“It always feels good to win obviously, but today especially”, said Kenseth. But they provide the key to what’s helped Joe Gibbs Racing leave the racing world flummoxed through a year-and-a-half run as NASCAR’s most powerful team.
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On Sunday Kenseth proved once again that New Hampshire Motor Speedway is long in the rear view as a house of horrors.
New Hampshire Motor Speedway, once a nightmare for Matt Kenseth, is quickly becoming a second home to the veteran Sprint Cup driver. “I would rather see Dale Junior get back in the auto because the Brickyard is a special place, more than anything and this comes from somebody who has been hurt twice and had to sit out”, Stewart said. “And I feel like this is going to create more passing opportunities”.
Spending much of the day outside the top 10, Tony Stewart took advantage of the late race incidents to finish second after roughing up Joey Logano late in the going.
So, on Sunday, we had Matt Kenseth earn his second win of the season, and his second straight at New Hampshire.
The victory is Kenseth’s third at New Hampshire, each since joining JGR in 2013, and it marks his second-consecutive win as he was victorious last fall during the Chase. I thought we would have something since we had 4 tires but we didn’t have the auto to get up there with him. “It’s been a real turnaround for me”. “I think it was the best tire Goodyear has brought here that I can remember in the 18 years I’ve been here”, Stewart said.
“It seems like this is one of our better tracks”, Ratcliff said. Last fall we squeaked one out when we had more fuel than Kevin (Harvick) and a little different strategy but not quite as good a vehicle.
After the race, Kenseth’s vehicle failed inspection but for the time, his victory is in the books. Take out his wreck at Daytona and he is averaging a fourth place finish over the past month.
NOTABLE FINISHES: 12-Johnson 15-Keselowski 16-Truex Jr. Kenseth is expected to keep the win, but if a decision was made to disqualify his #20 Toyota, the victory would instead go to Tony Stewart, whose strong run that started with a victory in Sonoma continued with a runner-up finish in what was deemed post-race to be a fully legal auto. “I’m just thinking about moving on to (Indianapolis) and hopefully being in the mix”.
The tour’s Toyota contingent appears to be setting up well with the start of the Chase looming only a few weeks away, but Kenseth was in the moment Sunday at Loudon. He was up to fifth by lap 75.
None of them figured to be a factor in the race as Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. dominated the first 255 laps of the 301-lap race at the 1.058-mile oval.
RAIN, RAIN WENT AWAY: Sprinkles in the morning hours dampened the speedway, but weather cleared in time for the race to go green near its scheduled start time. Busch led four times for 133 laps, but struggled on numerous restarts on a handful of late cautions and settled for an eighth place finish. Hamlin led five laps and was ninth. Edwards was 20th. All four Gibbs teams are already unofficially qualified for the Chase for the Championship playoff.
Stewart said he is even more impressed with how quickly he and his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing team, led by crew chief Mike Bugarewicz have gelled this season.
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“I’m disgusted, to tell you the truth”, Harvick told NBC Sports. Symptoms didn’t get better, and then went deeper into what it could be.
