Saturday night’s Bank of America 500 left two drivers heading in opposite directions in the Sprint Cup Series title chase.
Matt Kenseth’s victory put him in excellent position to win his second series championship, leaving him third in the series standings, seven points behind leader Carl Edwards.
Jimmie Johnson, however, appears headed in the opposite direction.
Johnson wrecked while racing Ryan Newman for position with 17 laps remaining and ended up 34th, making a much harder road to earn a NASCAR-record sixth consecutive title. He dropped five spots in the standings to eighth, 35 points in back of Edwards heading to next weekend’s stop at Talladega, Ala.
“It was an awesome win for us,” Kenseth said. “I thought we had a car that if we could get to the front, we would have a chance to win. Charlotte Observer
Kenseth, the 2003 series champion, passed Kyle Busch for the lead with 25 laps remaining.
After the final restart with a dozen laps left, Kenseth pulled away from Busch and then beat him to the finish line by one second for his third win of the season and the 21st of his career. Kenseth’s first win in NASCAR’s premier series came in the 600-mile race at this track during his 2000 rookie season.
“For all those toilet jokes about my restarts, we finally got a good one at the end,” Kenseth said. “I would have been pretty mad if I was going to lose this thing to these guys on restarts.”
Kenseth’s Roush Fenway Racing teammate, Carl Edwards, finished third.
Non-Chase drivers Kasey Kahne and Marcos Ambrose rounded out the top-five. MiamiHerald.com
Busch, who led a race-high 111 laps, wasn’t elated with second, but considering that he started at the rear of the field after an engine change, Busch had reason to feel encouraged.
“It was the best run we’ve had here in a while, but we still came up short,” Busch said. “We’ve got to keep finishing like this. It’s not that hard. We finally finished where we ran—except we didn’t. We still lost a position, which is four points essentially, because you get three bonus points for winning a race.
“It’s frustrating, but we’ll take it, and if we can finish second here on out, we might win this deal.” NASCAR.com
Johnson finished 34th after sustaining a heavy impact with the SAFER barrier in Turn 2. His No. 48 Chevrolet hit at virtually full speed after Johnson lost control trying to pass Newman on the inside.
“I’m OK; that stung for sure,” Johnson said. “I’m just thankful to have a safe race car, softer walls, and everything did its job for sure. (Newman) was real right to my outside, and it pulled me around on corner entry. From there on, I was just kind of hanging on.”
“We’ve just got to go racing,” he said. “There’s five races left. A lot can happen. Definitely not the night we wanted. This is not going to help us win a sixth championship, but I promise you this team and myself won’t quit. We’ll go for every point we can and see if we’re still champions at the end of the year.” USA Today
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