Kenseth battles to front for win at New Hampshire
July 17, 2016
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
LOUDON,
N.H. – In a race that saw many of the usual suspects go into hiding in
the closing laps, Matt Kenseth battled to the front of the field from
the 18th starting position
and pulled away after a late restart to win Sunday’s New Hampshire 301
at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Winning
for the second time this season and for the third time at the Magic
Mile, Kenseth crossed the finish line 1.982 seconds ahead of Tony
Stewart, who solidified his position
in the top 30 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings – and therefore
in the Chase – with the runner-up finish.
“You’re
always pleased to be in Victory Lane,” said the 44-year-old Kenseth,
who won for the second straight time at the 1.058-mile flat track and
for the 38th time in his career.
“The farther down the road you get, the better they feel for sure.
Thanks to everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing – I’ve said it a million times,
but I’m blessed with this opportunity to be over here with the guys I
get to work with…
“(Crew
chief) Jason (Ratcliff) and the team made great, great adjustments
today. I didn’t do a very good job qualifying (18th), (but) after round
one (of pit stops) today, it
was pretty much money. We just had to get there. It was a fun day.”
Kenseth,
who recovered from an early glitch on pit road after his No. 20 Joe
Gibbs Racing Toyota was blocked in its stall, took the lead from Kyle
Busch on Lap 271 of 301 and
held it the rest of the way, despite three subsequent cautions and
restarts.
“Every
restart you’re just hoping not to mess up and spin the tires too bad,”
Kenseth said. “Thankfully, we had good ones, and we had great power, and
we had good traction, and
we were able to get going pretty good in a straight line.
“And then, after a couple laps, we were able to roll the middle and get away.”
Joey
Logano took third place by .019 seconds in a drag race against Kevin
Harvick. Greg Biffle ran fifth followed by Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman,
Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
That
cast of characters didn’t include Martin Truex Jr., who led 123 laps
before breaking his shifter and losing the clutch, keeping his No. 78
Toyota stuck in fourth gear.
It
didn’t include pole winner Jimmie Johnson, who repeatedly lost ground
on restarts and came home 12th. 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.
It
didn’t include 2014 New Hampshire winner Brad Keselowski, who, like
Kurt Busch, had a contending car for most of the day but cut a tire in a
late four-car wreck that caused
his two-race winning streak end in a 15th-place finish. It didn’t
include Carl Edwards, whose No. 19 Toyota was damaged in the four-car
Lap 285 chain-reaction wreck that caused the seventh and final caution.
And
even though Kyle Busch held eighth place in the late going, his finish
was disappointing. Busch led a race-high 133 laps and restarted third
with 11 laps left, but lost ground
in a fight for fifth with Biffle and dropped two more spots thereafter.
Stewart,
however, was delighted with the effort of his team. He and first-year
crew chief Mike Bugarewicz exchanged texts dealing with setup notes on
Saturday night, after Stewart
flew to Ohio to oversee the Kings Royal sprint car race at Eldora
Speedway, which he owns.
When
he returned to Loudon for Sunday’s race, his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing
Chevrolet was markedly better than it had been in Saturday’s two
practice sessions.
“Yeah,
we had a much better Haas Automation Chevy today than what we had
yesterday,” said Stewart, who is now 67 points ahead of 31st-place Brian
Scott. “Buga (Bugarewicz) did
a really good job. I went off and went to Eldora for the Kings Royal
last night.
“He
kept sending me a couple of texts. He was working as late here as I was
working late at Eldora. It really paid off. He’s doing such a great job
for a rookie crew chief that
only has half a season. He’s got veteran calls and veteran moves.”
Getting
his opportunity to drive the No. 88 Chevy when Earnhardt was sidelined
with concussion-like symptoms, Bowman had a top-10 run going until
contact with Edwards’ Toyota
on pit road started tire issues that culminated in Bowman sliding into
Kurt Busch’s car in Turn 3 on Lap 271.
The
right front tire went completely flat on the frontstretch, sending
Bowman into the outside wall. Though the accident knocked the speed out
of the car, Bowman was able to
stay on the lead lap.
The spate of late cautions also gave Logano a chance to move forward.
“I’ll
take a third place after all that,” Logano said. “We were awful at the
beginning of the race. We tried some new things, and apparently they
didn’t work, so we aborted the
mission in the middle of the race and got some speed back in the 22 –
but not enough to beat the 20.”
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race - New Hampshire 301
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Loudon, New Hampshire
Sunday, July 17, 2016
1. (18) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 301.
2. (12) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 301.
3. (6) Joey Logano, Ford, 301.
4. (8) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 301.
5. (28) Greg Biffle, Ford, 301.
6. (19) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 301.
7. (25) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 301.
8. (2) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 301.
9. (5) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 301.
10. (22) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Ford, 301.
11. (14) * Ryan Blaney #, Ford, 301.
12. (1) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 301.
13. (15) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 301.
14. (29) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 301.
15. (9) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 301.
16. (3) Martin Truex Jr, Toyota, 301.
17. (17) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 301.
18. (24) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 301.
19. (26) Aric Almirola, Ford, 301.
20. (13) Carl Edwards, Toyota, 301.
21. (10) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 301.
22. (4) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 301.
23. (31) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 301.
24. (32) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 301.
25. (11) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 301.
26. (20) Alex Bowman(i), Chevrolet, 301.
27. (21) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 300.
28. (30) Landon Cassill, Ford, 299.
29. (35) Chris Buescher #, Ford, 299.
30. (23) David Ragan, Toyota, 299.
31. (16) Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota, 299.
32. (34) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 297.
33. (37) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 295.
34. (7) Chase Elliott #, Chevrolet, 294.
35. (36) * Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 294.
36. (38) Eddie MacDonald, Ford, 293.
37. (40) * Ryan Ellis(i), Chevrolet, 292.
38. (33) Brian Scott #, Ford, 278.
39. (27) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, Electrical, 191.
40. (39) * Josh Wise, Chevrolet, Accident, 94.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 107.416 mph.
Time of Race: 02 Hrs, 57 Mins, 53 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.982 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 7 for 36 laps.
Lead Changes: 13 among 6 drivers.
Lap
Leaders: J. Johnson 1; Kyle Busch 2-36; M. Truex Jr 37; Kyle Busch
38-88; M. Truex Jr 89-171; Kyle Busch 172-182; M. Truex Jr 183; B.
Keselowski 184; Kyle Busch 185-220;
M. Truex Jr 221-257; M. Kenseth 258-264; M. Truex Jr 265; D. Hamlin
266-270; M. Kenseth 271-301.
Leaders
Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Kyle Busch 4 times for 133
laps; M. Truex Jr 5 times for 123 laps; M. Kenseth 2 times for 38 laps;
D. Hamlin 1 time for 5 laps;
B. Keselowski 1 time for 1 lap; J. Johnson 1 time for 1 lap.
Top
16 in Points: K. Harvick - 636; B. Keselowski - 622; Kurt Busch - 602;
C. Edwards - 587; J. Logano - 571; Kyle Busch - 556; M. Truex Jr - 540;
M. Kenseth - 521; J. Johnson
- 514; D. Hamlin - 505; C. Elliott # - 499; R. Newman - 497; A. Dillon -
488; J. Mcmurray - 474; D. Earnhardt Jr. - 461; T. Bayne - 447.
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