Monday Racing Roundup: Kenseth Maintains JGR Hot Streak at Michigan
August 17, 2015 | By IMS
From Matt Kenseth's point of view, the competition package NASCAR used at Michigan International Speedway could well have had a big, bright bow on it.
The Coors Light polesitter for Sunday's Pure Michigan 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, Kenseth quickly exhibited his mastery of the high-drag aerodynamic package, leading 146 of 200 laps in winning for the third time this season, the third time at Michigan and the 34th time in his career.
The 2003 premier series champion had to survive a restart with 13 laps left, after Jimmie Johnson spun off Turn 4 to cause the eighth and final caution of the race. With a push from Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin, Kenseth cleared Kevin Harvick after the Lap 187 restart and went on to win by 1.722 seconds.
"Denny did a spectacular job pushing me," Kenseth said of the last run. "From the restart zone to about Turn 2 was like a superspeedway race – whoever got locked up – and those Chevys could really hook up.
"Denny did a heck of a job giving me a good push there to get by. Honestly, the toughest one was with the 3 (Dillon, with the two drivers swapping the lead after a restart on Lap 131). We went back and forth a few times and made some contact there, and it was hard to get away from him. My car took about five laps to get going, but once it got going, it was pretty stellar."
Harvick ran out of fuel under green on Lap 114 but recovered to finish second. Martin Truex Jr. ran third, followed by Austin Dillon (who started from the rear of the field after an engine change) and Hamlin.
Kenseth’s victory was the fifth for Joe Gibbs Racing in the last six Sprint Cup races but Kenseth stopped short of declaring the JGR cars the favorites for the series championship this year. There are three regular-season races left before the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs start at Chicagoland Speedway on Sept. 20.
"It’s early to talk favorites – there’s so much racing to do, and there are 16 teams (in the Chase) that are capable of winning races on a weekly basis as well as a championship," Kenseth said. "It’s one week at a time like always.
"It’s been a great week, and we’ve had a great couple months. We definitely have some momentum built. The guys gave us a rocket today and gave us rockets the last couple months. We’re just going to work hard to try to keep it rolling."
Harvick, the reigning series champion, has finished second in five of his last six starts at Michigan, and he notched his seventh runner-up result since winning his second race of the season at Phoenix in March.
Despite starting from the rear of the field, Kyle Busch finished 11th, solidified his position in the top 30 in points and moved closer to a spot in the Chase. Now 29th in the standings, Busch leads 30th-place Justin Allgaier by 18 points and 31st-place Cole Whitt by 23.
A four-time winner since returning from an 11-race injury absence, Busch must be in the top 30 after 26 races to lock up a spot in the Chase.
NASCAR XFINITY Series: Smith wins on last lap at Mid-Ohio
After experiencing pure frustration last weekend at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International, Regan Smith answered his second road course race of the season with a bump-and-run on leader Alex Tagliani in the second-to-last corner on the last lap to score his first win of the season in Saturday's Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
The short-track-like move ended a 52-race winless streak for Smith driving the No. 7 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports.
Tagliani, who was searching for his first XFINITY Series victory in seven races, had to settle for a disappointing second after taking the lead from Smith with 15 laps remaining.
"If I knew that he was going to win like that probably instead of passing him fair and square early on in the race, I would have probably pushed him off a bit," said Tagliani. "But, he knows I’m not going to be there next weekend to retaliate."
In his first XFINITY Series race of the season, Tagliani scored his third career Coors Light Pole in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford and jumped to the early lead, separating himself by more than 1.2 seconds over defending race winner Chris Buescher until the first caution of the day on Lap 6 for a stalled car on the backstretch.
MotoGP: Lorenzo wins, pulls even with Rossi atop standings
Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo emerged victorious from the “Battle of Brno” after an imperious ride in the Czech Republic. The Spaniard was untouchable during the race as he went on to take the win by 4.462 seconds from Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez, with his teammate Valentino Rossi in third. Lorenzo now sits on top of the MotoGP World Championship standings, level on points with Rossi, after taking his fifth win of the season.
Conditions were almost perfect for the race at the 3.3-mile Automotodrom Brno, with the sun shining and track temperatures approaching 107 degrees Fahrenheit. Over 138,000 fans packed into the grandstands at the iconic track to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first GP at Brno, and the scene was set perfectly for a showdown between the top three riders in the championship standings. Adding to the intrigue was the fact that all three riders had gone for different tire choices. Lorenzo on a medium front and rear, Rossi on a hard front and rear, and Marquez with a medium front and hard rear.
Any hopes of a dramatic three-way battle between Lorenzo, Marquez and Rossi were dashed almost immediately, as Rossi got bogged down at the start. The Italian, starting from third on the grid, had worked hard during practice and qualifying to ensure that he didn’t let Marquez and Lorenzo disappear at the start of the race as in Indianapolis. It was all to be for nothing though, as he found himself down in fifth at the first corner.
Lorenzo and Marquez immediately opened a gap at the front, which had increased to 1.5 seconds at the end of the first lap. Rossi found himself held up behind Andrea Dovizioso, and by the time he got past on the second lap, the gap to his rivals was already over two seconds.
Marquez was matching the pace of Lorenzo and they were both lapping almost a half-second a lap quicker than Rossi and after six laps the gap was up to four seconds. Lorenzo even started to pull away from Marquez, opening up a half of a second gap over his compatriot by Lap 9. This had increased to two seconds by Lap 12, with Lorenzo once again managing the gap perfectly as no one had an answer to his electric pace. The two-time MotoGP World Champion went on to take his 38th MotoGP victory by the comfortable margin of 4.4 seconds from Marquez. Rossi eventually crossed the line 10.397 seconds behind Lorenzo to finish third, continuing his run of having finished on the podium at every race this season.