Kenseth is the first driver since Kurt Busch in 2004 to win consecutive starts in Loudon.
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NASCAR didn’t get the day it needed Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
But Sunday, Matt Kenseth showed there should be no predictions for any sort of deep freeze anytime soon for Gibbs teams. He climbed into the top 10 in the race’s second half, reaching eighth, but finished 26th (on the lead lap) after a blown tire sent his auto slamming into the wall on lap 273.
Tony Stewart got around Joey Logano with only a handful of laps to go and finished second. He followed wins at Daytona International Speedway and Kentucky Speedway with a 15th-place finish Sunday.
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. “It’s been an up and down couple months for sure”. “And I feel like this is going to create more passing opportunities”. Three more caution flags would come out, tightening the field, but Kenseth held on for the win. “Winning at Indianapolis (next weekend) would make me so proud for Roger (Penske), who is celebrating his 50th year as a team owner”.
With under 40 laps remaining, Truex reported that he had a broken shifter and quickly dropped nine spots on a restart with 33 laps remaining.
It didn’t include pole victor Jimmie Johnson, who repeatedly lost ground on restarts and came home 12th.
But this race could be the one remembered for truly solidifying Stewart in Chase contention.
“I’ve learned to never underestimate that man, without a doubt”, Johnson told the NASCAR Wire Service. You just know you shouldn’t do things because you know what is on the line here at the track. “What you want to do is hopefully continue to improve as the year goes on and that’s kind of our goal”. “Since I came to Joe Gibbs Racing, it’s been a real turnaround for me”. “We started driving through the field together”. He was up to fifth by lap 75. He was passed early by Kyle Busch, and Truex took lead laps as well. Hamlin stayed out and assumed the lead, but Kenseth went back by for the lead for good on Lap 271.
He never got close to victor Matt Kenseth. “I had a lot of fun passing really good cars”. We had to start in the middle of the pack. Our first run wasn’t great. Our first run wasn’t great, we adjusted and made some great changes for run two and really I felt like we had probably the best auto all day, it just took forever to get there. “Other than that, just tried to take what it would give us and go from there”.
Busch sat 35th in the points standings when he won the New Hampshire Cup race last July, the second of three straight victories that propelled him into the Chase.
CLEANING IT: Debris on the track brought out the day’s third caution flag on lap 220 and the fourth on lap 265.
“I mean they are going to have to clamp down and there is no way we can win a championship like this unless they straighten some of this stuff out”. “I’m really confident in the whole team”. “Now I feel like it is one of our better places”. The duo finished 26th and 34th respectively.
Even though Gordon raced for the last time in November at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Johnson doesn’t think a victory at Indy is out of the question for the four-time series champion and record five-time victor at the Brickyard.
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“It seems like this is one of our better tracks”, Ratcliff said.
