CP MOTORSPORTS - KENSETH ABSOLUTELY DOMINATES FIELD IN RICHMOND WIN
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LEAVE NO DOUBT
The gang of Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas have put together some dominant performances this summer but none more so than Matt Kenseth's overpowering victory in Saturday night's Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway.
Kenseth, who started in the second spot, led 352 of the race's 400 laps to cruise to his fourth victory of the season and 35th of his career. The win also locks Kenseth into the third seed on the Chase grid.
Kenseth's JGR teammate Kyle Busch brought home a runner up finish. It's his 15th top ten finish of the 2015 regular season in which he missed the first 11 races but still managed to win four times and clinch the second seed on the Chase grid.
Fast qualifier Joey Logano led 25 laps but finished in third place. Logano, who won the 2015 Daytona 500 champion goes into the Chase with 16 top five finishes this season, is locked into the fourth seed on the Chase grid.
Aric Almirola entered Saturday night's race needing extensive circumstances in order to clinch a spot in the Chase on points. Almirola restarted in third place on the race's final restart with 18 laps to go but could not improve and settled for a fourth place finish. While the finish is the best for Almirola and the iconic No. 43 car on the season, it wasn't enough for the team to clinch a spot upon the Chase grid.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr, struggled to find speed in qualifying and started the race in the 29th position made the best out of the race's long green flag runs and worked his way up to the front of the field. Earnhardt, Jr, walked away from Richmond with a fifth place finish and will enter the Chase with the sixth seed.
Denny Hamlin finished sixth place and is the 11th seed in the Chase. Jeff Gordon, who entered the race unsure of his Chase status, was able to take home a seventh place finish which locked down his 14th place seed on the Chase grid.
Brad Keselowski won the 2012 Sprint Cup championship and nabbed an eigth place finish. He locked himself into the ninth seed on the Chase grid. Jimmie Johnson finished in ninth place and will be the overall top seed on the Chase grid.
Clint Bowyer rounded out the top ten and also rounded out the Chase grid. Bowyer will start the Chase as the 16th and final seed on the grid.
Kevin Harvick is the Chase's fifth seed, Kurt Busch is the seventh seed, Carl Edwards is the eighth seed, Martin Truex, Jr, is the tenth seed.
Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman and Paul Menard also clinched their spots along the Chase grid.
Race Results
Richmond International Raceway
58th Annual Federated Auto Parts 400
UNOFFICIAL Provided by NASCAR Statistics Saturday, 9/12/2015 @ 11:17 PM Eastern UNOFFICIAL
Fin Str Car Driver Team Lap Pts BPts Status TLd LLd
1 2 20 Matt Kenseth Dollar General Toyota 400 48 5 Running 6 352
2 4 18 Kyle Busch M&M's Crispy/American Heritage Chocolate Toyota 400 43 1 Running 1 9
3 1 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 400 42 1 Running 5 25
4 24 43 Aric Almirola Smithfield Foods/Waffle House Ford 400 40 Running
5 29 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Nationwide Chevrolet 400 39 Running
6 25 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Express Toyota 400 39 1 Running 2 14
7 23 24 Jeff Gordon 3M Chevrolet 400 37 Running
8 3 2 Brad Keselowski Miller Lite Ford 400 36 Running
9 9 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe's Chevrolet 400 35 Running
10 26 15 Clint Bowyer 5-hour Energy Toyota 400 34 Running
11 7 19 Carl Edwards ARRIS Toyota 400 33 Running
12 11 42 Kyle Larson Target Chevrolet 400 32 Running
13 31 1 Jamie McMurray Cessna Chevrolet 399 31 Running
14 6 4 Kevin Harvick Budweiser/Jimmy John's Chevrolet 399 30 Running
15 8 41 Kurt Busch Haas Automation Chevrolet 399 29 Running
16 19 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Cargill Ford 399 28 Running
17 5 55 David Ragan Aaron's Online Dream Machine Toyota 398 27 Running
18 20 5 Kasey Kahne HendrickRideAlong.com Chevrolet 398 26 Running
19 14 10 Danica Patrick GoDaddy Chevrolet 397 25 Running
20 13 31 Ryan Newman Caterpillar Chevrolet 397 24 Running
21 15 13 Casey Mears GEICO Chevrolet 397 23 Running
22 17 33 Brian Scott(i) Shore Lodge Chevrolet 397 0 Running
23 28 6 Trevor Bayne AdvoCare Ford 397 21 Running
24 21 47 AJ Allmendinger Kroger/Bush's Beans Chevrolet 397 20 Running
25 18 51 Justin Allgaier Brandt Chevrolet 397 19 Running
26 22 27 Paul Menard Libman/Menards Chevrolet 397 18 Running
27 12 3 Austin Dillon DOW Chevrolet 397 17 Running
28 32 9 Sam Hornish Jr. Go Bowling/Draft Kings Ford 397 16 Running
29 10 14 Tony Stewart Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet 396 15 Running
30 35 40 Landon Cassill(i) Precon Marine/Interstate Moving Services Chevrolet 396 0 Running
31 38 16 Greg Biffle Cheez-It Ford 396 13 Running
32 16 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row/Visser Precision Chevrolet 394 12 Running
33 30 38 David Gilliland The Pete Store Ford 393 11 Running
34 43 26 JJ Yeley(i) Maxim Toyota 392 0 Running
35 37 34 Brett Moffitt # Dockside Ford 391 9 Running
36 33 83 Matt DiBenedetto # James Madison University Toyota 390 8 Running
37 36 7 Alex Bowman Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 390 7 Running
38 34 35 Cole Whitt MDS Ford 389 6 Running
39 41 23 Jeb Burton # Estes Toyota 387 5 Running
40 42 32 Jeffrey Earnhardt(i) BeerFrost.com/CorvetteParts.net Ford 387 0 Running
41 40 98 Reed Sorenson Premium Motorsports Ford 335 3 Running
42 39 95 Michael McDowell Thrivent Financial Ford 287 2 Accident
43 27 46 Michael Annett Switch Hitch Chevrolet 145 1 Accident
# = Rookie, Fin = Finish, Str = Start, Pts = Total Points, BPs = Lap Leader Bns Pts, TLd = Times Led, LLd = Laps Led. (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Average Speed: 100.353 MPH Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 59 Mins, 22 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.951 Seconds
Lead Changes: 13 among 4 drivers Cautions: 6 for 47 laps
