Matt Kenseth denied Kasey Kahne a season-sweep at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway Saturday night, claiming his fifth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win of the season in the 53rd annual IRWIN Tools Night Race.
Kenseth overcame a pit road penalty on lap 259 for speeding and then stayed out during the final 164 laps of the event to earn his third victory at the “World’s Fastest Half-Mile.” Kasey Kahne notched his fourth second-place finish of the season and was the leading Hendrick Motorsports driver with just two races remaining for the start of the “Chase.”
Kenseth’s latest triumph matches a career-best. In 2002, driving for Roush Fenway Racing, the 41-year old also was victorious five times.
“It’s this race team that’s won the races, not me,” spoke Kenseth. “I’m just the lucky guy piloting it. Just so proud of this Dollar General team — they’ve done a spectacular job all year. The last month and a half we’ve been off on a little on speed. I wasn’t real happy with our car yesterday (Friday) and Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) and the whole group at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) got together and tried to tweak out what we need and what would be good in our cars to make them run. It was pretty right all night.”
“We had a really good Farmers Insurance Chevrolet,” said Kahne who occupies eighth in the series standings. “We were fast. Kenny (Francis, crew chief) made a great call to get the tires and not worry about fuel and I just didn’t get it done. I didn’t win. I had the better car. The guys did a great job in the pits and I feel bad I didn’t win. We needed this. I would have been big for us. But, we ended up second. It was still a good point’s day and we’ll try to get one in Atlanta.”
Juan Pablo Montoya, auditioning for a ride for 2014 was third in his No. 42 Target Chevrolet Impala, while an extremely aggressive Brian Vickers, the new full-time driver of the No. 55 Aaron’s Toyota Camry for Michael Waltrip Racing netted fourth with Joey Logano, who was swept up in an accident recovered for a huge fifth place finish in his No. 22 Shell Ford Fusion.
Paul Menard led 64 laps in his No. 27 Menards Chevrolet Impala and finished sixth, while a strong Jeff Gordon faded late in the race and settled for seventh. Marcos Ambrose ran in the top-five late, but drifted back to eighth with Greg Biffle and Dale Earnhardt Jr. comprising the remainder of the top-10. Earnhardt Jr., unsure if he could roll to the finish of the event, pitted late and fought back for his 12th top-10 of 2013.
Kyle Busch, who started the race shotgun on the field after spinning out in qualifying Friday afternoon was unable to pull-off a weekend sweep, as his Joe Gibbs Racing team were unable to get the handling of his No. 18 Doublemint Toyota Camry in-check and finished 11th.
A strong-run for David Ragan, who finished 12th in his No. 34 Peanut Patch Boiled Peanuts Ford Fusion, with Jeff Burton, Clint Bowyer, who ran out of gas on the final lap took 14th with Richard Petty Motorsports’ other vehicle in Aric Almirola rounding out the top-15.
Travis Kvapil rebounded from his 39th starting position to post a 16th-place finish, while David Stremme, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Jamie McMurray and Mark Martin closed out the top-20. It was Stremme’s best finish in the No. 30 Swan Energy / Lean 1 Toyota Camry since finishing 12th at Talladega (Ala.) Superspedway in April. Martin was in his first race driving for Stewart-Haas Racing faired okay after having to pit under green.
Ryan Newman struggled with the handling of his No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet Impala and claimed 21st, while Danica Patrick, who ran strong early, met the wall a few times and never recovered finishing 26th. Denny Hamlin, who was involved in the “big one” on lap 448 finished 28th, while reining NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski also collected in the “big one” took 30th.
Kurt Busch, who led 54 laps early on in the IRWIN Tools Night Race, had a loose wheel, pitted, but had to go to the garage to repair a damaged hub. He returned to the track 25 laps down and only lost one more lap the remainder of the night finishing 31st.
Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr., who were involved in the “big one” late in the race, were the immediate retirees of the race finishing 34th and 35th respectively. For a moment, it appeared that things would get heated between Harvick and Hamlin – as Harvick thought that Hamlin had caused the incident. After debriefing with the pole-sitter inside his racecar, you could see the two drivers shaking hands with Harvick making the trek back to the garage.
Current point’s leader Jimmie Johnson fell victim to an on-track racing incident after plowing the rear of David Reutimann on lap 360 sending the No 48 Lowes Chevrolet Impala to the garage for a radiator repaired. Johnson returned, but 60 laps in the arrears.
Bobby Labonte had a strong night early-on, but also became victim to Bristol’s terror after spinning thanks to a nudge from Jeff Gordon on lap 177, which started after leader Clint Bowyer was turned by Travis Kvapil, who was a lapped car.
Car Edwards, another driver who showed strength earlier could not seal the deal at Bristol Motor Speedway Saturday night. After leading 119 laps, second-highest of the night, the engine gave way 113 laps from the checkered flag.
Scott Speed, Michael McDowell, Ryan Truex, in his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut wrecked and Joe Nemechek rounded out the 43-car starting field.
Three drivers have assured themselves a spot in this year’s chase. Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer have earned a berth based upon their current position in the standings, while Kenseth has earned a chase spot via the “wild card”, despite currently idling sixth in the standings with two to go. Kenseth is likely to start the chase atop of the standings because of his wins this year.
Kenseth’s son, Ross won the pole for his first-career ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards start at Madison (Wisc.) International Speedway driving for Ken Schrader. Schrader drove for FAS Lane Racing and owner Frank Stoddard Saturday night at BMS, finishing 27th in the No. 32 Federated Auto Parts Ford Fusion.
RACE NOTES:
Average Speed: 90.279 MPH
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 57 Mins, 07 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 0.188 Seconds
Lead Changes: 16 among 9 drivers
Cautions: 11 for 74 laps
Unofficial Top-15 in the Point Standings: 1. Jimmie Johnson – 821 (Leader) 2. Clint Bowyer – 803 (-18 Points Behind the Leader) 3. Carl Edwards – 768 (-53) 4. Kevin Harvick – 760 (-61) 5. Kyle Busch – 739 (-82) 6. Matt Kenseth – 736 (-85) 7. Dale Earnhardt Jr. – 714 (-107) 8. Kasey Kahne – 701 (-120) 9. Greg Biffle – 698 (-123) 10. Joey Logano – 685 (-136) 11. Brad Keselowski – 681 (-140) 12. Kurt Busch – 679 (-142) 13. Jeff Gordon – 674 (-147) 14. Martin Truex Jr. – 663 (-158) 15. Ryan Newman – 659 (-162).
Next Up: The 54th annual AdvoCare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, September 1st, with an approximate starting time of 7:50 pm (ET) and television coverage provided by ESPN beginning with their 6:30 pm (ET) NASCAR Countdown pre-race show.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
