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It was still good enough to keep the Chase margin unchanged with Keselowski, who finished a spot ahead in eighth. He came into the race with a seven-point lead and left with a seven-point lead as the series heads next weekend to Martinsville Speedway in Virginia.
"I'm glad to have survived the carnage and brought back a decent car," Keselowski said. "Whew! Just a tough day."
Martin Truex Jr. finished second, Paul Menard was third in the first race back for crew chief Slugger Labbe, who served a six-race suspension for an infraction at Michigan.
Kasey Kahne finished fourth and was followed by defending champion Stewart, who overcame both a spin during the race and a pit road penalty for leaving his stall with equipment still attached to his car.
"An eventful day," Stewart said. "Our guys led by (crew chief) Steve Addington, they never gave up. That's how we won a championship last year, by never giving up. We've got a little bit of work to do, but we're gaining on it."
Clint Bowyer, from nearby Emporia and the winner last week at Charlotte, finished sixth to maintain fourth in the Chase standings. He trimmed his deficit by three points to 25 behind Keselowski.
"We've just got to keep digging," Bowyer said. "You've got to keep gaining on them. I was hoping to gain a little bit more than that, but we had a solid day."
Regan Smith, in his second race filling in for Dale Earnhardt Jr., was seventh. Earnhardt will test on Monday and see his doctor on Tuesday with every indication he'll be cleared to return to the No. 88 Chevrolet next week at Martinsville after sitting out two races because of two concussions in a six-week span.
Keselowski, Johnson and Jeff Gordon rounded out the top 10. Denny Hamlin was 13th to remain third in the standings, but he lost five points and now is down 20 to Keselowski.
"This is a race where when you've got the other guys you're racing finishing eighth and ninth, you've got to beat them, especially wrecked race cars," Hamlin said. "We just shot ourselves in the foot a lot today."
For Kenseth, it was his second win in three weeks, but not enough to put him back in the title picture. Although he gained two spots in the standings, he's still ninth in the Chase and 55 points out.
Still, as he heads into his final month with Roush Fenway Racing, he's appreciative of these final moments. Kenseth is leaving the team at the end of the season to drive for Joe Gibbs Racing.
"I'm really, really thankful and humble to be sitting up here, honestly," he said after the race. "It's just a pleasure to drive that stuff. We still have some races left we want to win."
[Associated
Press;
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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