NASCAR Dover: Matt Kenseth takes narrow victory
Matt Kenseth hung on to win his first NASCAR Sprint Cup race of the season at Dover, in a heated battle with Kyle Larson
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver ended his run of bad luck in a race that featured a massive pile-up caused by Jimmie Johnson, which brought out the red flag and allowed Kenseth to lead heading into the final 40 laps.
Larson was his nearest challenger at the restart, driving aggressively to stay right on the bumper of Kenseth as the pair reached the chequered flag separated by a tenth of a second.
Further back there were some damaged cars finishing in the top 10, including Brad Keselowski who finished sixth having led the race at the halfway point.
But contact with backmarker Austin Dillon damaged the front left of his car severely, which meant he lost ground heading into the final round of pitstops.
Denny Hamlin recovered to seventh place having spent the first half of the race a lap down due to 'improper fuelling' on his first stop.
He managed to get back on the lead lap and into clean air after a debris caution, before pitting again and avoiding the later pile-up caused by Johnson.
Polesitter Kevin Harvick got caught up in the crash with Johnson, which added yet more misery to his race after he lost the lead due to slow pitstops from the Stewart-Haas pit crew. He ended up finishing in 15th.
RESULTS - 400 LAPS:
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Matt Kenseth | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 3h39m29.s |
2 | Kyle Larson | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 0.187s |
3 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 0.633s |
4 | Kasey Kahne | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 2.670s |
5 | Kurt Busch | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 3.308s |
6 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford | 4.238s |
7 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 4.260s |
8 | Ryan Blaney | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford | 6.500s |
9 | Martin Truex Jr. | Furniture Row Racing | Toyota | 6.706s |
10 | Trevor Bayne | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 8.380s |
11 | Paul Menard | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 10.903s |
12 | Clint Bowyer | HScott Motorsports | Chevrolet | 11.692s |
13 | Danica Patrick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 12.073s |
14 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 12.288s |
15 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 1 Lap |
16 | Ryan Newman | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 2 Laps |
17 | David Ragan | BK Racing | Toyota | 3 Laps |
18 | Chris Buescher | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 4 Laps |
19 | Landon Cassill | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 4 Laps |
20 | Michael McDowell | Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing | Chevrolet | 4 Laps |
21 | Jamie McMurray | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 5 Laps |
22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford | 9 Laps |
23 | A.J. Allmendinger | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet | 9 Laps |
24 | Brian Scott | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford | 10 Laps |
25 | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 13 Laps |
26 | Casey Mears | Germain Racing | Chevrolet | 26 Laps |
27 | Cole Whitt | Premium Motorsports | Chevrolet | Vibration |
28 | Carl Edwards | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | Accident |
29 | Greg Biffle | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | Accident |
30 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | Accident |
31 | Aric Almirola | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford | Accident |
32 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | Accident |
33 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 55 Laps |
34 | Tony Stewart | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | Suspension |
35 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | Go FAS Racing | Ford | 66 Laps |
36 | Josh Wise | The Motorsports Group | Chevrolet | 69 Laps |
37 | Michael Annett | HScott Motorsports | Chevrolet | Accident |
38 | Reed Sorenson | Premium Motorsports | Chevrolet | Accident |
39 | Regan Smith | Tommy Baldwin Racing | Chevrolet | Accident |
40 | Matt DiBenedetto | BK Racing | Toyota | Accident |
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