Kenseth clinches Chase spot with Bristol victory

[irish_blue69]

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Matt Kenseth needed a Bristol win last year to maintain any chance of making the Chase for the championship.
His repeat win this year locked him into the playoffs, and possibly made him the driver to beat.
Matt Kenseth celebrates at Bristol. Credit: CIA Stock Photo
Kenseth continued his momentum-building run toward the Chase on Saturday night by winning at Bristol Motor Speedway -- his third consecutive NASCAR victory.
"If we can go into the Chase like this, we'll have a shot at the championship. The guys are operating at a championship level," Kenseth said. "I was worried about going into the Chase and not running good. But this is what it's about, bringing your best piece and go there and try to win some races."
His fourth win of the season clinched him a spot in NASCAR's 10-race playoff format, which begins Sept. 17 in New Hampshire.
It also showed he's peaking at the perfect time. Tony Stewart got hot midway through the summer last year and streaked to his second Nextel Cup title.
Now Kenseth, winner of three consecutive NASCAR races, hopes to do the same. He is the first driver since Dale Earnhardt in 1987-88 to win the Bristol night race in back-to-back seasons.
"I feel like we're definitely a contender," Kenseth said. "But in this business, you've got to prove your worth each and every week. We have been taking it one week at a time and putting forth 100 percent effort each and every race."
Boy, has it shown.
Kenseth won last week's Cup event in Michigan, then Friday night's Busch Series race at Bristol. He needed a gutsy pass of Kevin Harvick to get the Busch win, but this one came much easier.
He passed leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. with a little more than 50 miles to go, running him down and then sliding past when Earnhardt appeared to slow coming out of the fourth turn. There was no looking back from there for Kenseth, the 2003 series champion.
NASCAR changed the title-crowning format after Kenseth's championship, and he hasn't contended under the new format. He used a win here last August to highlight a frantic rally to make the Chase, but faded when the playoffs began.
A repeat collapse isn't likely for NASCAR's most consistent driver.
He's now second in points, and his back-to-back wins have sliced Jimmie Johnson's lead to just seven points.
"Matt Kenseth is at the top of his game," car owner Jack Roush said. "He didn't have the most dominant car, but he kept in there and kept working at it and noodled at it and noodled at it."
Kyle Busch finished second and was followed by Earnhardt, who had a terrible car when he arrived in Bristol and worked all weekend to salvage his title hopes.
"These boys came to Bristol and they worked really hard and turned a pile of crap into a pretty decent racecar," he said.
Earnhardt, who came into the race 10th in the standings -- on the bubble of making the Chase -- moved up one spot to relieve the playoff pressure.
"I feel a whole lot better now as far as trying to get in," he said. "All of us have really just got to watch what we are doing -- minimize mistakes and utilize every minute of practice we get.
"I think we've got a really good shot of it. Before it was really just 50-50, up for grabs."
Scott Riggs scored a season-high, fourth-place finish and was followed by Jeff Gordon. The two exchanged heated words after the race, apparently disagreeing over the way they raced each other in the closing laps.
Rookie Denny Hamlin was sixth and was followed by Carl Edwards, Ryan Newman and Jeff Burton, who led 262 of the 500 laps but faded late. Johnson rounded out the top 10 and clinched his spot in the Chase.
"We took care of business," he said. "It wasn't anything pretty and it wasn't anything really racey. We weren't up there fighting for the win, but we stayed out of trouble and took care of the racecar and did what we needed to do."
The only change to the top 10 drivers was in order, with Mark Martin dropping six spots to 10th after his night went bad early when he was called for pitting outside the box on his first stop.
"My heart is heavy for Mark Martin," Roush said. "He's 10th in the points right now, certainly we're in jeopardy there."
Kasey Kahne, in 11th place in the standings, is the only driver realistically capable of racing his way into the Chase. His 12th-place finish has him 90 points out of the final spot with just two races to go.
"There are so many good race teams right now," Kahne lamented. "We've got to figure out how to be better than them."
Pole-sitter Kurt Busch, who began the race looking for his sixth Bristol win and a season-sweep, led early but never contended late. He suffered front-end damage when he ran into Reed Sorenson, was caught speeding on pit road and then blew his transmission with just under 100 laps to go.
He ended up 37th, ending his last-ditch effort to make the Chase. A two-time qualifier and the 2004 Nextel Cup champion, Busch is now 14th in the standings.

http://www.nascar.com/2006/news/head....ap/index.html

[irish_blue69]

Another win for BTW's man!!!!!

[BloodThirstyWench]

Yee haw!!!!!!!!!! Rohr's boy too! I was brainwashed.