Sunday, July 17, 2016

Kenseth Wins at New Hampshire

Originally written for CLNS Radio.

Matt Kenseth won the New Hampshire 301 from New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

Photo courtesy Robert Laberge/Getty Images
Kenseth led 38 laps on Sunday, and had to beat Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. over the final 50 laps.  Busch and Truex led for a combined 256 laps, but Kenseth ultimately had the best car at the end.

Kenseth said the car got better as the race went on, which helped him come back from an 18th-place starting position.

“I didn’t do a very good job qualifying…luckily we had a good car to make up for it,” Kenseth said. 
“It was pretty much money all day, we just had to get there.  It was fun all day.”

Tony Stewart finished second on Sunday, and said his crew chief made all the difference.

“[Mike Bugarewicz] is doing such a great job for a rookie crew chief that’s only got half a season,” Stewart said.  “We had a much better Haas-Automation Chevrolet today than what we had yesterday.”

The biggest news of the week came on Thursday, when Hendrick Motorsports announced that Alex Bowman would replace Dale Earnhardt Jr. at New Hampshire after Earnhardt began to suffer from concussion-like symptoms.  Bowman finished 26th on Sunday following a late accident.  

If Earnhardt is unable to race next weekend at Indianapolis, Jeff Gordon will drive the No. 88 car for Hendrick Motorsports.

Unofficial results:
1. Matt Kenseth
2. Tony Stewart
3. Joey Logano
4. Kevin Harvick
5. Greg Biffle
6. Jamie McMurray
7. Ryan Newman
8. Kyle Busch
9. Denny Hamlin
10. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
11. Ryan Blaney
12. Jimmie Johnson
13. Austin Dillon
14. Danica Patrick
15. Brad Keselowski
16. Martin Truex Jr.
17. Kyle Larson
18. Paul Menard
19. Aric Almirola
20. Carl Edwards
21. AJ Allmendinger
22. Kurt Busch
23. Trevor Bayne
24. Clint Bowyer
25. Kasey Kahne
26. Alex Bowman
27. Casey Mears
28. Landon Cassill
29. Chris Buescher
30. David Ragan
31. Matt DiBenedetto
32. Regan Smith
33. Michael Annett
34. Chase Elliott
35. Reed Sorenson
36. Eddie Macdonald
37. Ryan Ellis
38. Brian Scott
39. Michael McDowell
40. Josh Wise

Photo courtesy Chris Trotman/Getty Images

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