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Michigan NASCAR: Dominant Matt Kenseth takes third win of season

Joe Gibbs Racing's Matt Kenseth claimed his third victory of the NASCAR Sprint Cup season with a dominant performance at Michigan

The polesitter was never far from the front of the field, ultimately leading 146 of the race's 200 laps.

A late caution period provided a threat, but Kenseth got the jump on Kevin Harvick at the restart and went on to win by nearly two seconds.

As the Chase title playoff approaches, the victory takes the Toyota team's run of form to six wins from the last eight races.

Harvick settled for second, having been fortunate not to lose more time coasting back to the pits when he ran out of fuel at the end of a stint just after the halfway mark.

Martin Truex Jr was third, having come from 22nd on the grid, while Austin Dillon finished fourth, where he qualified.

Dillon had to work harder than that suggests, though, as he started at the rear of the grid due to a pre-race engine change and was delayed by a slow pitstop.

Kyle Busch joined him at the back, in a spare car following a practice incident, and wound up 11th, both drivers leading laps while running out-of-sequence.

Between Dillon and Busch, Carl Edwards was sixth, ahead of Joey Logano, Ryan Newman, Brad Keselowski and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Jimmie Johnson had a race to forget, finishing 39th having started eighth.

A flat right-rear tyre was followed by the six-time champion overshooting his pit bay during the next round of stops, while a late spin compounded the misery.

On the bubble of the Chase cutoff, Clint Bowyer was classified 41st after a mid-race crash and subsequent repairs.

RESULTS - 200 LAPS:

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 2h47m18.s
2 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 1.722s
3 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 2.537s
4 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 5.934s
5 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 6.511s
6 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 7.363s
7 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 9.404s
8 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 11.059s
9 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 11.260s
10 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 12.731s
11 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 13.112s
12 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 13.760s
13 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 13.922s
14 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 14.966s
15 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 15.726s
16 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 17.102s
17 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 17.657s
18 David Ragan Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 25.011s
19 Sam Hornish Jr. Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 56.782s
20 Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 1 Lap
21 Tony Stewart Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 1 Lap
22 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 2 Laps
23 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 2 Laps
24 Ryan Blaney Wood Brothers Racing Ford 2 Laps
25 Danica Patrick Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 2 Laps
26 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 2 Laps
27 Cole Whitt Front Row Motorsports Ford 2 Laps
28 A.J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 2 Laps
29 Justin Allgaier HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 3 Laps
30 Matt DiBenedetto BK Racing Toyota 3 Laps
31 Alex Bowman Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 3 Laps
32 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 3 Laps
33 Jeb Burton BK Racing Toyota 3 Laps
34 Brett Moffitt Front Row Motorsports Ford 3 Laps
35 Michael Annett HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 3 Laps
36 Landon Cassill Hillman Smith Motorsports Chevrolet 4 Laps
37 Josh Wise Go FAS Racing Ford 4 Laps
38 J.J. Yeley BK Racing Toyota 6 Laps
39 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 10 Laps
40 Travis Kvapil Circle Sport Chevrolet 10 Laps
41 Clint Bowyer Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 36 Laps
42 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet Overheating
43 Timmy Hill Phil Parsons Racing Chevrolet Withdrew

CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS:

Pos Driver Points
1 Kevin Harvick 866
2 Joey Logano 818
3 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 784
4 Martin Truex Jr. 755
5 Brad Keselowski 754
6 Jimmie Johnson 752
7 Matt Kenseth 751
8 Kurt Busch 683
9 Denny Hamlin 670
10 Jamie McMurray 663
11 Paul Menard 654
12 Ryan Newman 649
13 Jeff Gordon 648
14 Carl Edwards 628
15 Clint Bowyer 616
16 Aric Almirola 593
17 Kasey Kahne 590
18 Greg Biffle 553
19 Kyle Larson 548
20 Austin Dillon 533
21 Danica Patrick 508
22 A.J. Allmendinger 497
23 Casey Mears 495
24 David Ragan 487
25 Sam Hornish Jr. 450
26 Tony Stewart 441
27 Trevor Bayne 414
28 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 411
29 Kyle Busch 395
30 Justin Allgaier 377
31 Cole Whitt 372
32 David Gilliland 354
33 Alex Bowman 292
34 Brett Moffitt 289
35 Michael Annett 270
36 Matt DiBenedetto 252
37 Josh Wise 193
38 Michael McDowell 148
39 Jeb Burton 136
40 Alex Kennedy 93
41 Reed Sorenson 41
42 Bobby Labonte 39
43 Brian Vickers 32
44 Michael Waltrip 26
45 Mike Wallace 8
46 Eddie MacDonald 7
47 Will Kimmel 6
48 Ron Hornaday Jr. 2

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