Kenseth Does The Bristol Stomp Sweeping Thunder Valley
Chase Is On for Kenseth After a Victory at Bristol
By VIV BERNSTEIN
BRISTOL, Tenn., Aug. 26 — With two victories in a row and four wins over all through the first 24 races of the Nextel Cup regular season, Matt Kenseth is proving week to week that he is the class of the premier Nascar series.
“Right now we’re in championship form,’’ Kenseth said as he celebrated in victory lane Saturday night after capturing the Sharpie 500 before a sellout crowd of 160,000 at Bristol Motor Speedway. It came a week after a victory at Michigan and a day after Kenseth won a Busch Series race here Friday night.
But while Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson, the Cup points leader, clinched their spots in the 10-race playoff Chase with two races remaining before the field is set, the pack behind them continued to shuffle. Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton moved closer to securing spots in the postseason, while others faltered.
Busch solidified his chances with a second-place showing, moving from seventh to fourth in the standings, but Saturday night’s biggest winner might have been Earnhardt. He came into the race in the perilous 10th spot in the points standings. (Only 10 racecars will make the Chase this year.) Earnhardt had a mere 49-point lead over the 11th-place Kasey Kahne, and had struggled so badly in qualifying here that he wound up starting 40th in the 43-car field.
Earnhardt used some savvy pit strategy to move to the front of the pack early in the race, opting to stay out on the track during a caution period while the leaders went to pit road. He maintained that track position the rest of the way to finish third, and wound up moving into ninth in the standings, and is now 92 points ahead of Kahne.
“I feel a whole lot better now as far as trying to get in,’’ Earnhardt said. “I think we got a really good shot at it now. Before, it was pretty much 50-50.’’
more Bristol results
By VIV BERNSTEIN
BRISTOL, Tenn., Aug. 26 — With two victories in a row and four wins over all through the first 24 races of the Nextel Cup regular season, Matt Kenseth is proving week to week that he is the class of the premier Nascar series.
“Right now we’re in championship form,’’ Kenseth said as he celebrated in victory lane Saturday night after capturing the Sharpie 500 before a sellout crowd of 160,000 at Bristol Motor Speedway. It came a week after a victory at Michigan and a day after Kenseth won a Busch Series race here Friday night.
But while Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson, the Cup points leader, clinched their spots in the 10-race playoff Chase with two races remaining before the field is set, the pack behind them continued to shuffle. Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton moved closer to securing spots in the postseason, while others faltered.
Busch solidified his chances with a second-place showing, moving from seventh to fourth in the standings, but Saturday night’s biggest winner might have been Earnhardt. He came into the race in the perilous 10th spot in the points standings. (Only 10 racecars will make the Chase this year.) Earnhardt had a mere 49-point lead over the 11th-place Kasey Kahne, and had struggled so badly in qualifying here that he wound up starting 40th in the 43-car field.
Earnhardt used some savvy pit strategy to move to the front of the pack early in the race, opting to stay out on the track during a caution period while the leaders went to pit road. He maintained that track position the rest of the way to finish third, and wound up moving into ninth in the standings, and is now 92 points ahead of Kahne.
“I feel a whole lot better now as far as trying to get in,’’ Earnhardt said. “I think we got a really good shot at it now. Before, it was pretty much 50-50.’’
more Bristol results
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