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Keselowski wins Coca Cola 600

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The race was delayed by more than an hour by rain before Brad Keselowski picked up his first NASCAR Cup victory of the season by winning the Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday.

Jimmie Johnson finished second, but would later be disqualified after failing post-race inspection.

That means Chase Eliott moves from third place to second while Ryan Blaney, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick round out the top five.

Wisconsin’s Matt Kenseth finished 27th.

The series will be back in action at Charlotte on Wednesday night.

 

Kenseth finishes 30th in Darlington

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Denny Hamlin is taking home the win at Wednesday night’s Toyota 500 at Darlington Raceway.  Weather caused delays, but it didn’t slow down Hamlin, who held off Kyle Busch in NASCAR’s second race back amid he ongoing coronavirus.

Wisconsin’s Matt Kenseth had tire issues and went a couple of laps down, finishing a disappointing 30th.

Up next is the Coca-Cola 600 this Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

 

Racing is back this weekend

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While many sports are attempting to return to action in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, auto racing is getting it done this weekend.

The lineup for Sunday’s NASCAR event at Darlington Raceway was set with a random draw of racers on Thursday.  Brad Keselowski had his name drawn first, giving the 2012 series champion the starting position when the Cup season resumes.  Keselowski will be joined on the front fow by Alex Bowman of Hendrick Motorsports.

Cambridge, Wisconsin native Matt Kenseth drew the 12th spot in his return to racing.  The two-time Daytona 500 winner and 2003 series champion is returning to the track for the first time since November of 2018 after coming out of retirement to replace the fired Kyle Larson for Chip Ganassi’s team.

Series officials also announced Tuesday they had expanded the schedule to include 20 races between Sunday and late June, nine of which are in the elite Cup Series.

Slinger opens Sunday

Not only will racing return to Slinger Speedway on Sunday, but it’ll be back with at least some fans in the stands to watch.  After the lifting of the safer-at-home orders for Wisconsin, there will be a limited number of fans in the stands for the 73rd racing season at the track.

Slinger Speedway will allow 25% of the 10,000 people normally allowed at the facility.  That number includes racers and their crews.

Gates open at noon on Sunday with racing starting at 2 p.m.

 

Kenseth set to return to race for Chip Ganassi Racing

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Cambridge, Wisconsin NASCAR Champion Matt Kenseth will come out of retirement to compete for Chip Ganassi Racing as the replacement for fired driver Kyle Larson.

Larson was let go two weeks ago after using a racial slur while competing in a virtual race.

Kenseth joins Hall of Famers Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Richard Petty and David Pearson as the only competitors to win a Cup Series championship, rookie of the year award and the Daytona 500.

The two-time Daytona 500 winner retired from Joe Gibbs Racing after the 2017 season, then came back for 15 races in 2018 for Roush Fenway Racing.

Kenseth was Cup rookie of the year in 2000 driving for Roush, where he captured his only championship (2003).  He has 39 career wins.

Kenseth wins at Dover

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Wisconsin NASCAR driver Matt Kenseth captured his first Sprint Cup race of 2016, holding off Kyle Larson to take the Triple “A” 400 in Dover, Delaware.

The Cambridge native led for 48 of the 400 laps to win his third career race at the one-mile Dover track and his 37th overall in NASCAR’s top circuit.

Kenseth is also on the verge of clinching a berth in this fall’s Chase for the Sprint Cup title series, as he moved up two spots to 12th in the season point standings.

Paul Menard of Eau Claire placed eleventh at Dover, moving up one spot for the year to 22nd.

Menard gets Year’s First Top-Ten Finish

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Paul MenardEau Claire native Paul Menard earned his first Top-Ten finish of the year in the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit.  Menard took eighth on Sunday at the S-T-P 500 in Martinsville, Virginia, and he rose one place in the season point standings to 21st.

Matt Kenseth of Cambridge placed 15th, and he remains Wisconsin’s top driver in the Sprint Cup standings in 14th, one spot higher than last week.

Kyle Busch won the race and Kevin Harvick remains the Sprint Cup series’ leader.

 

Kenseth falls on final lap at Daytona

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Matt Kenseth (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images)

Matt Kenseth (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images)

Cambridge native Matt Kenseth went from first to 14th on the final lap of the Daytona 500 on Sunday.

Kenseth had the lead with less than a half-lap to go when teammate Denny Hamlin tried to make a push.  Kenseth tried to block the charge but Hamlin bumped him, forcing Kenseth into the wall.  He avoided a crash but slipped to 14th by the time he crossed the finish line.

Hamlin won the race in a photo finish over Martin Truex Jr.

Kenseth started second after his original car was repaired.  Paul Menard of Eau Claire moved up from his 37th-place start to finish 18th.

Late crash costs Kenseth in Daytona Beach

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Matt Kenseth

Matt Kenseth

Wisconsin’s Matt Kenseth has lost his front-row starting spot for Sunday’s Daytona 500.  The Cambridge native got into a six-car crash on the final lap of Thursday night’s second 150-mile qualifying race.

Kenseth will have to use a backup car for Sunday’s Sprint Cup season opener, and that means he’ll start at the bottom of the 40-car field for the Great American Race, losing the number-two spot he earned in last Sunday’s pole qualifying.

Kenseth led for 23 laps and was in second for 22 more before the crash sent him, Martin Truex Junior, Jimmy Johnson and A-J Allmendinger to the infield care center.  All four escaped injury.

Paul Menard of Eau Claire finished second-to-last after his engine overheated.  He’ll start 37th on Sunday.

 

Kenseth says he’s ‘unfairly’ being made an example

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Matt Kenseth

Matt Kenseth

Wisconsin’s Matt Kenseth says NASCAR is “unfairly” making him out to be an example with his two-race suspension for retaliating against Joey Logano.

The Cambridge native failed to have his suspension reduced or overturned Thursday in two appeals before a national motor-sports panel and final appeals’ officer Bryan Moss.  Moss did reduce Kenseth’s probation from six months to the final three weeks of this season.

Kenseth says NASCAR has no clear rules for penalizing drivers who retaliate, and he won’t change his style due to what happened.

Logano knocked Kenseth out of the Chase for the Spring Cup three weeks ago by spinning into him at Kansas.  Last Sunday, Kenseth retaliated by driving Logano into a wall at Martinsville, all but eliminating Logano from season title contention.

Kenseth, the 2003 champion, can return for the year’s final race at Homestead-Miami in two weeks.

 

Kenseth to appeal suspension

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Matt Kenseth

Matt Kenseth

Matt Kenseth’s racing team says it will appeal a two-race suspension handed down by NASCAR on Tuesday, for intentionally causing an accident that may have ruined Joey Logano’s chances of winning the Sprint Cup title.

Joe Gibbs Racing says the penalty is more severe than others in the past for similar incidents.

The Cambridge native was nine laps behind when he drove Logano into a wall last Sunday at Martinsville.  Two weeks before, Logano made Kenseth spin, which led  to the Wisconsin driver’s elimination from the Chase for the Sprint Cup with four races left.

NASCAR says Kenseth had no chance of winning last Sunday, and he intentionally altered the outcome of the race.  It dropped Logano to last in the current field of eight, with only a slim chance of making the final four this weekend.

NASCAR chairman Brian France says a strong penalty is justified, because Kenseth should not have taken such payback into his own hands.

Danica Patrick was fined $50,000 for wrecking David Gilliland’s car on purpose in the same race.