Matt Kenseth surges for Richmond Sprint Cup victory

UNB! NETWORK STAFF REPORT

Matt Kenseth celebrates in victory lane after winning
tonight's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at
Richmond International Raceway.

This much is for certain: The road to the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship goes squarely through Joe Gibbs Racing, which after Saturday night’s crushing victory by Matt Kenseth at Richmond International Raceway has now won seven of the last nine races and 11 overall.

NASCAR’s 26-race regular season ended under the lights Saturday at RIR, where Kenseth led 352 of 400 laps, JGR drubbed the entire field yet again and the 16-driver field for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup was set.

Kyle Busch finished second in another JGR Toyota ahead of the Team Penske Ford of Joey Logano and Aric Almirola in a Richard Petty Motorsports Ford. Dale Earnhardt Jr. completed the top five in a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

There were no last-minute surprises at RIR, with JGR dominating yet again and the same 16 drivers who were Chase eligible before the race holding onto slots in NASCAR’s playoff round, which begins next week at Chicagoland Speedway.

The victory was the fourth of the season for Kenseth, tying him for the series lead with teammate Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson of Hendrick Motorsports. For his career, the Wisconsin driver now has 35 wins in 570 Sprint Cup starts.

Logano started from the pole in his Team Penske Ford, flanked by the JGR Toyota of Kenseth. Behind them were Logano’s teammate Brad Keselowski and Kenseth’s teammate, Busch. Logano led the first 14 laps, then it was Kenseth’s turn to move to the point, a place he would stay for most of the rest of the night.

After a caution, Denny Hamlin took the lead on a restart on Lap 126, with his three JGR teammates right behind him. But 13 laps later -- and after some spirited dicing among teammates -- Kenseth was back out front.

At Lap 200, the halfway point, Kenseth  had a 4.202 second lead over Hamlin and Busch, and had led 163 laps.

After a debris caution, Busch passed Kenseth on a restart to take his first lead of the evening on Lap 218, but it took just nine laps for Kenseth t0 retake the lead. Despite a late caution with 26 laps to go for debris, Kenseth would lead all but one of the remain laps to put an emphatic explanation point on the victory.

Basic Stats From Tonight's Race
Matt Kenseth, tonight's race winner, had a best lap time of 21.272 seconds, a last lap time of 22.898 seconds, a best speed of 126.925 MPH, and a margin if victory of 0.951 seconds over 2nd-place finisher and teammate Kyle Busch. Kenneth led the most laps tonight, leading 352. Joey Logano led the 2nd-most amount of laps, leading 25. Denny Hamlin led 14 laps and Kyle Busch led 9.

Full Results From NASCAR.com

POS	CAR	DRIVER	MANUF	DELTA	LAPS	LAST LAP	BEST TIME	BEST SPEED	BEST LAP
1	20	Matt Kenseth		Leader	400	22.898	21.272	126.927	3
2	18	Kyle Busch		0.951	400	22.921	21.393	126.210	4
3	22	Joey Logano		0.230	400	22.957	21.281	126.874	2
4	43	Aric Almirola		2.067	400	22.827	21.866	123.479	384
5	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.		1.017	400	22.672	21.977	122.856	384
6	11	Denny Hamlin		1.467	400	23.046	21.816	123.762	127
7	24	Jeff Gordon		0.218	400	23.083	21.971	122.889	299
8	2	Brad Keselowski		0.213	400	22.969	21.487	125.657	2
9	48	Jimmie Johnson		0.819	400	23.276	21.899	123.293	220
10	15	Clint Bowyer		0.378	400	23.187	21.976	122.861	384
11	19	Carl Edwards		0.580	400	23.141	21.780	123.967	127
12	42	Kyle Larson		2.848	400	23.074	21.938	123.074	3
13	1	Jamie McMurray		-	399	24.936	21.985	122.811	221
14	4	Kevin Harvick		-	399	23.270	21.645	124.740	3
15	41	Kurt Busch		-	399	23.068	21.801	123.848	4
16	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		-	399	24.542	22.165	121.814	301
17	55	David Ragan		-	398	24.336	21.914	123.209	4
18	5	Kasey Kahne		-	398	23.505	21.896	123.310	382
19	10	Danica Patrick		-	397	24.625	22.247	121.365	3
20	31	Ryan Newman		-	397	23.092	21.988	122.794	3
21	13	Casey Mears		-	397	23.661	21.946	123.029	3
22	33	Brian Scott(i)		-	397	23.568	21.985	122.811	5
23	6	Trevor Bayne		-	397	24.524	22.368	120.708	6
24	47	AJ Allmendinger		-	397	24.974	22.078	122.294	3
25	51	Justin Allgaier		-	397	24.490	22.209	121.572	4
26	27	Paul Menard		-	397	24.741	22.266	121.261	48
27	3	Austin Dillon		-	397	24.774	21.862	123.502	2
28	9	Sam Hornish Jr.		-	397	23.547	22.300	121.076	6
29	14	Tony Stewart		-	396	24.463	22.088	122.238	2
30	40	Landon Cassill(i)		-	396	24.384	22.331	120.908	5
31	16	Greg Biffle		-	396	24.616	22.361	120.746	127
32	78	Martin Truex Jr.		-	394	23.142	21.932	123.108	378
33	38	David Gilliland		-	393	23.568	22.341	120.854	381
34	26	JJ Yeley(i)		-	392	24.590	22.458	120.224	2
35	34	Brett Moffitt #		-	391	24.505	22.497	120.016	47
36	83	Matt DiBenedetto #		-	390	23.519	22.245	121.376	3
37	7	Alex Bowman		-	390	23.513	22.366	120.719	5
38	35	Cole Whitt		-	389	25.189	22.312	121.011	216
39	23	Jeb Burton #		-	387	23.803	22.381	120.638	373
40	32	Jeffrey Earnhardt(i)		-	387	24.870	22.489	120.059	3
41	98	Reed Sorenson		-	335	24.653	22.533	119.824	158
42	95	Michael McDowell		-	287	56.126	22.424	120.407	127
43	46	Michael Annett		-	145	23.712	22.207	121.583	3