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Kenseth Takes Dominant Win

Former NASCAR Nextel Cup Champion Matt Kenseth ended his 57-race losing streak after dominating the Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway

The 2003 Champion last visited Victory Lane in March 2004 when he won at Las Vegas.

Kenseth, who started on pole position, led 415 of the race's 500 laps, and survived a late race challenge from Jeff Burton to take the win.

The result vaulted him from 15th to 11th in the points standings and back into contention to make the Chase for the Championship, with two races to go before NASCAR resets the points of the top ten drivers. He is now only 11 points outside the top ten.

Burton scored his best result of the season, and his first top three finish since the Subway Fresh 500 at Pheonix back in April.

Kenseth's Roush Racing teammate Greg Biffle finished third, ahead of Ricky Rudd and Rusty Wallace, who was competing in his last race at the half-mile oval - his favourite track.

The race featured 16 caution periods for a series of crashes, the biggest of which came on lap 318. Dale Jarrett appeared to deliberately spin Ryan Newman round, in revenge for an earlier incident where Newman had tipped Jarrett into a spin on lap 210.

Both Newman and Jarrett into the wall but Newman's Dodge spun back down to the inside of the track into the path of Kevin Harvick.

Jarrett was held for two laps by NASCAR officials for his part in the incident after his Ford was repaired. Harvick lost 148 laps while his car was repaired and Newman retired. The incident damaged all three's chances of making the Chase for the Championship.

"My contact was unintentional, his was intentional." Newman said. "But NASCAR saw that. I didn't expect Jarrett to retaliate like that."

Four times Champion Jeff Gordon finished sixth, elevating him two places in the points standing to 10th, which places him within the Chase for the Cup.

There are two more races left, before the Chase begins.

Pos  Driver              Make        Laps
 1.  Matt Kenseth        Ford        500
 2.  Jeff Burton         Chevrolet   500
 3.  Greg Biffle         Ford        500
 4.  Ricky Rudd          Ford        500
 5.  Rusty Wallace       Dodge       500
 6.  Jeff Gordon         Chevrolet   500
 7.  Mike Bliss          Chevrolet   500
 8.  Tony Stewart        Chevrolet   500
 9.  Dale Earnhardt Jr.  Chevrolet   500
10.  Kurt Busch          Ford        500
11.  Ken Schrader        Dodge       500
12.  Joe Nemechek        Chevrolet   500
13.  Elliott Sadler      Ford        500
14.  Scott Wimmer        Dodge       500
15.  Michael Waltrip     Chevrolet   500
16.  Mark Martin         Ford        500
17.  Mike Wallace        Chevrolet   500
18.  Jeremy Mayfield     Dodge       500
19.  Travis Kvapil       Dodge       500
20.  Brian Vickers       Chevrolet   500
21.  Bobby Labonte       Chevrolet   500
22.  Jeff Green          Dodge       500
23.  Dave Blaney         Chevrolet   500
24.  Carl Edwards        Ford        499
25.  Kyle Petty          Dodge       499
26.  Jamie McMurray      Dodge       498
27.  Terry Labonte       Chevrolet   497
28.  Jimmy Spencer       Dodge       493
29.  Sterling Marlin     Dodge       491
30.  Hermie Sadler       Chevrolet   491
31.  Dale Jarrett        Ford        478
32.  Carl Long           Chevrolet   472
33.  Kyle Busch          Chevrolet   448
34.  Casey Mears         Dodge       427
35.  Bobby Hamilton Jr.  Chevrolet   411
36.  Jimmie Johnson      Chevrolet   410
37.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet   352
38.  Robby Gordon        Chevrolet   332
39.  Ryan Newman         Dodge       317
40.  Scott Riggs         Chevrolet   309
41.  Stanton Barrett     Chevrolet   251
42.  Kasey Kahne         Dodge       212
43.  Johnny Benson       Chevrolet    78

The Chase for the Cup

Pos  Driver            Change   Points   
 1.  Tony Stewart         -     3410
 2.  Jimmie Johnson       -     3197
 3.  Greg Biffle          -     3186
 4.  Rusty Wallace        -     3139
↑↑     clinched positions      ↑↑
 5.  Mark Martin          -     3014
 6.  Jeremy Mayfield      -     2983
 7.  Kurt Busch           -     2982
 8.  Carl Edwards        +1     2849
 9.  Ryan Newman         -1     2819
10.  Jeff Gordon         +2     2799
↑↑     Current contenders      ↑↑
11.  Matt Kenseth        +4     2788
12.  Jamie McMurray      -2     2787
13.  Elliott Sadler       -     2765
14.  Dale Jarrett        -3     2721
15.  Dale Earnhardt Jr  .+1     2682
16.  Kevin Harvick       -2     2677
17.  Joe Nemechek         -     2660
18.  Brian Vickers        -     2590
19.  Jeff Burton         +2     2529
↑↑    Still with possibility   ↑↑

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