Kenseth Wins at Darlington

Originally written for CLNS Radio.


Matt Kenseth has had a good week.  On Wednesday, Kenseth's appeal was heard, and his punishment was lessened for an engine infraction  at Kansas.  On Saturday, he ran up front all night before he overtook his teammate Kyle Busch late in the race to win the Bojangles' Southern 500.

Rainier Ehrhardt/Getty Images

Kurt Busch led the field to the green flag after he broke the track's qualifying record on Friday.  Busch was able to clear Jimmie Johnson going into Turn 1 to take the lead.  Kyle Busch was able to get around Johnson for second coming out of Turn 2, and he closed up to the back bumper of his brother.  

On lap 46, Marcos Ambrose hit pit road, and that started off the first round of green-flag pit stops.  Kurt Busch pulled onto pit road on lap 52, and Kyle Busch pitted on lap 55.  When Matt Kenseth pitted on lap 56, Kurt Busch had become the leader once again.

Kyle Busch had been catching his brother Kurt since the last set of pit stops, and on lap 73 he took the lead away.  Kurt Busch fell to third on lap 80 when he was passed by Kenseth.  

On lap 98, Ambrose was once again the first person to pit, and he started another round of green-flag pit stops.  On lap 106, Kyle Busch gave up the lead to make his pit stop.  Kenseth pitted from the lead on lap 107.  By lap 108, Kyle Busch was once again the leader.  

The first caution of the night came out on lap 125 for debris in Turn 2.  Under the caution, Busch brought the field down pit road, and he was able to win the race off pit road.  

The race restarted on lap 132, and Busch was able to get in front of Denny Hamlin going into Turn 1 to take the lead.  Hamlin only took two tires during the caution, and he quickly fell back to eighth.  Hamlin was one of the first cars to hit pit road on lap 179.  Busch was the last person to pit, on lap 185.

Following pit stops, Jeff Gordon and Johnson were the new leaders because Busch waited so long to pit.  Busch was in third place, but he quickly overtook Johnson for second.  On lap 202, Busch was able to work his way around Gordon for the lead heading into Turn 1.

On lap 233, another round of green-flag pit stops started when Travis Kvapil hit pit road.  Busch gave up the lead on lap 242 to make his pit stop, and he was the leader after pit stops had cycled around.  

On lap 286, Johnson caught Busch for the lead.  Johnson got a good run through Turns 1 and 2, but Busch was able to hold him off to keep the lead.

The second caution of the night came out on lap 301, when Regan Smith had a flat left-rear tire.  Smith spun coming off Turn 2, but he was able to get around to the pits without hitting anything.  The leaders brought their cars down pit road, and Busch was able to win the race off pit road.

Busch led the field back to the green flag on lap 308, and he got a good jump on Johnson going into Turn 1.  Kenseth was able to work his way around Johnson coming out of Turn 2 for second place.  

Casey Mears wrecked on the frontstretch on lap 311 to bring out the third caution.  Mears got hit by Paul Menard, turning him into Kurt Busch.  Brad Keselowski got into the back of Mears as he spun down the track.  Johnson was the first driver to bring his car down pit road, and he won the race off pit road.

Busch led the field to the green flag on lap 317, and he was able to get ahead of Kasey Kahne for the lead.  The caution came back out on lap 329 for Josh Wise, who hit the outside wall.  Busch led the field down pit road, and he was able to beat Kahne off pit road.  

Busch restarted on the outside line on lap 332, and Kahne was able to beat Busch down into Turn 1.  Kahne couldn't clear Busch for the lead, but he was able to get around Busch going into Turn 3.  Busch fought back on the inside, and Busch got Kahne loose in Turns 1 and 2.  Kahne got loose and up into the outside wall.  Kahne's car shut off, bringing out the caution on lap 335.

The race restarted on lap 337, and Busch was able to beat Kenseth down into Turn 1.  With 20 laps to go, Kenseth started to catch Busch for the lead.  Busch couldn't get through Turns 3 and 4, and on lap 354 Kenseth completed the pass.  Kenseth ran away from the field, while Busch fell to sixth, to win his first career race at Darlington.

Here are the unofficial results:

1. Matt Kenseth

2. Denny Hamlin

3. Jeff Gordon

4. Jimmie Johnson

5. Kevin Harvick

6. Kyle Busch

7. Carl Edwards

8. Juan Pablo Montoya

9. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

10. Ryan Newman

11. Clint Bowyer

12. Martin Truex Jr.

13. Greg Biffle

14. Kurt Busch

15. Tony Stewart

16. Jamie McMurray

17. Kasey Kahne

18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

19. Paul Menard

20. Aric Almirola

21. Jeff Burton

22. Joey Logano

23. Travis Kvapil

24. Regan Smith

25. Mark Martin

26. Bobby Labonte

27. Dave Blaney

28. Danica Patrick

29. David Gilliland

30. Landon Cassill

31. Joe Nemechek

32. Brad Keselowski

33. Timmy Hill

34. Marcos Ambrose

35. J.J. Yeley

36. David Reutimann

37. Casey Mears

38. Josh Wise

39. David Ragan

40. David Stremme

41. Scott Speed

42. Michael McDowell

43. Mike Bliss

Kyle Busch had the best car all night, leading 265 of 367 laps.  He faded late in the race, and his team said that he had a cut right-rear tire that caused Busch to lose the handling on his car.  The cut tire allowed Kenseth to win at Darlington without his crew chief, who was serving a suspension by NASCAR. 

Next week, the Sprint Cup Series heads to Charlotte for another Saturday night race.  The second non-points event of the season, the Sprint All-Star Race, can be seen next Saturday at 7:30 p.m., only on SPEED.