Kenseth win puts Harvick on brink
Matt Kenseth pushed Kevin Harvick down the stretch and took the lead for good when the defending series champion ran out of gas Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the second race of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship.
Kenseth, who won for the fifth time this season, advanced to the second round of NASCAR’s playoffs and gave Joe Gibbs Racing its fourth straight win.
Harvick had the dominant car and led the most laps but a gamble to stretch his fuel to the end backfired and he faded to 21st. He finished 42nd last week in the Chase opener and will have to win next week at Dover to advance to the second round.
JGR continued to prove it will be the organization to beat in the Chase. Denny Hamlin, the winner last week at Chicagoland, was second for JGR. Chase drivers took eight of the top 10 spots.
The 16-driver Chase field will be cut to 12 after Dover.
“We had to be there to win it,” Kenseth said. “I was giving Kevin everything I had. I thought he had us beat. He had the better car.”
Kyle Busch, Paul Menard, Harvick and Clint Bowyer are the final four drivers on the brink of elimination.
Source says Stewart set to retire: Tony Stewart will announce he’s retiring following the 2016 season at a news conference Wednesday, the Associated Press has learned.
Stewart-Haas Racing said Sunday night that Stewart and team co-owner Gene Haas will hold a news conference at the team shop this week. The topic was not disclosed, but a person familiar with Stewart’s plans said the three-time NASCAR champion will announce his planned retirement.
His departure, first reported Sunday by Motorsport.com, is not a surprise. Stewart will be 45 next season, hasn’t won a race in more than two years and has been privately working on finding a successor for the No. 14 Chevrolet all year.
Formula One: Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton returned to dominant form Sunday, winning the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka to move a step closer to claiming his second straight Formula One title.
Hamilton, who was forced to retire at the previous weekend’s Singapore GP, capitalized on a strong start and surged ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg at the first corner. He led the rest of the way, crossing the finish line 18.9 seconds ahead of Rosberg. Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel was third, 1.8 seconds behind Rosberg, who started from pole.
With five races left, Hamilton has a 48-point lead over Rosberg.