Matt Kenseth Dominates in Michigan

Originally written for CLNS Radio.

Matt Kenseth won the Pure Michigan 400 from Michigan International Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

Kenseth dominated the race, leading a race-high 146 laps after starting on the pole.  He had to fend off Kevin Harvick on a late restart with 13 laps to go, but he was able to keep the lead and pick up the victory.  Kenseth said his teammate Denny Hamlin helped Kenseth overtake Harvick on the final restart.

“Denny did a spectacular job pushing me first from the restart zone to about turn two,” Kenseth said.  “It was like a superspeedway race and it was whoever got locked up.”

Photo courtesy Nick Laham/Getty Images

With 50 laps to go, Kenseth held off a hard-charging Austin Dillon for the lead.  Kenseth said that battle was the hardest of the day.

“We went back and forth a few times and made some contact up there and it was hard to get away from him.  My car took about five laps to get going and once it got going it was pretty stout.”

Joe Gibbs Racing has now won five of the last six races, but Kenseth said it was still too early to pick Chase favorites with three races until the cutoff.

“You have 16 teams [in the Chase] that are capable of winning races on a weekly basis, as well as championships.  The guys gave us…rockets the last couple months and we’re going to work hard to keep it rolling.”

Unofficial results:

1. Matt Kenseth

2. Kevin Harvick

3. Martin Truex Jr.

4. Austin Dillon

5. Denny Hamlin

6. Carl Edwards

7. Joey Logano

8. Ryan Newman

9. Brad Keselowski

10. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

11. Kyle Busch

12. Paul Menard

13. Kyle Larson

14. Aric Almirola

15. Kasey Kahne

16. Jamie McMurray

17. Jeff Gordon

18. David Ragan

19. Sam Hornish Jr.

20. Kurt Busch

21. Tony Stewart

22. Trevor Bayne

23. Greg Biffle

24. Ryan Blaney

25. Danica Patrick

26. Ricky Stenhouse Jr

27. Cole Whitt

28. AJ Allmendinger

29. Justin Allgaier

30. Matt DiBenedetto

31. Alex Bowman

32. David Gilliland

33. Jeb Burton

34. Brett Moffitt

35. Michael Annett

36. Landon Cassill

37. Josh Wise

38. JJ Yeley

39. Jimmie Johnson

40. Travis Kvapil

41. Clint Bowyer

42. Casey Mears

43. Timmy Hill

Photo courtesy Sean Gardner/Getty Images