Kenseth Wins Wild AAA 400

Originally written for CLNS Radio.

Matt Kenseth won the AAA 400 from Dover International Speedway on Sunday afternoon to pick up his first victory of 2016.

Photo courtesy Sean Gardner/Getty Images

Kenseth had to hold off Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott over the final run of the race, with Larson getting within striking distance of Kenseth on numerous occasions.  Kenseth said he had to hold off Larson with a very loose race car.

“We were tight all night on restarts, then five laps into that last run we got so loose that I thought Kyle was going to get right by me,” Kenseth said.  “Just buried the trackbar and kept digging the best I could and tried to hold him off.”

A restart with less than 50 laps to go changed the outlook of the race, when Jimmie Johnson caused an 18-car pileup at the front of the field that took out some of the best cars.  Kenseth said he was able to capitalize on the other front-runner’s misfortune.

“Obviously we got fortunate when some of the good cars got in accidents.  But Kyle gave me everything I wanted, and then some.”

Larson raced Kenseth clean over the final run, but said he could have moved Kenseth to get to victory lane.

“I was trying all I could do to get by him without getting into him,” Larson said.  “I probably could have bumped him there a little once in the middle of one and two.  I was just trying to be patient, I knew I was better than he was.”

“I got another shot at him there at the end.  Came up a little too short, maybe just a little too patient there.”

Unofficial results:

1. Matt Kenseth

2. Kyle Larson

3. Chase Elliott

4. Kasey Kahne

5. Kurt Busch

6. Brad Keselowski

7. Denny Hamlin

8. Ryan Blaney

9. Martin Truex Jr.

10. Trevor Bayne

11. Paul Menard

12. Clint Bowyer

13. Danica Patrick

14. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

15. Kevin Harvick

16. Ryan Newman

17. David Ragan

18. Chris Buescher

19. Landon Cassill

20. Michael McDowell

21. Jamie McMurray

22. Joey Logano

23. AJ Allmendinger

24. Brian Scott

25. Jimmie Johnson

26. Casey Mears

27. Cole Whitt

28. Carl Edwards

29. Greg Biffle

30. Kyle Busch

31. Aric Almirola

32. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

33. Austin Dillon

34. Tony Stewart

35. Jeffrey Earnhardt

36. Josh Wise

37. Michael Annett

38. Reed Sorenson

39. Regan Smith

40. Matt DiBenedetto

 

Photo courtesy Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images