NASCAR Sprint Unlimited: Matt Kenseth wins after two red flags
Matt Kenseth opened the 2015 NASCAR season with victory in a messy and twice red-flagged Sprint Unlimited at Daytona
Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver Kenseth controlled the final stages of the non-championship race to keep long-time leader Martin Truex Jr's Furniture Row Chevrolet at bay, winning by 0.219 seconds.
Carl Edwards finished third on his debut for Gibbs, with Casey Mears having a strong run to fourth for Germain Racing, ahead of Kyle Larson.
Champion Kevin Harvick was fighting Edwards for third until a brush with Joey Logano on the penultimate lap caused him to smack the wall and fall back to 11th. The two drivers had a heated row about the incident in the pitlane afterwards.
Only 12 of the 25 entrants made it to the finish.
Fourteen cars were involved in the first race-stopping crash, triggered when Jamie McMurray spun mid-pack, and six sustained terminal damage - including Jimmie Johnson and polesitter Paul Menard.
A second red flag followed in the closing stages when Tony Stewart was sent spinning and collected Greg Biffle and Kurt Busch, resulting in a particularly violent impact for Biffle on the inside wall. His car then rebounded back into the out-of-control Busch's path and had another hard hit. All involved escaped unhurt.
Brad Keselowski had been the first retirement, sent into the wall on lap 22 of 75, while Ricky Stenhouse Jr spun into Austin Dillon's path late on.
RESULTS - 75 LAPS:
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Toyota 1h22m59.000s 2. Martin Truex Jr Furniture Row Chevrolet +0.219s 3. Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Toyota +0.238s 4. Casey Mears Germain Chevrolet +0.349s 5. Kyle Larson Ganassi Chevrolet +0.377s 6. Joey Logano Penske Ford +0.517s 7. Jeff Gordon Hendrick Chevrolet +0.518s 8. Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Toyota +0.587s 9. Dale Earnhardt Jr Hendrick Chevrolet +0.688s 10. Danica Patrick Stewart-Haas Chevrolet +0.698s 11. Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Chevrolet +0.816s 12. Ryan Newman Childress Chevrolet +0.868s Retirements: Tony Stewart Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 67 laps Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Ford 67 laps Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 67 laps Ricky Stenhouse Jr Roush Fenway Ford 61 laps Austin Dillon Childress Chevrolet 61 laps Aric Almirola Petty Ford 55 laps Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Toyota 45 laps Clint Bowyer Waltrip Toyota 45 laps Paul Menard Childress Chevrolet 45 laps Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Chevrolet 45 laps Kasey Kahne Hendrick Chevrolet 45 laps Jamie McMurray Ganassi Chevrolet 45 laps Brad Keselowski Penske Ford 22 laps
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