase seeding time. Pole-sitter Jimmie Johnson paced the field for just one lap before ceding the lead to Busch.
Truex took the lead again by getting out of the pits ahead of Busch. After a physical battle on the restart that followed, Kenseth regained the top spot.
Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. faded down the stretch. Truex ultimately finished 16th after breaking his shifter.
That left the race for Kenseth to lose, and while he has had some moments similar to Truex this year, he appeared flawless on the four restarts in the final 43 laps, leaving any challengers racing for second. But in the final green-flag run to the checkered flag, Busch lost more positions, dropping outside the top five. The only other leader in the first half of the race was pole victor Jimmie Johnson, who led only the first lap.
BUESCHER SPINNER: The race’s second caution occurred on lap 101 when Chris Buescher spun out of turn two. It didn’t include Kurt Busch, who ran in the top five most of the afternoon but ultimately was knocked out by contact from the No. 88 Chevrolet of Alex Bowman, who finished 26th in a substitute role for ailing Dale Earnhardt Jr. And slowly, Bowman moved toward the top 10. AJ Allmendinger, 22. Kurt Busch, 23.
“Every restart you’re just hoping not to mess up and spin the tires too bad”, Kenseth said. “If we can close that gap going into (the season finale) Sonoma, we can do this”. There were two cautions through the first 219 laps, and with opportunities to condense the field scarce, there was no stopping the Toyota machines from making a mockery of the competition. The next two cautions were for debris.
Kenseth no doubt earned it in front of a disappointing half-filled grandstands in a race with no sponsor. By Lap 219, Elliott was eighth, Johnson ninth, Kasey Kahne 10th and Bowman 11th when the race’s third caution was called.