The Associated Press
LOUDON, N.H.—Matt Kenseth pushed Kevin Harvick down the stretch, then took the lead for good when the defending series champ ran out of gas yesterday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the second race of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship.
Kenseth advanced to the second round of NASCAR’s playoffs and gave Joe Gibbs Racing its fourth-straight win.
Harvick had the dominant car and led the most laps, but a gamble to stretch his fuel to the end backfired and he faded to 21st.
He finished 42nd last week in the “Chase” opener and surely will have to win next week at Dover to advance to the second round.
The 16-driver “Chase” field will be cut to 12 after Dover.
JGR continued to prove it will be the organization to beat in the “Chase.”
Denny Hamlin, the winner the previous week at Chicagoland, was second for JGR.
“Chase” drivers took eight of the top 10 spots yesterday.
“We had to be there to win it,” Kenseth noted. “I was giving Kevin everything I had.
“I thought he had us beat,” Kenseth admitted. “He had the better car.”
Kyle Busch, Paul Menard, Harvick, and Clint Bowyer are the final four drivers on the brink of elimination.
They would advance with a victory but Jimmie Johnson stands in their way at Dover, where he has a track-record 10 victories.
“Dover is a good track for us; a victory would be a good shot-in-the-arm for us,” Johnson said.
Kenseth won for the fifth time this season and stalked Harvick over the final tense laps that ended when the No. 4 Chevrolet had nothing left in the tank.
Harvick led 216 of 300 laps and heads to Dover with one of the biggest must-win races of his career.
He wasn’t the only “Chase” driver whose championship hopes are on the rocks.
Busch was the first “Chase” driver to suffer serious damage when his right front tire blew and he hit the wall.
Busch, who the July race in New Hampshire, took the No. 18 straight to the garage.
Fourth in the standings entering the race, Busch dropped to 13th in points after he finished 37th.
