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