Matt Kenseth entered Sunday’s New Hampshire 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway ninth in the points with one victory so far in 2016. Kenseth had a top 5 car all day but with his fast pit crew and a little help from a broken clutch on Martin Truex Jr’s Toyota, Kenseth was able to capture his second victory of 2016.
Alex Bowman, filling in for Dale Earnhardt Jr. who is sitting out Sunday’s race due to concussion like symptoms, worked his way into the top 10 before finishing 26th after suffering a blown tire with 29 laps remaining.
Below are highlights and turn by turn action from the New Hampshire 301. Race recapped by Last Lap Insider.
Race Recap:
Green Flag – pole sitter Jimmie Johnson leads into Turn 1. Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson battle side-by-side to see who will lead the first lap. The #48 gets the upper hand coming off Turn 4 and will lead lap one.
Lap 3/301 – Kyle Busch takes the lead away from Jimmie Johnson.
Lap 20/301 – Martin Truex Jr passes Kurt Busch for 3rd.
Lap 26/301 – Kevin Harvick is able to go around his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kurt Busch for 4th. Now, Denny Hamlin goes around the #41.
Lap 36/301 – competition caution comes out. Everyone comes in for their first pit stops of the day. Kyle Busch wins the race of pit road followed by Martin Truex Jr and Denny Hamlin. They took two tires and fuel.
Lap 51/301 – Kyle Busch continues to lead over Martin Truex Jr as Brad Keselowski passes his teammate Joey Logano for the 7th spot.
Lap 89/301 – Martin Truex Jr completes the pass on Kyle Busch and takes the lead.
Lap 101/301 – the second caution comes out for Chris Buescher spinning out coming off of Turn 2 in order to avoid the slow car of Josh Wise. Martin Truex Jr wins the race off pit road.
Lap 123/301 – Martin Truex Jr continues to lead as a few raindrops begin to fall. Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Chase Elliott, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick, the top 10. Alex Bowman, filling in for Dale Earnhardt Jr is running 17th.
Lap 171/301 – Kyle Busch easily passes Martin Truex Jr for the lead while Truex has problems trying to pass the lapped car of Trevor Bayne. Alex Bowman is running 14th.
Lap 183/301 – green flag pit stops are underway. Ryan Blaney gets penalized for speeding and has to make a pass-through penalty. He was in the 11th position at the time of the penalty.
90 laps to go – Kyle Busch is definitely the strongest car at this point in the race. He continues to pull away from second place, Martin Truex Jr.
80 laps to go – the third caution comes out for debris in Turn 4. All of the leaders come down for pit stops. Truex wins the race off pit road with Kyle Busch 2nd and Matt Kenseth 3rd.
72 laps to go – Martin Truex Jr and Matt Kenseth are able to pull away from Kyle Busch on the restart. The top 10 with 71 laps to go are, Martin Truex Jr, Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman and Tony Stewart.
45 laps to go – you can throw a blanket over Martin Truex Jr and Matt Kenseth battling for the lead. Kyle Busch is 3rd closing in on the two leaders.
43 laps to go – Matt Kenseth takes the lead away from Martin Truex Jr.
36 laps to go – caution comes out for debris. Truex has radioed to his crew that his shifter broke and fell to the floor. The rest of the race is going to be a battle inside the car for the 78. Matt Kenseth is the first car off pit road with Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick behind him. Denny Hamlin is the only car that did not pit so he will be the leader on the restart. On the restart Martin Truex Jr, with that broken shifter, falls further and further in the field. He also radioed to his crew that his clutch is also broken.
29 laps to go – caution comes out for Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman blowing a tire and hitting the wall simultaneously. Both the 24 and 88 go to pit road to make repairs. Martin Truex Jr has fallen to 22nd with a broken shifter and clutch. On the restart multiple drivers make contact with one another causing a few tire rubs on Brad Keselowski’s Ford and Kurt Busch’s Chevrolet.
20 laps to go – caution comes out for Kurt Busch blowing a tire on the backstretch. Brad Keselowski also has a flat tire and comes to pit road. Both drivers got tire rubs on the previous restart that led to both of their tires going flat.
17 laps to go – Matt Kenseth gets a great launch on the restart and will lead the pack off of Turn 2.
Ryan Newman makes contact with Carl Edwards on the backstretch causing the #19 to make contact with Kasey Kahne. Kahne lost control getting into the #42 of Kyle Larson. Larson was sent spinning into the grass. Not a lot of damage done to Larson’s Chevrolet but Kahne’s car has significant damage.
11 laps to go – Matt Kenseth leads with Joey Logano 2nd and Tony Stewart 3rd.
3 laps to go – Tony Stewart passes Joey Logano for 2nd place. Kenseth continues to pull away.
Final lap – Matt Kenseth capitalizes on Martin Truex Jr’s troubles towards the end of the race and will win the New Hampshire 301. This is Matt Kenseth’s second victory of 2016 and his 38th win of his Sprint Cup Series career.
Tony Stewart finished 2nd and Joey Logano barely beats Kevin Harvick to the finish line for 3rd by just a few inches.
Official New Hampshire 301 Results:
1. Matt Kenseth
2. Tony Stewart
3. Joey Logano
4. Kevin Harvick
5. Greg Biffle
6. Jamie McMurray
7. Ryan Newman
8. Kyle Busch
9. Denny Hamlin
10. Ricky Stenhouse Jr
11. Ryan Blaney
12. Jimmie Johnson
13. Austin Dillon
14. Danica Patrick
15. Brad Keselowski
16. Martin Truex Jr
17. Kyle Larson
18. Paul Menard
19. Aric Almirola
20. Carl Edwards
21. AJ Allmendinger
22. Kurt Busch
23. Trevor Bayne
24. Clint Bowyer
25. Kasey Kahne
26. Alex Bowman
27. Casey Mears
28. Landon Cassill
29. Chris Buescher
30. David Ragan
31. Matt Dibenedetto
32. Regan Smith
33. Michael Annett
34. Chase Elliott
35. Reed Sorenson
36. Eddie McDonald
37. Ryan Ellis
38. Brian Scott
39. Michael Mcdowell
40. Josh Wise
Next up for the Sprint Cup Series is the Brickyard 400 at the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway at 3 p.m. ET July 24, on NBCSN. For more Sprint Cup updates check out the Last Lap Insider on Instagram @lastlapinsider.
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