Kenseth avoids big wreck to win at Dover

After a succession of races where he was in contention, only to be involved in crashes, Matt Kenseth was ahead of the big wreck at Dover to score his first win of the Sprint Cup season.

Kenseth held off a hard-charging Kyle Larson over the final laps to score his third win at ‘The Monster Mile’ and 37th of his career.

It was the sixth win from the last seven races for the Joe Gibbs Racing organisation and means all four drivers; Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards have all qualified for the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

“It feels good to get this one for sure,” Kenseth said.

“We were tight all day on restarts. And on that last one, I got so loose, I thought Kyle was going to get by me. Kyle gave me all I wanted that’s for sure.”

Rookie Chase Elliott, Kasey Kahne and Kurt Busch completed the top five on a wild day of racing.

A massive 18-car crash with 46 laps to run, triggered by a slow re-start from Jimmie Johnson on the front row when he couldn’t get the car in third gear.

The crash eliminated many of the pre-race favourite including Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman amongst others. The race was stopped as cars were littered across the front stretch.

Edwards would then find the fence following a restart after contact with Larson.

Tony Stewart finished 34th after a broken track bar punctured the car’s oil tank.

The result kept him 37th in the driver standings. He needs to finish the regular season 30th or better in the rankings and post a victory to qualify for the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs.

Next week is the non-championship All-Star race in Charlotte.

VIDEO: Race Wrap

RESULTS: AAA 400 Drive for Autism – Dover International Speedway

POS.	CAR #	DRIVER	MAKE	START	LAPS	LAPS LED	FINAL STATUS	POINTS	BONUS POINTS
1	20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	10	400	48	Running	44	4
2	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	23	400	85	Running	40	1
3	24	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	13	400	0	Running	38	0
4	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	11	400	0	Running	37	0
5	41	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	9	400	0	Running	36	0
6	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	14	400	49	Running	36	1
7	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	6	400	15	Running	35	1
8	21	Ryan Blaney	Ford	18	400	0	Running	33	0
9	78	Martin Truex Jr	Toyota	7	400	47	Running	33	1
10	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	25	400	0	Running	31	0
11	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	19	400	0	Running	30	0
12	15	Clint Bowyer	Chevrolet	32	400	0	Running	29	0
13	10	Danica Patrick	Chevrolet	31	400	0	Running	28	0
14	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Ford	5	400	0	Running	27	0
15	4	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	1	399	117	Running	28	2
16	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	8	398	0	Running	25	0
17	23	David Ragan	Toyota	27	397	0	Running	24	0
18	34	Chris Buescher	Ford	30	396	0	Running	23	0
19	38	Landon Cassill	Ford	35	396	0	Running	22	0
20	95	Michael McDowell	Chevrolet	28	396	0	Running	21	0
21	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	24	395	0	Running	20	0
22	22	Joey Logano	Ford	22	391	2	Running	20	1
23	47	AJ Allmendinger	Chevrolet	20	391	0	Running	18	0
24	44	Brian Scott	Ford	17	390	0	Running	17	0
25	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	21	387	4	Running	17	1
26	13	Casey Mears	Chevrolet	26	374	0	Running	15	0
27	98	Cole Whitt	Chevrolet	36	364	0	Vibration	14	0
28	19	Carl Edwards	Toyota	4	359	27	Accident	14	1
29	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	16	355	6	Accident	13	1
30	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	3	354	0	Accident	11	0
31	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	15	354	0	Accident	10	0
32	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr	Chevrolet	2	354	0	Accident	9	0
33	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	12	345	0	Running	8	0
34	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	34	342	0	Suspension	7	0
35	32	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Ford	39	334	0	Running	6	0
36	30	Josh Wise	Chevrolet	40	331	0	Running	5	0
37	46	Michael Annett	Chevrolet	37	223	0	Accident	4	0
38	55	Reed Sorenson	Chevrolet	38	204	0	Accident	3	0
39	7	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	33	139	0	Accident	2	0
40	83	Matt DiBenedetto	Toyota	29	116	0	Accident	1	0

 

STANDINGS

POS	DRIVER	POINTS	BEHIND	STARTS	WINS	TOP 5	TOP 10	DNF
1	Kevin Harvick	418	Leader	12	1	5	9	0
2	Kyle Busch	397	-21	12	3	9	9	2
3	Kurt Busch	386	-32	12	0	4	10	0
4	Carl Edwards	381	-37	12	2	5	8	2
5	Jimmie Johnson	370	-48	12	2	5	6	0
6	Brad Keselowski	368	-50	12	2	3	7	0
7	Chase Elliott	341	-77	12	0	4	8	1
8	Joey Logano	340	-78	12	0	3	6	2
9	Martin Truex Jr	336	-82	12	0	1	5	0
10	Austin Dillon	315	-103	12	0	3	6	0
11	Dale Earnhardt Jr	314	-104	12	0	4	5	3
12	Matt Kenseth	313	-105	12	1	2	4	2
13	Denny Hamlin	308	-110	12	1	3	5	2
14	Jamie McMurray	296	-122	12	0	1	2	0
15	Ryan Blaney	288	-130	12	0	1	5	1
16	Kasey Kahne	286	-132	12	0	2	4	1
17	AJ Allmendinger	283	-135	12	0	1	3	0
18	Ryan Newman	278	-140	12	0	0	3	1
19	Trevor Bayne	275	-143	12	0	1	3	0
20	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	273	-145	12	0	1	2	1
21	Kyle Larson	243	-175	12	0	2	3	2
22	Paul Menard	232	-186	12	0	0	1	3
23	Danica Patrick	216	-202	12	0	0	0	3
24	Greg Biffle	215	-203	12	0	0	0	3
25	Aric Almirola	213	-205	12	0	0	0	3
26	Clint Bowyer	211	-207	12	0	0	2	1
27	Landon Cassill	202	-216	12	0	0	0	0
28	Casey Mears	184	-234	12	0	0	0	0
29	Brian Scott	178	-240	12	0	0	0	0
30	David Ragan	161	-257	12	0	0	0	2
31	Michael McDowell	154	-264	11	0	0	0	0
32	Regan Smith	148	-270	12	0	0	1	2
33	Matt DiBenedetto	141	-277	12	0	0	1	3
34	Chris Buescher	141	-277	12	0	0	0	2
35	Michael Annett	103	-315	12	0	0	0	2
36	Cole Whitt	102	-316	10	0	0	0	3
37	Tony Stewart	94	-324	4	0	0	1	1
38	Brian Vickers	86	-332	5	0	0	1	1
39	Josh Wise	44	-374	10	0	0	0	3
40	Michael Waltrip	42	-376	2	0	0	0	0
41	Jeffrey Earnhardt	42	-376	7	0	0	0	0
42	Bobby Labonte	34	-384	2	0	0	0	0
43	David Gilliland	24	-394	1	0	0	0	0
44	Reed Sorenson	22	-396	6	0	0	0	2
45	Robert Richardson	3	-415	1	0	0	0	1
46	Ty Dillon	0	-418	5	0	0	0	0
47	Joey Gase	0	-418	3	0	0	0	0
48	Ryan Ellis	0	-418	1	0	0	0	0