CP MOTORSPORTS - KENSETH CRUISES TO VICTORY LANE AT MICHIGAN
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From the drop of the green flag to the wave of the checkered flag, the plot of Sunday's Pure Michigan 400 from Michigan International Speedway was simple.
Matt Kenseth was dominant.
Kenseth, who started from the pole, led 146 of the race's 200 laps to take home his third victory of the season and the eighth for team owner Joe Gibbs.
Kenseth believes it was obvious his car was best not only on Sunday but throughout the weekend.
"We had, obviously, a dominant car since we got here," Kenseth said. "It showed up in qualifying and Jason had it tuned up today where the handling was great as we had enough speed to stay up there. You never like to see late-race restarts, especially at Daytona and Talladega, and this was almost a cross between that from the restart zone until the middle of 1 and 2, a lot of the guys would draft pretty good, and I had a hard time getting that to happen. The Chevys could lock up pretty good, so I was pretty worried about that last one and Denny gave me a nice push there.
"Our TRD engine ran really good and was able to stay alongside Kevin at least and clear him off of Turn 2, so that was obviously a big key for us."
Kenseth's win was also the first win for Toyota at Michigan, a track which is known for being the hometrack for NASCAR's auto manufacturers.
Toyota Racing Development president and general manager David Wilson believes this is one of the most special victories in Toyota racing's history.
"This is truly a special day," Wilson said. "I remember when Roger (Penske) and his team rolled out this concept of a manufacturer's trophy here in Michigan and thought it was brilliant because obviously this is the home to all the manufacturers, including Toyota. We have a major technical center in Ann Arbor, so to finally bring it home is really special. We've been coveting this. It's funny because the first idea we had was, you know what we need to do is after we win it, we need to bring it back to Detroit, biggest auto show in the world, and proudly display it in our space. I've already been in touch with our management team, and they are reserving space for it as we speak."
Kevin Harvick, driving the No. 4 Jimmy John's Chevrolet, led 15 laps and cruised to his ninth runner up finish of the Sprint Cup season. It's also the third consecutive year in which Harvick has finished in second place in this annual race.
Harvick is pleased with his finish because of his early race struggles.
"We had an up and down day, that's for sure," Harvick said. "The first half of the race or so we really struggled with the handling of the car. The guys did a great job of getting that fixed and then we ran out of gas. But we came back and didn't lose a lap, we were able to have a good enough handling car to drive back up through there and have everything go good. I'm just really proud of my team and everything they did.
"We didn't have anything for the No. 20 but for everything we overcame, it was still a good day."
Martin Truex, Jr, notched his seventh top ten finish of his career at Michigan and his seventh top five finish of the 2015 season by taking home third place.
Austin Dillon, who led 19 laps and challenged Kenseth on many occassions, pulled out a fourth place finish; his best finish in Sprint Cup competition.
Dillon, who has championships in both the Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series', was forced to start at the rear of the field but credits his team for getting him up to the front.
"We had some circumstances where we had to start at the back and had to figure out a way to get our track position back, and just got to thank my guys," Dillon said. "(Crew Chief) Slugger (Labbe) and the engineers did a good job coming up with a plan. That first 20 laps was no fun for us because we had to ride around and try and stay in front of the leader, but we saved gas and decided to not come down on that first competition caution for fuel, and it worked out. It showed that our car was fast enough to stay up there, pitted, drove back up to where we needed to be, and man, it was a fun day for us, the Dow car was fast, and I felt like I passed a lot of cars, also, getting into fourth.
"We'll take this and build some more momentum. The last seven weeks have been great for us, and really enjoyed working with Slugger."
Kenseth's Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards finished in fifth and sixth place, respectively.
Joey Logano took home the seventh place finish followed by Ryan Newman, Brad Keselowski and Dale Earnhardt, Jr rounding out the top ten.
Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch led 10 laps but only managed an 11th place finish.
Kurt Busch, who won the first Michigan race of the season, fought handling issues for most of the race and finished in 20th.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race Number 23
Unofficial Race Results for the 46Th Annual Pure Michigan 400 - Sunday, August 16, 2015
Michigan International Speedway - Brooklyn, MI - 2 Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 200 Laps - 400 Miles - Purse: $5,260,905
Leader
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Pts Bns Driver Rating Winnings Status Tms Laps
1 1 20 Matt Kenseth Dollar General Toyota 200 48 5 148.8 $226,586 Running 7 146
2 7 4 Kevin Harvick Jimmy John's/Budweiser Chevrolet 200 43 1 120.5 $185,285 Running 1 15
3 22 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row/Visser Precision Chevrolet 200 41 117.8 $137,130 Running
4 4 3 Austin Dillon Dow Chevrolet 200 41 1 112.3 $150,746 Running 2 19
5 2 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Freight Toyota 200 39 105.5 $114,000 Running
6 3 19 Carl Edwards ARRIS Toyota 200 39 1 106.3 $97,890 Running 2 5
7 10 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 200 37 106.8 $137,348 Running
8 17 31 Ryan Newman Caterpillar Chevrolet 200 36 88.3 $130,540 Running
9 14 2 Brad Keselowski Miller Lite Ford 200 35 98.8 $141,756 Running
10 9 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Microsoft Chevrolet 200 34 93.3 $107,415 Running
11 6 18 Kyle Busch Interstate Batteries Toyota 200 34 1 90.3 $132,906 Running 2 10
12 24 27 Paul Menard Richmond/Menards Chevrolet 200 32 90.0 $98,790 Running
13 34 42 Kyle Larson Target Chevrolet 200 31 83.4 $118,098 Running
14 30 43 Aric Almirola Armour Ford 200 31 1 72.5 $126,501 Running 1 3
15 11 5 Kasey Kahne Farmers Insurance Chevrolet 200 29 73.8 $103,615 Running
16 18 1 Jamie McMurray Cessna/McDonald's Chevrolet 200 28 75.7 $118,431 Running
17 21 24 Jeff Gordon Pepsi Chevrolet 200 28 1 78.9 $132,826 Running 1 1
18 13 55 David Ragan Aaron's Dream Machine Online Version Toyota 200 26 69.3 $114,879 Running
19 15 9 Sam Hornish Jr. Transportation Impact Ford 200 25 67.3 $113,610 Running
20 16 41 Kurt Busch Haas Automation Chevrolet 199 24 88.2 $102,340 Running
21 5 14 Tony Stewart Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet 199 23 69.5 $113,754 Running
22 25 6 Trevor Bayne AdvoCare Ford 198 22 59.7 $127,390 Running
23 20 16 Greg Biffle Ortho Ford 198 21 59.5 $117,023 Running
24 19 21 Ryan Blaney(i) Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford 198 0 69.8 $82,390 Running
25 23 10 Danica Patrick GoDaddy Chevrolet 198 19 60.8 $93,415 Running
26 27 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Zest Ford 198 18 53.3 $93,015 Running
27 35 35 Cole Whitt Dockside Logistics LLC Ford 198 17 50.8 $102,823 Running
28 26 47 AJ Allmendinger Kroger/Scott Products Chevrolet 198 16 49.0 $115,573 Running
29 28 51 Justin Allgaier Brandt Chevrolet 197 15 50.7 $106,398 Running
30 32 83 Matt DiBenedetto # Cosmo Motors Toyota 197 14 47.0 $98,798 Running
31 33 7 Alex Bowman Advanced Patient Care Chevrolet 197 13 39.6 $93,062 Running
32 36 38 David Gilliland MDS Transportation Ford 197 12 38.8 $88,915 Running
33 29 26 Jeb Burton # Maxim/Estes Toyota 197 11 40.7 $80,840 Running
34 38 34 Brett Moffitt # CSX Play It Safe Ford 197 10 38.7 $80,740 Running
35 39 46 Michael Annett Pilot Flying J Chevrolet 197 9 35.0 $80,565 Running
36 31 40 Landon Cassill(i) Snap Fitness Chevrolet 196 0 39.5 $80,515 Running
37 41 32 Josh Wise Skuttle Tight Ford 196 7 31.3 $80,454 Running
38 37 23 JJ Yeley(i) Dr Pepper Toyota 194 0 28.8 $75,877 Running
39 8 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe's Chevrolet 190 5 71.2 $119,741 Running
40 42 33 Travis Kvapil(i) Chevrolet 190 0 27.3 $67,805 Running
41 12 15 Clint Bowyer 5-Hour Energy Toyota 164 4 1 84.8 $97,963 Running 1 1
42 40 13 Casey Mears GEICO Chevrolet 51 2 38.8 $67,805 Overheating
43 43 98 Timmy Hill(i) Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 9 0 23.2 $56,305 Parked
Race Comments: Matt Kenseth won the Pure Michigan 400, his 34th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory. Prior to the start of the race, the following cars dropped to the rear of the field for the reasons indicated: Nos. 3, 33 (engine change); No. 18 (backup car).
Failed to Qualify: (1) 62 Reed Sorenson.
Time of Race: 02 Hrs, 47 Mins, 18 Secs. Average Speed: 143.455 MPH Margin of Victory: 1.722 Seconds
Caution Flags: 8 for 31 laps: Laps: 2-5 (#55 spin turn 2 [None]); 11-13 (Debris on backstretch [None]); 22-24 (Competition [None]); 73-76 (Debris turn 2 [9]); 122-125 (Debris turn 1 [88]); 127-130 (#15, 31 accident backstretch [43]); 137-141 (#14 spin turn 4 [5]); 184-187 (#48 spin turn 4 [55]).
Lead Changes: 16 among 8 drivers: M. Kenseth 1-22; A. Dillon 23-40; M. Kenseth 41-59; J. Gordon 60; Kyle Busch 61-62; M. Kenseth 63-75; C. Bowyer 76; M. Kenseth 77-98; K. Harvick 99-113; C. Edwards 114-116; M. Kenseth 117-122; C. Edwards 123-124; A. Dillon 125; M. Kenseth 126-164; Kyle Busch 165-172; A. Almirola 173-175; M. Kenseth 176-200.
Chase Grid Outlook: 1.J. Johnson 752 (4 wins);2. Kyle Busch 395 (4); 3.M. Kenseth 751 (3);4.K. Harvick 866 (2);5.J. Logano 818 (2);6.D. Earnhardt Jr. 784 (2);7. Ku. Busch 683 (2); 8.M. Truex Jr. 755 (1);9.B. Keselowski 754 (1);10.D. Hamlin 670 (1);11.C. Edwards 628 (1);12.J. Mcmurray 663 (0);13.P. Menard 654 (0);14.R. Newman 649 (0);15.J. Gordon 648 (0);16.C. Bowyer 616 (0)
3M Lap Leader : Matt Kenseth, #20 146 Laps American Ethanol Green Flag Restart Award : Brad Keselowski, #2
Coors Light Pole Award : Matt Kenseth, #20 197.488 mph Duralast Brakes "Brake in the Race" : Matt Kenseth, #20
Ingersoll Rand Power Move : Ryan Newman, #31 5 positions Mahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race : Toyota Racing Development (TRD), #20
Mobil 1 Driver of the Race : Matt Kenseth, #20 Moog Chassis Parts Problem Solver of the Race : Kevin Harvick, #4 R Childers, .300 sec
Sherwin-Williams Fastest Lap : Austin Dillon, #3 Sunoco Rookie of the Race : Matt DiBenedetto, #83
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race: Aug. 22, 2015 - Bristol Motor Speedway
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