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Kevin Harvick entered Sunday's Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway fresh off the heels of a 42nd place finish and in desperate need of a victory.

But he came just short of reaching victory lane despite leading 216 of the race's 300 laps. In the end it was fuel strategy which robbed Harvick of the victory and allowed Matt Kenseth to capture his fifth checkered flag of the season. 

More importantly for Kenseth, who only led 27 laps in the race, he's guaranteed a spot in the next round of the Chase while Harvick was forced to settle for a 21st place finish.

ìI was just running as hard as I could, but you never know with those things,íí Kenseth said. ìI figured he was probably good, so I just raced as hard as I could. It looked like I thought I was going to run second, but I had some good fortune in the end."

Kenseth's win continues the domination for which Joe Gibbs Racing has carried throughout the season and if you count Denny Hamlin's win in the Sprint All Star Race gives the organization 14 wins on the campaign.

Denny Hamlin led 21 laps but settled for the runner up position. Hamlin, who won last week at Chicagoland, knows the momentous run for which JGR has been.

"We just have really been on a roll here lately, just getting good finishes and just everything is kind of clicking really well," Hamlin said. "You know, I wish we could get more race wins. That's the greedy part about it. But either way, very proud of -- this is all because of the work that Toyota and JGR puts into our race cars every week."

"Very proud to be driving for them."

Joey Logano grabbed a third place finish. The 2015 Daytona 500 champion Logano now has seven top ten finishes in 15 career races at New Hampshire, the track he considers to be home.

Greg Biffle finished in fourth place with Joe Gibbs Racing's Carl Edwards taking the fifth spot.

Jimmie Johnson came home in sixth place with Jeff Gordon, Martin Truex, Jr, Kasey Kahne, and Ryan Newman rounding out the top ten.

Tony Stewart finished in 11th followed by Brad Keselowski in 12th place; Keselowski was penalized and served a pass through penalty for jumping a restart on a lap 242.

ìItís a pretty basic understanding," Keselowski explained. "Itís an entertainment sport, not a fair sport.î

Dale Earnhardt, Jr, ran in the front for majority of the race but appeared to run out of gas as well and finished in 25th. 

Another Chase contender who suffered a dismal fate at New Hampshire was Kyle Busch, who appeared to blow a right front tire and make hard contact with the wall on lap 160. Busch finished in 37th place, 38 laps down.

Earnhardt, Jr, currently sits in the 12th and final spot on the Chase grid just one point ahead of Kyle Busch and Paul Menard, who are tied in the 13th position. 

Harvick now heads to the first elimination race of the Chase at Dover 23 points behind Earnhardt, Jr. Clint Bowyer, who was penalized after rules violations were found at Chicagoland, is in the 16th spot, 39 points behind.

Race Results
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
19th Annual Sylvania 300
UNOFFICIAL    Provided by NASCAR Statistics     Sunday, 9/27/2015 @ 5:41 PM Eastern    UNOFFICIAL
Fin    Str    Car    Driver    Team    Lap    Pts    BPts    Status    TLd    LLd
1    13    20    Matt Kenseth    Dollar General Toyota    300    47    4    Running    3    27
2    7    11    Denny Hamlin    FedEx Freight Toyota    300    43    1    Running    1    21
3    8    22    Joey Logano    Shell Pennzoil Ford    300    41    Running
4    25    16    Greg Biffle    Kleen Performance Products Ford    300    41    1    Running    1    12
5    1    19    Carl Edwards    Sport Clips Toyota    300    40    1    Running    1    19
6    5    48    Jimmie Johnson    Lowe's Pro Services Chevrolet    300    38    Running
7    10    24    Jeff Gordon    Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet    300    37    Running
8    21    78    Martin Truex Jr.    Furniture Row/Visser Precision Chevrolet    300    36    Running
9    12    5    Kasey Kahne    Farmers Insurance Chevrolet    300    35    Running
10    9    31    Ryan Newman    Caterpillar Chevrolet    300    34    Running
11    27    14    Tony Stewart    Code 3 Associates/Mobil 1 Chevrolet    300    33    Running
12    4    2    Brad Keselowski    Miller Lite Ford    300    33    1    Running    4    4
13    14    17    Ricky Stenhouse Jr.    Ford EcoBoost Ford    300    31    Running
14    23    1    Jamie McMurray    FLIR Chevrolet    300    30    Running
15    20    27    Paul Menard    Sylvania/Menards Chevrolet    300    29    Running
16    33    6    Trevor Bayne    AdvoCare Ford    300    28    Running
17    6    42    Kyle Larson    Target Plaid Chevrolet    300    27    Running
18    19    13    Casey Mears    GEICO Chevrolet    300    26    Running
19    3    41    Kurt Busch    Haas Automation Chevrolet    299    25    Running
20    29    9    Sam Hornish Jr.    Shaws/Smithfield Ford    299    24    Running
21    2    4    Kevin Harvick    Ditech Chevrolet    299    25    2    Running    6    216
22    16    3    Austin Dillon    Cheerios Chevrolet    299    22    Running
23    30    47    AJ Allmendinger    Bush's Chili Beans Chevrolet    299    21    Running
24    28    35    Cole Whitt    Taco Bell Ford    299    21    1    Running    1    1
25    11    88    Dale Earnhardt Jr.    Nationwide Chevrolet    299    19    Running
26    26    15    Clint Bowyer    5-Hour Energy Toyota    299    18    Running
27    31    34    Brett Moffitt #    Dockside Logistics LLC Ford    298    17    Running
28    34    38    David Gilliland    MDS Transportation Ford    297    16    Running
29    38    46    Michael Annett    Switch Hitch Chevrolet    297    15    Running
30    35    83    Matt DiBenedetto #    Cosmo Motors Toyota    297    14    Running
31    40    26    Josh Wise    Maxim Toyota    297    13    Running
32    37    98    Ryan Preece    Mohawk Northeast Inc Chevrolet    296    12    Running
33    41    23    Jeb Burton #    Bullhorn Toyota    295    11    Running
34    39    33    BJ McLeod(i)    Chevrolet    293    10    Running
35    42    32    Jeffrey Earnhardt(i)    ArundelFord/WeirsGMC/BangorTruckEquip Ford    292    0    Running
36    43    62    Timmy Hill(i)    Ford    284    0    Running
37    17    18    Kyle Busch    Pedigree Toyota    262    7    Running
38    32    40    Landon Cassill(i)    Interstate Moving Services Chevrolet    242    0    Running
39    24    51    Justin Allgaier    AccuDoc Solutions Chevrolet    236    5    Accident
40    22    10    Danica Patrick    GoDaddy Chevrolet    203    4    Accident
41    18    55    David Ragan    Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota    203    3    Accident
42    36    7    Alex Bowman    Nikko RC/Toy State Car Chevrolet    117    2    Accident
43    15    43    Aric Almirola    Smithfield Ford    35    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: 106.480 MPH    Time of Race: 02 Hrs, 58 Mins, 51 Secs.    Margin of Victory: 8.941 Seconds
Lead Changes: 16 among 7 drivers    Cautions: 9 for 41 laps