|
 Jimmie Johnson finished second, and Jeff Gordon was third.
Kenseth last took the checkered flag in September 2013 in New
Hampshire, when he earned his second consecutive victory and third
in five races.
"I was getting tired of that stat," Kenseth said of his victory
drought.
Kenseth inherited the lead when previous leader Kurt Busch headed
down pit road during a caution with 28 laps remaining in the 500-lap
scheduled distance. He then battled his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate,
Carl Edwards, up front until Edwards hit the wall with six laps to
go.
"We had really good short-run speed today," Kenseth said. "With the
way the race turned out, we lucked out having a good short-run car."
Johnson followed up a win at Texas Motor Speedway the previous week
with a runner-up result.
"I'm just really glad we got a second," Johnson said. "I maybe had a
shot at the win, but am just thrilled to get such a great finish
here. This is one of the more tough tracks for me, as a driver, so
I'm very stoked to be here."
Kenseth and Edwards were mainstays up front throughout the second
half of the race after Edwards took the lead from Kevin Harvick on
lap 256.
The race was extended by the late-race incident involving Edwards.
Also caught up in the wreck were Busch, Paul Menard and Justin
Allgaier.
Prior to the JGR duo of Edwards and Kenseth running up front,
Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Harvick and Busch dominated the front
of the running order. Harvick led a race-high 184 laps, while Busch
led 98.
Busch was involved on an incident on lap 279 but recovered to get
back into the top five before his wreck in the final 10 laps of
regulation. Harvick was caught up in a wreck on lap 309 and took his
car to the garage.
Kyle Larson also led significant laps in the second half of the race
after staying out during a debris caution on lap 343. He continued
on up front until giving up the top spot to pit on lap 436.
"We got really lucky there after we had to pit under green," Larson
said. "Everything seemed to fall our way after we made that
green-flag stop. We had a different strategy going on and when we
had that caution late on that run and I was leading. We were going
to end up 17th or something, and then people started wrecking, we
got the 'Lucky Dog' and we came away with a seventh-place finish."
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished fourth, Ryan Newman fifth, Tony Stewart
sixth, Larson seventh, Allgaier eighth, Danica Patrick ninth, and
Austin Dillon 10th.
The Food City 500 was red-flagged for a second time due to rain on
lap 273.
Edwards was the race leader, with Harvick and Kurt Busch in second
and third. Engines, though, were refired a few minutes later at
approximately 8:20 p.m. EDT.
[to top of second column] |
The yellow flag was displayed for rain nine laps earlier, and cars
headed down pit road for pit stops just a few laps before the red
flag was displayed.
After the start of the race was delayed an hour and 18 minutes
because of rain, Harvick took the lead from pole sitter Kenseth on
lap six. Harvick was still up front when rain returned and
interrupted the race after 22 completed laps.
During the first red-flag rain delay, Denny Hamlin relinquished his
seat to Erik Jones because of back and neck spasms.
"I pulled something on lap 12. I don't know what it is," Hamlin
said. "It would be doing my team a complete injustice (to continue
in the car)."
Busch's crew chief, Tony Gibson, also pulled out of competition
before the race restarted after the 22nd lap. Gibson stepped away
from the pit box and reported to the track infield care center. He
was diagnosed with kidney stones.
The Team Penske cars of Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski were in the
track's garage area when the race resumed on lap 23 after they
wrecked on lap 19.
"It's been raining since we started the race," Keselowski said. "It
was just a really light sprinkle, and the track was just barely dry.
I don't know. The rain was coming in and out, and the car just took
off on me. I would like to blame the rain, but I honestly don't
know."
NOTES: Luke Lambert remains atop the No. 31 pit box of Ryan Newman
despite a six-race suspension because Richard Childress plans a
second and final appeal of the penalty. ... Kurt Busch and Jeff
Gordon are each five-time winners at Bristol Motor Speedway. Kyle
Busch also has five Bristol wins but remains sidelined by injury.
... Carl Edwards won the 2014 Food City 500, but Joey Logano won the
last time the Sprint Cup Series visited Bristol last August. ...
Logano won the Drive to Stop Diabetes 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race
after leading all 300 laps at Bristol on Saturday. ... Kevin
Harvick, Logano and Martin Truex Jr. each entered Bristol with seven
consecutive top-10 finishes to start the season. None of them
extended his streak.
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
