Kenseth claims Sprint Cup win at Kansas
KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Matt Kenseth won the STP 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race after starting from pole on Sunday at Kansas Speedway.
Kenseth led 110 of the first 111 laps of the race before losing some spots on pit road because of pit strategy during a caution. He regained the top spot with less than 50 laps to go in the 267-lap race and held off Kasey Kahne for his second win of the season.
Jimmie Johnson finished third behind Kenseth and Kahne.
On lap 111, Kenseth came during the pits during a caution while Martin Truex Jr., Jamie McMurray, Mark Martin and Brad Keselowski stayed out and moved to the front. Keselowski had recovered from going a lap down earlier in the race when he had to make lengthy pit stops to repair damage to his car from contact in the opening laps.
Around lap 147, the drivers who stayed out were forced to pit under green for fuel, moving Johnson, Kenseth and Carl Edwards back to the front.
Johnson, Truex, Edwards and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spent time up front until cars began cycling through green-flag pit stops with about 54 laps to go. A caution came out for debris from Keselowski's heavily damaged car with about 50 laps left, catching those who had pitted a lap down.
Kenseth, Truex and Johnson hadn't made their stops under green and were able to head down pit road under the caution. Kenseth got off pit road first to restart the race. Meanwhile, those who had pitted just before the caution, including Dale Earnhardt Jr., took the wave around to get back on the lead lap.
Kahne quickly made his way up to the second spot and gained ground on Kenseth during the remainder of the race but was unable to catch him.
Truex finished fourth and Clint Bowyer rounded out the top five. Finishing sixth through 10th were Keselowski, Jamie McMurray, Aric Almirola, Mark Martin and Paul Menard.
NOTES: The win was Kenseth's second straight at Kansas Speedway. He also won the fall 2012 race. ... Kenseth became the third repeat winner this season. His earlier victory was at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, ... The last three race winners in the Sprint Cup series have started from the pole. ... The win was the 26th of Kenseth's career and gave Joe Gibbs Racing its 104th victory and its fourth victory of 2013.
