Kenseth’s Win Puts Him Close to Final Chase

Matt Kenseth used his first victory in over a year to strengthen his frantic push to make NASCAR’s playoffs, winning at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night in dominating fashion.

Kenseth started from the pole and led 415 of the 500 laps to win for the first time since March 7, 2004. His team had struggled for most of the last year, but a late-season surge has helped him close in on qualifying for the Chase for the Championship.

“This feels great. I haven’t been in Victory Lane in a long time,” he said.

The top 10 drivers in the standings after the Sept. 10 race in Richmond make the Chase, and Kenseth’s victory pushed him to 11th in the points. He started the night 15th in the standings but is now only 11 points out of cracking the top 10.

“I thought we were out of it,” Kenseth said of the Chase. “There’s still a couple races to go, but we’re a lot closer. We’ll just go to California and give it all that we can. If we can run like the last two races, we’ll make it.”

Jeff Burton was second, followed by Greg Biffle and Ricky Rudd.

Rusty Wallace, in his final race at his favorite track, finished fifth. Wallace is retiring at the end of the season and had hoped to mark his final Bristol race with a win. Instead, he leaves with nine wins, most among NASCAR’s active drivers.

Jeff Gordon, who is also making a desperate push for the Chase, finished sixth. It pushed him into the top 10 for the first time since June.

The only driver to drop out of the top 10 after Bristol was Jamie McMurray, who dropped to 12th.

Meanwhile, the race wreaked havoc on many drivers on the bubble of making the Chase.

Dale Jarrett, who started the race 11th in the points, lost ground midway through the race when contact from Ryan Newman sent him spinning. Apparently seeking payback, Jarrett later made a sharp right turn into Newman to wreck both of their cars.

NASCAR ruled that Jarrett’s move was intentional and penalized him two laps.

The incident dropped Jarrett to 14th in the standings, and he’ll need a big rally over the final two qualifying events to get into the playoffs.

Newman, who started the night clinging to the eighth spot in the standings, dropped one spot to ninth.

The biggest loser was Kevin Harvick, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time and couldn’t avoid getting caught up in Jarrett’s accident.

Harvick desperately needed a strong finish to make the Chase but ended up finishing 37th and will almost certainly miss the cut.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished ninth, but he’s 15th in the standings and remains a longshot to make the Chase.

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Nextel standings

Two races are left to secure a spot in the 10-race runoff for the Nextel Cup championship. The top 10 qualify for the runoff:

*--* Driver Points Behind 1. Tony Stewart 3,410 -- 2. Jimmie Johnson 3,197 -213 3. Greg Biffle 3,186 -224 4. Rusty Wallace 3,139 -271 5. Mark Martin 3,014 -396 6. Jeremy Mayfield 2,983 -427 7. Kurt Busch 2,982 -428 8. Carl Edwards 2,849 -561 9. Ryan Newman 2,819 -591 10. Jeff Gordon 2,799 -611 11. Matt Kenseth 2,788 -622 12. Jamie McMurray 2,787 -623 13. Elliott Sadler 2,765 -645 14. Dale Jarrett 2,721 -689 15. D. Earnhardt Jr. 2,682 -728

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