Kenseth snags ‘dream’ win
Hamlin 2nd as Gibbs team gets 1-2 sweep in Darlington race
DARLINGTON, S.C. — Matt Kenseth snatched the lead from Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch with 13 laps remaining Saturday night and cruised to a victory in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
Kenseth won with interim crew chief Wally Brown, who stepped in when Jason Ratcliff served a onerace suspension stemming from the No. 20 Toyota’s engine failing postrace inspection after winning last month at Kansas Speedway.
“This feels like the biggest win of my career,” said Kenseth, who has won three of his first 11 races since joining JGR after 15 seasons with Roush Fenway Racing.
“I feel bad Jason’s not here, but Wally did a great job and all these guys. We had a sixth place car, and the last two pits stops were awesome. We’ve got a great combination.”
It was the first Sprint Cup Series win at Darlington for the 2003 champion.
“This is a dream come true, guys,” Kenseth radioed his crew. “Holy cow.”
Denny Hamlin, completing a full race for the first time since fracturing his back nearly two months ago, finished second and made it a sweep of the top two for JGR.
Jeff Gordon finished third in the 700th start of his career in NASCAR’s premier series. Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top five.
“I’m tired, just worn out,” Hamlin said. “This is just a tough, grueling race. The guys on pit road were flawless. The best in the business.”
Busch faded to sixth after fending off several spirited challenges from rivals, including a daring maneuver that took Kasey Kahne out of contention when he slid into the Turn1wall while trying for the lead with 33 laps remaining. Kahne limped home in 17th a lap down with a damaged No. 5 Chevrolet after tangling with Busch for the second consecutive race.
Kahne didn’t appear to make contact with Busch but said he lost the handle on his car because of over-aggression. Matt Kenseth celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. AP NASCAR Sprint Cup Southern 500 results At Darlington Raceway
Darlington, S.C. Lap length: 1.366 miles (Start position in parentheses) 1. (7) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 367 laps, 125.6 rating, 47 points. 2. (6) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 367, 105, 42. 3. (8) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 367, 112.6, 42. 4. (2) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 367, 121.7, 40. 5. (10) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 367, 106.6, 39. 6. (3) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 367, 137.7, 40. 7. (17) Carl Edwards, Ford, 367, 89.6, 37. 8. (12) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 367, 90.2, 36. 9. (16) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 367, 99.3, 35. 10. (21) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 367, 81.4, 34. 11. (13) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 367, 96.5, 33. 12. (5) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 367, 91.9, 32. 13. (9) Greg Biffle, Ford, 367, 83.6, 31. 14. (1) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 367, 102.7, 31. 15. (20) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 367, 86.8, 29. 16. (25) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 367, 72.7, 28. 17. (4) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 367, 105.5, 27. 18. (14) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 366, 69.7, 26. 19. (15) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 366, 76, 25. 20. (18) Aric Almirola, Ford, 366, 64.3, 24. 21. (11) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 365, 73.6, 23.
“He blew his entry (into Turn 1), and I’m not sure what he was thinking there,” said Kahne, who received an apology from Busch after their collision triggered a multicar wreck in last week’s race at Talladega Superspeedway.
The Las Vegas native was trying to complete a weekend sweep at 22. (30) Joey Logano, Ford, 365, 70.1, 22. 23. (28) Travis Kvapil, Toyota, 364, 63.9, 21. 24. (27) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 363, 62.7, 0. 25. (22) Mark Martin, Toyota, 363, 55.2, 19. 26. (23) Bobby Labonte, Toyota, 363, 47.6, 18. 27. (37) Dave Blaney, Chevrolet, 362, 52.4, 17. 28. (40) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 362, 43.4, 16. 29. (29) David Gilliland, Ford, 362, 45.6, 15. 30. (32) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 360, 40.7, 14. 31. (43) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, 359, 36.5, 0. 32. (26) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 358, 69.6, 12. 33. (41) Timmy Hill, Ford, 358, 34.1, 11. 34. (24) Marcos Ambrose, Ford, 358, 43, 10. 35. (42) J.J. Yeley, Chevrolet, 354, 31.4, 9. 36. (33) David Reutimann, Toyota, accident, 327, 51.1, 8. 37. (19) Casey Mears, Ford, accident, 327, 53.2, 7. 38. (34) Josh Wise, Ford, accident, 326, 40, 0. 39. (31) David Ragan, Ford, engine, 318, 39.2, 5. 40. (39) David Stremme, Toyota, engine, 230, 46.6, 4. 41. (36) Scott Speed, Ford, brakes, 77, 29.9, 3. 42. (35) Michael McDowell, Ford, brakes, 58, 27.2, 2. 43. (38) Mike Bliss, Toyota, overheating, 18, 24.8, 0. Top 12 in points: 1. J.Johnson, 423; 2. C.Edwards, 379; 3. M.Kenseth, 364; 4. D.Earnhardt Jr., 359; 5. C.Bowyer, 349; 6. K.Kahne, 326; 7. Bra.Keselowski, 326; 8. Ky.Busch, 325; 9. A.Almirola, 317; 10. K.Harvick, 315; 11. P.Menard, 315; 12. J.Gordon, 311. the 1.366-mile track after a dominant victory in Friday’s Nationwide Series race.
Carl Edwards, Juan Pablo Montoya, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Ryan Newman rounded out the top 10.
Danica Patrick finished 28th, five laps down in her second Cup start at Darlington.