Nascar – Matt Kenseth held on at Bristol

He had to resist, that?s exactly what he did. Matt Kenseth (Joe Gibbs Racing) won the Irwin Tools Night Race this Saturday evening at Bristol Motor Speedway, in Tennessee, after a breathtaking battle with Kasey Kahne (Hendrick Motorsports). During the last 13 laps of this event run at night, the two drivers engaged in a magnificent “mano a mano”. The resident of the Joe Gibbs, in difficulty with his tires and close to running out of fuel, knew how to deal with these elements to never let himself be passed by his counterpart in the Hendrick, who was nevertheless very aggressive. In vain. Behind the two men, Juan-Pablo Montoya (Ganassi Racing), Brian Vickers and Joey Logano complete the top-5 in that order.

This new success for Kenseth, the fifth this season and the 29th of his career, now guarantees him a place to participate in the Chase, since a number of victories will grant him a Wild Card whatever happens. By finishing 14th in Bristol, Clint Bowyer (Michael Waltrip Racing) is also now guaranteed to participate in the latter. Better still, he is only 18 points behind Jimmie Johnson in the Drivers' standings, the five-time champion of the Nascar Sprint-Cup Series having broken its radiator this Saturday to be classified 36th.

On the other hand, it is much more delicate for Brad Keselowski, the reigning champion of the discipline. Caught in a pileup 54 laps from the finish, the Penske Racing driver fell out of the top-10 and was virtually eliminated from the Chase, having not won a single Sprint-Cup race this year.

There are only two races left, at Atlanta on Sunday September 1st and Richmond on Saturday the 7th, before the Chase gets underway.