Matt Kenseth seized clear momentum in the stretch run to the Chase for the Nextel Cup by slugging through NASCAR’s most notorious annual on-track brawl Saturday night.
Kenseth won the Sharpie 500 for the second year in a row, in the process picking up his second straight Nextel Cup victory.
Kenseth also pushed within seven points of standings leader Jimmie Johnson with just two races left until NASCAR’s playoffs begin. Johnson struggled to a 10th-place finish, but he and Kenseth became the first two drivers to clinch berths in the Chase.
Kyle Busch finished second, followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr., Scott Riggs and Jeff Gordon.
Jeff Burton dominated most of the race, leading 263 of the 500 laps at tight, half-mile Bristol Motor Speedway. But Burton fell back with a late handling problem and finished ninth.
“We had to work at it pretty hard,” Kenseth said. “I didn’t think we had quite the car, honestly. I thought Jeff Burton had everybody covered. But once you get into the lead …”
Could Kenseth feel the momentum going into the Chase?
“We have it, but it can be lost at any time,” he said. “This is really important. These guys [on his branch of the Roush Racing Ford team] are operating at a championship level.”
Crew chief Robbie Reiser said, “This means everything. This team is really clicking right now. I don’t think we’ve peaked. We’re just working up to our potential here.”
Little Bristol owed Kenseth one. Over the previous nine races here, he’d had an average finish of 5.6, best of any driver, but with only last year’s win to show for it.
And in this year’s spring race, Kenseth had been victimized on and off the track.
He was knocked out of the way by Kurt Busch for the win, then shoved around the pit road by a furious Gordon after the race.
“It’s pretty awesome to win here two [night races] in a row,” Kenseth said. “Bristol is so special.”
Earnhardt had come into the race a tenuous 10th, the cutoff point for the Chase, in the standings. But his strong run moved him up to ninth and left him much more confident of making the 10-race championship round he missed last year.
Earnhardt came in only 49 points ahead of 11th-place Kasey Kahne and left 97 ahead of Kahne, who remained 11th. Mark Martin dropped to 10th.
“I think we’ve got a really good shot to make it now,” Earnhardt. “Before it was about a 50-50 proposition between Kasey and me.”
Gordon edged up to fifth in the standings. He had a postrace argument with Riggs, but not nearly as pronounced as the one when he shoved Kenseth here in March. Gordon took issue with the way Riggs got around him for fourth place.
“I was definitely holding him up, no doubt about it,” Gordon admitted. “But there’s ways to pass. I’ve been there before and moved guys. I was really more concerned he was going to spin me out. I was just telling him I’d have liked him to pass me on the straightaway, get a run on me.”
Then Gordon acknowledged that part of his ire was frustration over feeling what had seemed a winning car go fitful near the end. Gordon had led 41 laps before fading late.
“We just lost the handling there at the end,” Gordon said. “I’m probably just more frustrated that we weren’t able to keep up with those front guys more than anything else.”
Kyle Busch tried to keep the family’s high profile at Bristol with his late threat after older brother Kurt, who’d started on the pole, fell back due to a midrace accident and finished 37th.
“I wish we could have got to Kenseth,” Kyle Busch said. “That would have been a heck of a show.”
Then he thought about the common practice here of second-place drivers shoving leaders out of the way to win, as his brother had done to Kenseth in March here, and the controversies that always ensue.
“I’m probably glad I didn’t get there, really,” Kyle Busch decided. “Congratulations to them.”
Nextel Cup standings
Note: Only 13 drivers remain eligible for the Chase.
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POS, DRIVER P W PTS
1. Jimmie Johnson-x 1 4 3,499
2. Matt Kenseth-x 0 4 3,492
3. Kevin Harvick 0 2 3,178
4. Kyle Busch 1 1 3,097
5. Jeff Gordon 0 2 3,091
6. Denny Hamlin 2 2 3,070
7. Jeff Burton 4 0 3,064
8. Tony Stewart 0 2 3,056
9. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 0 1 3,051
10. Mark Martin 0 0 3,049
11. Kasey Kahne 4 4 2,959
12. Greg Biffle 2 1 2,798
13. Carl Edwards 0 0 2,788
x–clinched spot
P: poles; W: wins
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ehinton@tribune.com
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