“We had Waffle House on the auto tonight, and I told all the guys if we won, we would go get free waffles, but we just came up short”.
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He should be used to it by now.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series visited Richmond worldwide Speedway for the final race before the Chase for the Sprint Cup hets underway.
The 10-race playoff series begins next Sunday at Chicagoland.
The team has won eight of the last 11 Sprint Cup races.
“I knew it was going to be tough, but we were able to get the jump and get out front”, Kenseth said.
In that case, Bowyer would have to erase a 10-point deficit to Paul Menard or an 18-point deficit to Jeff Gordon. “That’s the biggest thing is just try not to make any mistakes”.
“To be honest, if we had to pick one, Jason would want us to use the 2015 package”, he said. They both ended three laps down from the leaders, with Newman 20th and Menard 26th. “Obviously, very excited to be in the Chase, it was a goal that we set at the beginning of the year”.
“I think there’s some really great tracks where we can do something special and some tracks we have to work on”. He made it to fourth, but had nothing for the JGR cars.
Gordon is one of five drivers who rolled into the Chase on Saturday night based on points. “(I am) just proud of Adam Stevens and all my guys. But at least they know their last 10 races together will really mean something, even if they enter the Chase as a championship long shot.
Mike Hutton – Kyle Busch – I still think he has more to prove.
Penske driver Logano was the only frontrunner who didn’t pit for fresh tires under a yellow for a tangle between Jeb Burton and Michael Annett, and he was swallowed up at the restart, falling outside the top 10 before recovering in the closing stints.
Kenseth’s remarkably consistent season in 2003, when he ran away with the season points championship despite winning only one race, fueled adoption of a playoff format in the first place.
Other drivers that need to win to get in have had success at Richmond in the past as well. Four drivers will be knocked out after every third race.
Harvick, who finished 14th in the regular-season finale Saturday night, gave no indication he’s intimidated by JGR.
But it’s unclear if anyone will have enough to challenge the Gibbs teams down the stretch.
John Harlow – Tony Stewart – My pick would’ve been Denny Hamlin but not after he tore his ACL. Kenseth owned the evening; Almirola wasn’t a serious threat to win (though he raced like his hair was on fire) and event coverage was swallowed whole by the Floyd Mayweather snoozer and college football.
Kenseth led the way, leading 352 laps to beat teammate Busch for the victory. Busch came in second on Saturday while Johnson finished ninth. Last year, he scored the most points throughout the season, but a speeding penalty on pit road at Martinsville and a wreck at Texas kept him out of the final round.
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“I’d have liked to have been a little better, but it’s nice to make the final round”, he said.
