Matt Kenseth wins rainy Bristol marathon

Matt Kenseth has come through to score his first win of the season in a rain-marred Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The pole-sitter survived rain delays, a string of cautions and a green-white-chequered finish in a race that lasted over nine hours.

Kenseth led just 47 of the 500 laps, but importantly missed a string of late race crashes to score his first win since September, 2013.

Even as the field came to the scheduled 500 laps the caution was out. Officials then threw the red flag in an effort to finish under green.

Once the track was dry, Kenseth won the final shootout in a race that started 90 minutes late and endured a four-hour delay after the first 22 laps.

Despite being involved in a number of incidents, Jimmie Johnson finished second, with Jeff Gordon, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ryan Newman completing the top five.

Bristol took its toll on many drivers, most of whom got involved in other people’s accidents, including championship leader Kevin Harvick who slammed into David Ragan after he was caught-up in one of Johnson’s incidents.

Also falling foul of another driver’s crash was Joey Logano, who collided with Penske team-mate Brad Keselowski when the latter tagged the wall just 22 laps into the race.

In a race that had so many turns and twists, it also featured a mid-race driver substitution when Denny Hamlin suffered neck spasms in the first stint.

During the first rain stoppage the team decided to put 18-year-old rookie Erik Jones into the car. He completed the race in 26th position, with the points earned going to Hamlin.

VIDEO: Race Highlights

 RESULTS: Food City 500 in Support of Steve Byrnes and Stand Up To Cancer 

POS.	CAR #	DRIVER	MANUFACTURER	STARTING POS.	LAPS	LAPS LED	FINAL STATUS	POINTS	BONUS POINTS
1	20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	1	511	47	Running	47	4
2	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	28	511	0	Running	42	0
3	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	23	511	0	Running	41	0
4	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Ford	25	511	0	Running	40	0
5	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	18	511	0	Running	39	0
6	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	21	511	0	Running	38	0
7	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	14	511	90	Running	38	1
8	51	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	15	511	0	Running	36	0
9	10	Danica Patrick	Chevrolet	26	511	0	Running	35	0
10	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	12	511	0	Running	34	0
11	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	9	511	0	Running	33	0
12	15	Clint Bowyer	Toyota	37	511	0	Running	32	0
13	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	30	511	0	Running	31	0
14	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	10	510	0	Running	30	0
15	41	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	7	510	98	Running	30	1
16	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr	Chevrolet	13	509	0	Running	28	0
17	55	Brett Moffitt	Toyota	24	509	0	Running	27	0
18	38	David Gilliland	Ford	32	508	0	Running	26	0
19	9	Sam Hornish Jr	Ford	39	508	0	Running	25	0
20	7	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	40	508	0	Running	24	0
21	83	Matt DiBenedetto	Toyota	22	508	0	Running	23	0
22	95	Michael McDowell	Ford	19	507	0	Running	22	0
23	46	Michael Annett	Chevrolet	36	507	0	Running	21	0
24	19	Carl Edwards	Toyota	3	507	86	Running	21	1
25	34	Chris Buescher	Ford	38	505	0	Running	0	0
26	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	5	505	0	Running	18	0
27	35	Cole Whitt	Ford	42	504	0	Running	17	0
28	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	31	504	0	Running	16	0
29	78	Martin Truex Jr	Chevrolet	16	504	0	Running	15	0
30	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	33	504	6	Running	15	1
31	32	Mike Bliss	Ford	41	502	0	Running	0	0
32	23	J.J. Yeley	Toyota	29	496	0	Running	0	0
33	33	Alex Kennedy	Chevrolet	43	490	0	Running	11	0
34	47	AJ Allmendinger	Chevrolet	20	489	0	Accident	10	0
35	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	2	489	0	Running	9	0
36	13	Casey Mears	Chevrolet	27	487	0	Accident	8	0
37	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	8	482	0	Accident	7	0
38	4	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	4	468	184	Running	8	2
39	98	Josh Wise	Ford	35	466	0	Accident	5	0
40	22	Joey Logano	Ford	6	452	0	Running	4	0
41	18	David Ragan	Toyota	11	435	0	Running	3	0
42	26	Jeb Burton	Toyota	34	416	0	Accident	2	0
43	40	Landon Cassill	Chevrolet	17	288	0	Accident	0	0

 

STANDINGS

POS	DRIVER	POINTS	BEHIND	STARTS	WINS	TOP 5	TOP 10	DNF
1	Kevin Harvick	314	Leader	8	2	6	7	0
2	Joey Logano	284	-30	8	1	4	7	0
3	Martin Truex Jr	281	-33	8	0	1	7	0
4	Jimmie Johnson	258	-56	8	2	4	5	0
5	Brad Keselowski	255	-59	8	1	3	6	1
6	Dale Earnhardt Jr	241	-73	8	0	4	5	1
7	Kasey Kahne	237	-77	8	0	1	3	1
8	Matt Kenseth	236	-78	8	1	3	4	0
9	Jeff Gordon	227	-87	8	0	1	5	1
10	Aric Almirola	226	-88	8	0	0	0	0
11	Denny Hamlin	223	-91	8	1	3	3	0
12	Jamie McMurray	223	-91	8	0	1	3	1
13	Danica Patrick	211	-103	8	0	0	2	0
14	Paul Menard	210	-104	8	0	1	1	1
15	Carl Edwards	203	-111	8	0	0	1	0
16	Ryan Newman	201	-113	8	0	4	5	0
17	Clint Bowyer	200	-114	8	0	0	1	0
18	David Ragan	197	-117	8	0	1	1	0
19	Casey Mears	186	-128	8	0	0	1	1
20	Greg Biffle	180	-134	8	0	0	1	0
21	Austin Dillon	177	-137	8	0	0	1	1
22	Kurt Busch	174	-140	5	0	2	2	0
23	Kyle Larson	173	-141	7	0	0	3	1
24	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	172	-142	8	0	1	1	1
25	AJ Allmendinger	171	-143	8	0	0	2	2
26	David Gilliland	162	-152	8	0	0	0	0
27	Trevor Bayne	154	-160	8	0	0	0	0
28	Tony Stewart	145	-169	8	0	0	1	2
29	Justin Allgaier	145	-169	8	0	0	1	2
30	Brett Moffitt	136	-178	7	0	0	1	0
31	Sam Hornish Jr	135	-179	8	0	0	0	0
32	Cole Whitt	128	-186	8	0	0	0	1
33	Alex Bowman	91	-223	7	0	0	0	1
34	Michael Annett	90	-224	8	0	0	0	1
35	Michael McDowell	79	-235	5	0	0	0	0
36	Josh Wise	63	-251	7	0	0	0	1
37	Matt DiBenedetto	57	-257	5	0	0	0	0
38	Jeb Burton	45	-269	6	0	0	0	1
39	Alex Kennedy	35	-279	4	0	0	0	0
40	Brian Vickers	32	-282	2	0	0	0	0
41	Bobby Labonte	20	-294	1	0	0	0	0
42	Michael Waltrip	18	-296	1	0	0	0	0
43	Reed Sorenson	12	-302	1	0	0	0	0
44	Mike Wallace	8	-306	1	0	0	0	0
45	Ron Hornaday Jr	2	-312	1	0	0	0	1
46	Brian Scott	0	-314	2	0	0	0	0
47	Regan Smith	0	-314	4	0	0	0	0
48	Matt Crafton	0	-314	1	0	0	0	0
49	Ryan Blaney	0	-314	3	0	0	0	2
50	Johnny Sauter	0	-314	1	0	0	0	0
51	Chris Buescher	0	-314	4	0	0	0	0
52	Landon Cassill	0	-314	8	0	0	0	3
53	J.J. Yeley	0	-314	8	0	0	0	1
54	Brendan Gaughan	0	-314	4	0	0	0	0
55	Ty Dillon	0	-314	1	0	0	0	0
56	Mike Bliss	0	-314	6	0	0	0	0
57	Joe Nemechek	0	-314	1	0	0	0	0
58	Chase Elliott	0	-314	1	0	0	0	0
59	Travis Kvapil	0	-314	0	0	0	0	0
60	Tanner Berryhill	0	-314	0	0	0	0	0
61	Justin Marks	0	-314	0	0	0	0	0