Matt Kenseth wins at Richmond; Chase field set

But JGR’s Matt Kenseth did his teammates one better – he brought a howitzer. “I don’t think there’s anyone in the Chase more deserving to be there”. His No. 1 Chevrolet has finished no better than 11th in the last 11 races.

Kenseth said the victory came at the right time.

Carl Edwards is Mr. 1.5 mile. He was just that dominating.

“You want to win every week and if you could do this every week, you would”.

“I’m happy I made the decision”, Gordon said. “I’ve been the guy on the outside, trying to fight my way in, and also been in this (battle) a couple times and been knocked out at Richmond”.

As Jamie McMurray was pulling off his helmet and climbing out of his auto in Victory Lane after winning at Charlotte in 2002 in just his second Sprint Cup start, NASCAR fans and competitors had to be thinking they were watching a star being born.

It has the four-time NASCAR champion slightly stressed as he heads into the final race to set the 16-car Chase for the Sprint Cup championship field. “We had Waffle House on the vehicle tonight, and I told all the guys if we won, we would go get free waffles, but we just came up short”. But when the race restarted, he lost a spot to Busch. “It always feels good to win”.

The Federated Auto Parts 400 will consist of 400 laps(300 miles) around the.75 mile D-shaped oval. But all that means very little right now. For his career, the Wisconsin driver now has 35 wins in 570 Sprint Cup starts. Kevin Harvick, 2,006; 6. That is certainly the case.

A downsized MWR and Bowyer struggled in 2014, falling to 19th in the standings, and the team suffered financial strife, eventually leading to the August announcement that the team would close its doors at the end of the 2015 campaign, leaving Bowyer, second driver David Ragan and some 200 employees jobless.

It does indeed reset now as the Chase gives the entire field an equal shot to race for the championship.

Most of the drivers on the outside of the Chase will need a win to make it in since they don’t have enough points to compete with the drivers on the bubble. These next 10 races would have been a big letdown if we had not made the Chase.

The final weekend before the Chase has arrived and the Sprint Cup Series will be in Richmond.

Although Jeff Gordon remains winless in his farewell season, he confirmed his Chase status with seventh, behind Hendrick teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. and JGR’s Denny Hamlin – who came from 25th on the grid to lead for a spell despite tearing a knee ligament while playing basketball on Tuesday. He knows he has to be better.

“It was an unbelievable beginning and a pretty believable middle part of the season and how we ran. So, hopefully, this Lowe’s Chevy is where it needs to be”. He’s managed only two top-five finishes all season, the last of which coming in the April 26 race at Richmond. Gordon is ready to put a frustrating 2015 behind him with a strong run at the Sprint Cup title.

“You never know what’s going to happen in these rounds”, Kenseth added. “We’re behind. We know that”.

“We are on the offensive”, he said.