Matt Kenseth survives Bristol marathon to break winless streak
Matt Kenseth is back. In victory lane, that is.
Kenseth won Sunday’s Food City 500, a race delayed multiple times by rain and plagued with accidents that took out some of the race’s top contenders. The win was Kenseth’s first since he won at New Hampshire in September 2013, a span of 51 races.
To clinch the victory, Kenseth had to hold off Jimmie Johnson and others in a green-white-checkered restart that came only after NASCAR stopped the race for a third rain delay and extended it 11 laps past the scheduled 500 laps to make sure it got completed.
“It means a lot. I got a great race team. Last year was tough and not winning so far this year was tough, Kenseth said while motioning towards his crew. “We’ve been putting ourselves in position, I really need to thank [crew chief Jason Ratcliff] and these guys, our pit stops have ben great and I haven’t been doing as good a job, the cars haven’t been as good, but these guys have been really doing it.”
Kenseth held the lead during the caution flag that ate up laps 496-509. The yellow was for a crash involving Carl Edwards and Kurt Busch after Edwards got loose in the corner and Busch’s car slid into him. Not long after Edwards and Busch collided, raindrops started falling once again at Bristol and NASCAR officials extended the yellow flag as long as possible in the hopes the rain would stop.
It eventually did, but not before NASCAR red-flagged the race to dry the track for what would be the final two green flag laps.
Kenseth took the lead on lap 437 when leader Kyle Larson was forced to make a green fag pit stop for fuel because of his pit strategy. Kenseth lost the lead to Kurt Busch soon after he got it from Larson but got it back after the caution flag came out for a crash on lap 473 when Busch was the only car in the top six to pit.
The pit stop ended up ruining Busch’s chances to get back to Kenseth and fight for the win. While he immediately made up a position after the restart, a caution flag for a crash involving Kasey Kahne and AJ Allmendinger slowed his efforts. And then, not long after the race went green again, Busch had nowhere to go as Edwards crashed ahead of him.
Earlier in the race, Busch’s teammate Kevin Harvick was involved in a similar crash. After Johnson, Jeb Burton and David Ragan got together, Harvick’s car went into a slide as he braked to avoid Ragan and he ended up crashing into the wounded No. 18.
Yes, Johnson finished second despite being in a crash. And it wasn’t his only incident of the night, either. Earlier, he had sustained significant right-side rear fender damage after he made contact with Busch.
Kenseth’s lack of trips to victory lane during his winless stretch wasn’t an issue limited to his No. 20 either. Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin each won just once in 2014. With the addition of Edwards to the team’s stable, JGR swapped crew chiefs on three teams entering 2015. The only pairing that didn’t change was Kenseth and Ratcliff.
Why? Well it wasn’t like Kenseth had disappeared off the Sprint Cup Series map, though you may not know it from his comment above. In the timeframe since the win in 2013 he had amassed 30 top-10 finishes and was seventh in the points standings a year ago. Now, with the win, he’s virtually guaranteed to make the Chase for the sixth straight season.
Sunday’s race initially started late because of rain that plagued Bristol Motor Speedway for the early portion of the day. After NASCAR got approximately eight minutes of racing complete (22 laps), the skies opened up and the race was delayed for approximately four more hours before it resumed with just two brief interruptions Sunday evening.
While the two Team Penske cars crashed in the first 22 laps of the race, the opening segment also claimed another driver. Hamlin pulled himself from the car after having a muscle issue in his neck that occurred during the opening laps. JGR flew Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series driver Erik Jones to Bristol during the delay, where he got into a Sprint Cup Series car for the first time ever in relief of Hamlin, who won at Martinsville. Jones ended up 26th for Hamlin, who will receive all of the points for the race because he was in the car at the start.
– – – – – – –
Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
