France family scion earns first NASCAR win
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[August 18, 2016]
By Chris Knight, NASCAR Wire Service
Distributed by The Sports Xchange
BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Ben Kennedy stole the
lead from William Byron with 20 laps to go in Wednesday night's UNOH
200 and later withstood an intense six-lap shootout with Brett
Moffitt to the finish line to earn his first career NASCAR Camping
World Truck Series victory at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
With his triumph in his 63rd career series start, Kennedy, the
great-grandson of NASCAR Founder Bill France Sr., became the first
France family member to win a NASCAR national series race.
"I can't put it into words," said Kennedy, the son of International
Speedway Corporation CEO Lesa France Kennedy. "Someone asked me
earlier today what it's like going to Bristol for your first time
and to win here is just so cool. I'm speechless. The guys gave me an
awesome truck. Everyone at GMS Racing, Jacob Companies, the fans in
the stands, everybody watching on TV, gosh this is just the coolest
day of my life."
With two laps to go, Moffitt, driving the No. 11 Toyota Tundra --
the truck piloted earlier this season by Kennedy -- gave the Daytona
Beach, Florida native a shot in the bumper, but Kennedy refused to
be rattled and stretched his lead to 0.274-seconds at the checkered
flag.
"I was just thinking go as fast as possible on this last lap,"
Kennedy said. "I knew Brett was putting pressure on me from behind.
I appreciate him racing me clean. This is just so cool. These guys
deserve it. They work so hard."
Moffitt, who earned a career-best second-place finish, didn't have
quite enough for Kennedy's No. 33 Chevrolet Silverado when it
counted most.
"We had a good truck, a strong truck all day," Moffitt said. "We ran
top-five, top-10 most of it. He had just enough to get away from us
on that last restart. After that, we got to him once but couldn't
get around."
Although Bristol has been widely known for its bump-and-run racing,
Moffitt, continuing to fill-in for the recovering Matt Tifft, said
he tried once, but couldn't get to Kennedy to try again.
"I'm going to race people the way I want to be raced," he said. "It
is Bristol, so if you need to move someone, you got to move them. I
just wasn't quite good enough in the center to get to him. He
slipped up a few times and I was able to get to his bumper once, but
didn't get to him hard enough. I was really waiting for him to make
a mistake so I could shove my nose in there, but he executed when he
needed to. He hit his marks and I just wasn't able to get to him."
With the victory, Kennedy virtually secures a spot in the inaugural
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Chase with three races remaining
in the regular season.
"We put this deal together (with GMS Racing) a couple months ago and
I never imagined -- I never would have imagined going into this race
that we would be here today," Kennedy said. "I thought we were a
top-15 truck or a top-10 truck, but to actually be here in Victory
Lane means the world to me."
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race -- UNOH 200
Bristol Motor Speedway
Bristol, Tennessee
Wednesday, August 17, 2016
1. (13) Ben Kennedy, Chevrolet, 200.
2. (8) Brett Moffitt, Toyota, 200.
3. (12) Daniel Hemric, Ford, 200.
4. (6) William Byron #, Toyota, 200.
[to top of second column] |
5. (7) Johnny Sauter, Chevrolet, 200.
6. (9) Cole Custer #, Chevrolet, 200.
7. (5) Christopher Bell #, Toyota, 200.
8. (16) John H Nemechek, Chevrolet, 200.
9. (15) Brandon Jones(i), Chevrolet, 200.
10. (19) John Wes Townley, Chevrolet, 200.
11. (10) Kaz Grala, Chevrolet, 200.
12. (14) Spencer Gallagher, Chevrolet, 200.
13. (25) Timothy Peters, Toyota, 200.
14. (1) Tyler Reddick, Ford, 200.
15. (21) Caleb Holman, Toyota, 200.
16. (22) Jordan Anderson, Chevrolet, 200.
17. (11) Jesse Little, Toyota, 200.
18. (27) Austin Cindric, Ford, 199.
19. (18) Austin Hill, Ford, 199.
20. (24) Parker Kligerman, Ford, 199.
21. (26) Austin Wayne Self #, Toyota, 198.
22. (23) Stewart Friesen, Chevrolet, 198.
23. (28) Brandon Brown, Chevrolet, 197.
24. (3) Cameron Hayley, Toyota, 197.
25. (30) Travis Kvapil, Chevrolet, 197.
26. (20) Rico Abreu #, Toyota, 194.
27. (31) Matt Mills, Chevrolet, 191.
28. (32) Bryce Napier, Chevrolet, 191.
29. (2) Daniel Suarez(i), Toyota, Accident, 186.
30. (4) Ben Rhodes #, Toyota, Engine, 128.
31. (29) Tommy Joe Martins, Chevrolet, Power Steering, 71.
32. (17) Matt Crafton, Toyota, Engine, 70.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 74.387 mph.
Time of Race: 01 Hrs, 25 Mins, 59 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.274
Seconds.
Caution Flags: 9 for 55 laps.
Lead Changes: 7 among 5 drivers.
Lap Leaders: T. Reddick 1; D. Suarez(i) 2-39; C. Bell # 40-135; D.
Suarez(i) 136; C. Bell # 137-141; D. Suarez(i) 142-179; W. Byron #
180; B. Kennedy 181-200.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): C. Bell # 2 times
for 101 laps; D. Suarez(i) 3 times for 77 laps; B. Kennedy 1 time
for 20 laps; T. Reddick 1 time for 1 lap; W. Byron # 1 time for 1
lap.
Top 10 in Points: W. Byron # -- 349; D. Hemric -- 312; J. Sauter --
306; T. Peters -- 302; C. Bell # -- 296; M. Crafton -- 295; B.
Kennedy -- 287; J. Nemechek -- 281; C. Custer # -- 273; T. Reddick
-- 270.
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