Around sports: Martinsville victory puts Gordon in Sprint Cup final

The fans erupted in cheers.

Kenseth intentionally wrecked Joey Logano to take the race leader out with 47 laps remaining. Logano, who led 207 laps, was derailed from his bid to gain an automatic bid to the Championship round and an opportunity to win a record-tying fourth straight race. “Boom. We’ve got to go do it”, said Gordon.

It was an apparent retaliation from Kenseth to Logano, who had knocked Kenseth out of the way on his way to winning at Kansas two weeks ago.

Q. What is your reaction to Joey Logano saying it was a complete coward move on your part?

“We got run into there, coming out of the pits and I couldn’t really tell how bad it was”, Harvick said. This is one of my finest moments I’ve ever had.

Alright, I can honestly say this week’s piece is going to have a lot of emotion, because quite frankly, there was a lot of it on Sunday.

“We’ll move on, we’re gonna work hard”, he said, already looking ahead to the next two races at Texas and Phoenix and what he needs to do to keep his title hopes alive.

“I think what happened at Kansas is a completely different deal”. And of course, the craziness at Talladega last week.

Kenseth was driving a wounded vehicle and crashed Logano, who was leading the race.

Gordon noted that at one point he was close to not making The Chase.

And I’ll even acknowledge the gray area here: What if Kenseth had gotten Logano loose enough for eventual victor Jeff Gordon to slip by?

“We have momentum and we know the recipe to win”, said Logano, who has six victories this season, including the Daytona 500. While much has been rightly made of Jeff Gordon’s impending retirement, the reality is Kenseth is just one year younger and doesn’t have many years of contention left.

But does it need to be fair? It was also the 93rd of his career and his ninth at Martinsville. It’s just because what this year means.

This is his final season of competitive racing. Kenseth implied at the end of his TV interview that certain actions, in response to other actions, are required to maintain a few level of respect in the garage. They continued to cheer when highlights of Kenseth dumping Logano were shown after the race.

“What you say, how you say it and the things you do, they all come full circle”.

That was how people described driver Matt Kenseth before Sunday, and it’s also how old-school NASCAR fans have increasingly described their sport.

Want to watch the live NASCAR stream on a computer? I hate the way it ended.

“The Chase format creates great racing on the track”, O’Donnell said. “Drivers at their best”. Then I’ll be back with another poll question.

But Busch worked his way through the field, ultimately finishing fifth and leaving Martinsville tied with Martin Truex Jr. for second in the Chase standings behind race victor Jeff Gordon. He had just earned a spot in the championship race, a chance to race for an elusive fifth title.

Kyle Busch had a fight on his hands, too, after spinning in Turn 2 on Lap 171 and damaging the front suspension of his No. 18 Toyota during contact with the No. 3 Chevrolet of Austin Dillon.

Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer will step down after the season, ending a 29-year run during which he turned the Hokies into one of the most consistently successful teams in the country. “It’s because of this racetrack right here that I feel that way”. I think it suits me personally. But they don’t have to listen to me for squat. I’m not really sure why. “Matt felt like he was justified with how Joey wrecked him at Kansas and then was arrogant about it afterward”. Kenseth said over the radio that “I guess I blew a right front” after his crew chief said “Wow, looks like you blew a tire there?”

“It was just a complete coward move, especially for a championship race-car driver and race team”, Logano said. “This is a strong team and he’ll have his”. I can’t believe it. What an incredible battle that was. “I was going to try to race him for the win and Brad (Keselowski) wiped me out for a few reason”. Gordon’s win was an authentic moment.