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Tag: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

  • Byron taking over No. 5 Hendrick ride next season

    Byron taking over No. 5 Hendrick ride next season

    One more silly season question was settled today with the announcement that William Byron will drive the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports in 2018, the team officially announced today.

    First reported by Adam Stern of Sports Business Journal, a number of outlets broke the story before the team officially announced it today.

    “It hasn’t sunk in yet,” said Byron. “Mr. (Rick) Hendrick has built such a great team. The people at Hendrick Motorsports have dedicated their lives to giving their drivers the best chance to win every weekend. I have a responsibility to them to work hard and put everything I have into this opportunity. They need to know I’m always giving 100 percent because that’s what they do.”

    Speculation had swirled for months regarding whether Byron would race another year in the XFINITY Series or jump up to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series after the conclusion of this season. When HMS announced on Monday that Kasey Kahne wouldn’t return to the seat of the No. 5 car next season, it added to the possibility that Byron would replace him.

    His hot-commodity status makes sense, coming off a rookie season in which he took the Camping World Truck Series by storm with a record-setting seven wins, on his way to a fifth-place finish in points. He’s also running hot in the XFINITY Series this season with three wins and sits second in points.

    “At every step, William has proven how quickly he can adapt,” said Rick Hendrick. “Some drivers have raw talent and some have a strong work ethic. William has both. It’s impressive to see a young guy who never gets rattled and instinctively knows how to communicate with his team. That level of commitment, poise and pure ability is rare at any age. I think he’s just scratching the surface.”

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Watkins Glen

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Watkins Glen

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Martin Truex, Jr.: Truex held off Matt Kenseth to win the I Love New York 355 At The Glen, earning his fourth win of the season. Truex leads the Monster Energy Cup points standings by 16 over Kyle Busch.

    “We were able to conserve enough fuel to pull out the win,” Truex said. “In doing so, we had to let some cars pass us for the lead. That wasn’t easy. It’s hard for someone payed to go fast to let up off the gas pedal for any reason. But it’s also just another example of how I win with ‘ease.’”

    2. Kyle Busch: Busch started on the pole at Watkins Glen, his third straight pole, and finished a disappointing seventh.

    “I was basically ran off the track by Brad Keselowski at the Bus Stop chicane on lap 45,” Busch said. “It was clearly Brad’s fault and I was furious. Chalk it up to another chapter in the Busch-Keselowski rivalry. With so many chapters, there should be a book. And that makes sense, because as today’s NASCAR feuds go, it’s all words and no action.”

    3. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished 17th in the I Love New York 355.

    “I was involved in a pit road wreck with Brett Moffitt,” Harvick said. “I’m not sure what Brett Moffitt was doing on pit road, much less on pit road in a race car.”

    4. Kyle Larson: Larson finished 23rd at Watkins Glen and has finished 23rd or worse in his last three races.

    “I was docked 30 minutes of practice at Watkins Glen for doing a burnout after a lug nut inspection at Pocono,” Larson said. “That was just me venting my frustration at being subjected to another inspection. I find inspections ‘de-grading,’ especially since I don’t pass them.”

    5. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin finished fourth at Watkins Glen despite having to go to the rear at the start due to a brake issue that arose during qualifying.

    “I guess we pulled one out of my backside,” Hamlin said. “And on a similar note, doctors will soon pull one out of my wife’s front side.”

    6. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson finished 29th at Watkins Glen.

    “Kasey Kahne won’t return to Hendrick Motorsports in 2018,” Johnson said. “That’s kind of surprising coming after his win at Indianapolis, which many thought would be a vital bargaining chip for an extension. Unfortunately, it seems in contract negotiations, Mighty Kasey struck out.”

    7. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski led with three laps to go at Watkins Glen and finished 15th as Martin Truex, Jr. took the win.

    “If my fuel gauge could speak,” Keselowski said, “it would have said ‘E.’ Since I can speak, I said ‘F.’ In addition, I had a run-in with Kyle Busch halfway through the race. As you would expect, Kyle’s going to give me ‘H.’”

    8. Jamie McMurray: McMurray finished 14th at Watkins Glen.

    “Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski are at it again,” McMurray said. “They had another incident on the track, and now everybody’s wondering if retaliation is in the future. This thing could come to a head soon. Usually, when something ‘comes to a head’ and a Busch brother is involved, the thing ‘coming to a head’ is someone’s fist to Kurt’s.”

    9. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth took the runner-up spot at Watkins Glen to Martin Truex, Jr. as Toyota’s capture the top 4 spots. Kenseth currently holds the final Chase For The Cup playoff spot over Clint Bowyer.

    “Joe Gibbs Racing put four cars in the top 7,” Kenseth said. “That says a lot about Japanese automakers. They’ve been telling us they can make the quickest cars. When people say the Japanese talk fast, they’re not kidding.”

    10. Clint Bowyer: Bowyer came home fifth at Watkins Glen to keep his chances for making the Chase For The Cup alive. He faces a 28-point deficit to Matt Kenseth for the current final playoff spot.

    “I have plenty of time,” Bowyer said. “As the saying goes, ‘It ain’t over until the hefty Dale Earnhardt, Jr. fan in the tube top and Daisy Dukes standing atop the Port-A-Potty in the infield sings.’”

  • Kenseth finishes runner-up at The Glen

    Kenseth finishes runner-up at The Glen

    Matt Kenseth maintained his thin lead for the cutoff spot in the playoffs with a season-best second-place finish in the I Love New York 355 at The Glen at Watkins Glen International.

    Kenseth started the day from 15th and worked his way up to ninth. He short-pitted the end of the first stage and finished 24th when the stage concluded.

    He moved up the running order when those who didn’t short-pit the stage hit pit road under the stage break and drove to a third-place finish in the second stage.

    Kenseth didn’t pit under this caution, but did so when Landon Cassill’s car left a tire carcass on the race track on Lap 51. While pitting when he did left him possibly two to three laps short of making it to the end on fuel, the veteran Kenseth conserved just enough to not only make it to the end, but be in position to win.

    With two laps remaining, Martin Truex Jr. took over the race lead on a questionable fuel load, and Kenseth was in hot pursuit. Truex almost fumbled the lead twice on the final lap, with a botched entry of the inner-loop and locking up the brakes entering Turn 10. It allowed Kenseth to inch closer and closer, but he couldn’t get to Truex and settled for second.

    “Well, that last run after we pitted, we knew we were a little bit short, a few laps short,” Kenseth said. “You know, Martin had a really fast car and deserved to win the race. You know, and we started saving early in that run, just tried to manage the gap. I felt pretty good about our fuel savings and how much we saved. Of course I never really know, I just go by what Jason (Ratcliff) and them tell me. But I felt pretty good about where we were on fuel, but I think Martin had such a big lead, he was able to just kind of slow up as much as I did and make sure he had enough speed just to stay in front of me. It was kind of funny, them last three laps we were both saving pretty hard, and then Jason told me we were good with one to go, and so I stood on it and he stood on it, too. He even missed Turn 6 and tried to give it to me, but I couldn’t get close enough to take advantage.”

    Kenseth leaves with a 28-point lead over Clint Bowyer for the final playoff spot.

  • Truex stretches fuel to win at The Glen

    Truex stretches fuel to win at The Glen

    Martin Truex Jr. played the fuel game correctly in the closing laps of the I Love New York 355 at The Glen to win at Watkins Glen International.

    When caution flew for the final time on Lap 51, Truex opted to pit under the caution, while Brad Keselowski, who had last pitted on Lap 43, stayed out and inherited the lead.

    Truex reeled him in and applied pressure for a few laps, before Keselowski pulled aside and let Truex pass him going into Turn 11 on Lap 64.

    Truex and others who pitted under the Lap 51 caution were told they were two to three laps short of making the finish, while Keselowski was told he’d be short six laps.

    While Truex was saving fuel, Keselowski ran him down and powered by his outside on the approach to the inner-loop with 14 laps to go to retake the lead. Unfortunately for Keselowski, he didn’t conserve enough and pitted with three to go, handing the lead to Ryan Blaney for a brief period, before he ran out on the backstretch and was passed by Truex.

    He botched his entry of the inner-loop on the final lap and locked up going into Turn 10, costing him some of his lead to Matt Kenseth. But all that, and running dry coming to the line, wasn’t enough to stop Truex from crossing the line to claim his 11th career victory in his 427th career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start.

    “I can’t believe that,” Truex said. “Man, that’s so stressful, to just let guys go by for the lead. I’ve never had to do that before. But I guess I was trusting Cole (Pearn). He was telling me what to do. He knew, based on our lap times, how fast we were going and what we needed to do. So hats off to him (and) this whole team.

    “I’ve wanted to win here a long, long time. This is a special place. I think, back in the 90’s, watching my dad run here. Coming here as a kid and spending time in the garage, just walking around and wishing someday, I’ll race here, let alone win.

    “This is a big one for our team. This is a big one for Cole. He had a tough week. He lost his best friend. We’re really think about his family. Just proud of Cole and his perseverance and everything he does for this team. Barney (Visser) and everybody at home, thank you guys so much for letting me drive this thing.”

    Kenseth finished second and Daniel Suarez rounded out the podium.

    Denny Hamlin and Clint Bowyer rounded out the top-five.

    “Yeah, that’s that hard thing. When you have them there at arm’s reach you want to go for it. That’s the win that will put you into the Chase right there in front of you. But if you run out of gas that’s the dagger that will knock you out for good,” Bowyer said on the difficulty of saving fuel. “It’s the right thing. We just have to keep knocking on the door. Another top-five with our Five Star Urgent Care car. It’s a new sponsor on the car. Hopefully we can get them on board for another shot.”

    Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, A.J. Allmendinger and Erik Jones rounded out the top-10.

    “I stumbled down the back coming to two to go, so we wouldn’t have made it,” Blaney said. “It stinks. I wish I would have saved earlier like the 78 did. I pushed hard and thought we were better to go on gas than they were. They did a good job saving. I could have done better. If I would have started saving sooner I think we would have made it. you never know. I am pretty proud of the effort. We got up front at the beginning of the day and stayed there pretty much all day. I thought our strategy was right and we had a good race car. Things just didn’t work out for us. That is just the way it goes sometimes.”

    “Of course you always want more when you come here, at least I do. We had a tough weekend, and we fought hard,” Allmendinger said. “The car wasn’t very good on the first run, and we made some better changes. Got it better. Got it pretty competitive there. I just really struggled in traffic. I got behind Jimmie, and tore up the tires. Once I got by him it was actually not too bad. From there it was just fuel saving. Don’t really know how much you have. I tried to save, I felt like I saved a lot. Maybe a little too much. Overall it was a solid day for the Kroger Clicklist Chevy. Always want more here, but it was a tough weekend and we got everything we could.”

    RACE SUMMARY

    Even before the race started, Trevor Payne didn’t take the start after pitting twice during the pace laps. He joined the race 10 laps down.

    Kyle Busch led the field to the green flag at 3:21 p.m. He led all 20 laps of the first stage on his way to winning it. Chase Elliott, who was among a number of drivers who short-pitted the stage with three laps remaining in the stage, took over the race lead when Busch pitted. Busch came back down pit road for a lug nut that was stuck between the caliber and wheel.

    Elliott pitted from the lead on Lap 32. This handed the lead to Suarez, who drove on to win the second stage.

    Truex took the lead from Suarez exiting Turn 1 on the Lap 45 restart. On the same lap, Busch and Keselowski made contact in the inner-loop and went spinning, though the race stayed green.

    A tire carcass that came from Landon Cassill’s car brought out the third caution and set up the run to the finish.

    NUTS & BOLTS

    The race lasted two hours, seven minutes and three seconds, at an average speed of 104.132 mph. There were nine lead changes among six different drivers and three cautions for eight laps.

    Truex leaves with a 116-point lead over Busch.

    Elliott, McMurray and Kenseth leave as the bubble drivers who are above the playoff cutline.

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  • Winning at all active tracks easier said than done

    Winning at all active tracks easier said than done

    A grand total of 2,519 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races have been run since June 19, 1949, and only 189 individual drivers can say they’ve won a race. Not one of those drivers, however, can say he’s won at every active race track on the NASCAR schedule.

    Every driver, even the winningest one’s, has a track or more missing from his résumé that would complete the “cycle.” Richard Petty, the winningest driver in the history of NASCAR, failed to win at 30 of the 80 tracks he raced at in his career. “The Silver Fox” David Pearson, second with 105 wins, didn’t record a victory at 26 of 63 race tracks he ran.

    In the cases of Petty and Pearson, the goose eggs came at tracks they both ran few times in their respective careers. But in the case of Bobby Allison, who sits fourth on NASCAR’s all-time wins list at 84, he went his entire racing career, 44 starts, without ever winning a single race at Martinsville Speedway. Rusty Wallace went his entire career without winning at Darlington Raceway, Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.

    The amount of drivers lacking wins at certain tracks in the early days of the sport isn’t surprising, given how fluid the Cup Series schedule was for years. When the new millennium arrived, the schedule became less fluid. And, thus, should increase the chances of a driver pulling off a career “cycle” of winning at every active track, right?

    In theory, yes. In practice, no.

    Even with three new track arrivals and one departure, and the addition of five-year sanctioning agreements that keep tracks on the schedule for at least a five-year period, only five drivers are within five or fewer tracks needed to complete a career “cycle.” Kevin Harvick is missing wins at Kentucky Speedway, Pocono Raceway and Texas Motor Speedway, Matt Kenseth needs wins at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Martinsville, Sonoma Raceway and Watkins Glen International, Kyle Busch just lacks a win at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Jimmie Johnson needs victories at Chicagoland Speedway, Kentucky and Watkins Glen. The other two are the retired drivers of Tony Stewart, who ended his career without wins at Kentucky and Darlington, and Jeff Gordon, failing only to win at Kentucky.

    Busch could accomplish this feat by this season if he wins the October 8 Bank of America 500 at Charlotte. Even Johnson says it’s “safe to say that Kyle is going to be the first” to do so, given his performance at Charlotte.

    “I’m so out of touch with stats that I felt like Jeff and Tony (Stewart) were the only guys kind of in that conversation and then last weekend I learned that Kyle is now down to one,” Johnson said. “And I’m like ‘Well, dang, there’s somebody else in the party here (laughter). And Kyle will get it.’ I can’t believe he hasn’t won at Charlotte already in a Cup car. It’s safe to say that Kyle is going to be the first one to close out all the tracks, I think, with the way he runs and how good he runs at that track. I still have here, Kentucky has been a disaster for me, Chicago I should have closed a long time ago. I think Kyle, if you’re a betting man, I’d put Kyle as closing out all the tracks first.”

  • Keselowski fastest in final practice

    Keselowski fastest in final practice

    Brad Keselowski topped the chart in final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Watkins Glen International.

    The driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford was the fastest with a time of 1:10.067 and a speed of 125.880 mph. Kurt Busch was second in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford with a time of 1″10.077 and a speed of 125.862 mph. Martin Truex Jr. was third in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota with a time of 1:10.224 and a speed of 125.598 mph. Clint Bowyer was fourth in his No. 14 SHR Ford with a time of 1:10.342 and a speed of 125.387 mph. Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-five in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 1:10.402 and a speed of 125.281 mph.

    Kyle Larson, Jamie McMurray, Chase Elliott, Michael McDowell and Kyle Busch rounded out the top-10.

    Hamlin posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 123.825 mph.

    Boris Said damaged his car when he drove his car through the grass in the interloop and the splitter dug into the ground.

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  • Kyle Busch fastest in first practice

    Kyle Busch fastest in first practice

    Kyle Busch topped the chart in first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Watkins Glen International.

    The driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was the fastest with a time of 1:10.270 and a speed of 125.516 mph. Martin Truex Jr. was second in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota with a time of 1:10.675 and a speed of 124.797 mph. Denny Hamlin was third in his No. 11 Gibbs Toyota with a time of 1:10.817 and a speed of 124.546 mph. Jamie McMurray was fourth in his No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet with a time of 1:10.829 and a speed of 124.525 mph. Erik Jones rounded out the top-five in his No. 77 Furniture Row Toyota with a time of 1:10.862 and a speed of 124.467 mph.

    Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Kasey Kahne and Michael McDowell rounded out the top-10.

    Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Danica Patrick spun out during the session. Kurt Busch and Corey LaJoie both did so and sustained damage to their cars.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/C1722_PRAC1.pdf”]

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Pocono

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Pocono

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Martin Truex, Jr.: Truex finished third at Pocono as Kyle Busch won from the pole. Truex leads the Monster Energy Cup points standings by 48 over Kyle Larson.

    “Kyle was just unstoppable today,” Truex said. “Somebody should tell Kyle ‘Way to go,’ but it won’t be me or any member of my pit crew, especially two of my tire changers that are suspended. That’s because Kyle’s crew chief Adam Stevens had a confrontation with my pit crew at Indianapolis. While Kyle and I made fire, Adam and my crew made fireworks.”

    2. Kyle Busch: Busch won the pole for the Overton’s 400 at Pocono and led 74 laps on his way to the win, snapping a 36-race winless streak and winning for the first time at Pocono.

    “It feels great to do a burn out,” Busch said, “as opposed to being ‘burned out’ of my car. Ironically, I’ve been ‘spinning my wheels’ all year.”

    3. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished second at Pocono, posting his eighth top 5 of the year, and is now third in the points standings, 97 out of first.

    “That makes four runner-up finishes in my career at Pocono,” Harvick said. “If you think I’m disappointed about that, I ‘second’ that emotion. And trust me, I know disappointment. It permeates my household, in fact. Much of the disappointment stems from the fact that I’m known there as ‘three-inch Kevin Harvick.’”

    4. Kyle Larson: Larson lost his drive shaft early at Pocono, necessitating a lengthy trip to the garage before returning to claim a 33rd-place finish.

    “What’s worse than losing a drive shaft?” Larson said. “Losing a sponsor. Target will no longer sponsor the No. 42 car next year. They’re moving sponsorship from racing to soccer. At least, that’s their goal. It’s seems the red on the red car has been red-carded.”

    5. Jimmie Johnson: Contact with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kasey Kahne sent Johnson into the wall on lap 57, ending his day at Pocono. Johnson eventually finished 35th.

    “Kasey had a huge win the previous week at Indianapolis,” Johnson said. “He apparently was still riding that wave of momentum when he slid up the track and got into me.

    “But it was just a racing incident. And let me define ‘racing incident’ for you: it’s when there’s an accident that doesn’t involve cars bursting into flames, a crew chief mouthing off with members of an opposing crew, and a race team unfairly disciplining just one of the involved parties.”

    6. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski took fifth in the Overton’s 400, recording his series-best 11th top 5 of the season.

    “Penske Racing is adding a third car in 2018,” Keselowski said, “and Ryan Blaney will be the driver. Ryan is a great guy, and one of the best things he has going for him is that his father is Dave Blaney, and not Tom Logano. Tom Logano is the Lavar Ball of NASCAR.”

    7. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin led 18 laps and finished fourth at Pocono, as Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch took the victory.

    “Kyle Busch was the class of the field,” Hamlin said. “That’s saying something, because it’s not often you can use the words ‘class’ and ‘Kyle Busch’ in a sentence. Now, using ‘Kyle Busch’ and a word that rhymes with class in the same sentence, that’s another story altogether.”

    8. Jamie McMurray: McMurray started third at Pocono but finished a disappointing 26th.

    “The No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet was handicapped by transmission issues,” McMurray said. “That caused a lot of smoke to enter the cockpit. It’s doubly disappointing because at Pocono in June, I wrecked with Jimmie Johnson and my car burst into flames. As the saying goes, ‘Where there’s smoke, there was fire.’”

    9. Chase Elliott: Eliott finished tenth at Pocono and remains winless on the season.

    “I know I don’t necessarily have to win to make the Chase For The Cup,” Elliott said, “but it would sure make things easier. But sometimes just the mere pressure of knowing you need a victory can hinder, impede, and hamper you from doing just that. A lot of drivers, Joey Logano included, call that an ‘encumbered win.’”

    10. Clint Bowyer: Bowyer scored a solid day at Pocono, winning Stage 2 on his way to a sixth-place finish. He is tenth in the Monster Energy Cup points standings.

    “Thirteen different drivers have posted victories this year,” Bowyer said. “That means there are only three spots in the Chase For The Cup up for grabs. People who know me understand that I’m willing to go to great lengths to secure one of those spots, for me or for a teammate.”

  • NASCAR sets further cap on Cup interloping in XFINITY and Truck

    NASCAR sets further cap on Cup interloping in XFINITY and Truck

    Come next season, there’ll be further limits to the number of races Cup drivers may run in the lower tiers.

    NASCAR announced today that starting in 2018, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers, with more than five years of driving experience, will be limited to seven non-playoff race starts in the XFINITY Series and five in the Camping World Truck Series. For playoff races, all Cup drivers, regardless of experience, will be barred from running any of the playoff races. The latter rule is also in play for all four XFINITY Series Dash 4 Cash races.

    This cap is down from 10 XFINITY starts and seven Truck starts that was put in place for this season.

    Rumors on possible changes had circulated since the possibility of changes were hinted at by XFINITY Series Managing Director Wayne Auton at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 21. NASCAR Executive Vice-President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio a few days later that talks on the matter were “pretty far down the line.”

    The guidelines were implemented because of fan feedback on Cup interlopers in XFINITY and Truck competition, according to NASCAR Senior Vice-President of Racing Operations Jim Cassidy.

    “Any time we implement a change, we’re going to monitor it closely and make sure we’re measuring the level of success or making sure that if there’s an opportunity to make it even better, then we will,” Cassidy told NASCAR.com. “In this case, we really like what we’ve seen and in talking with all the other stakeholders that we would normally talk to, this has been a very popular subject over a long period of time.

    “We’re certainly excited to see what happens during the playoffs, but based upon the feedback that we’ve had, we were fortunate enough not to have to wait till the playoffs to come up with this next round of limitations. It’s good, it’s working in all respects, and this next layer just provides additional opportunity to focus on those drivers coming up through.”

  • Logano’s playoff chances dented by late penalties

    Logano’s playoff chances dented by late penalties

    Joey Logano’s ever-dwindling playoff hopes took a further hit yesterday with not one, but two pit road penalties in the closing laps of the Overton’s 400 at Pocono Raceway.

    He ducked onto pit road to make his final stop with 36 laps to go. The call then came from Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Race Director David Hoots that Logano had to serve a pass through for speeding on pit entry.

    He came down two laps later to serve his pass through, locking up the brakes getting onto pit road. Logano’s team opted to change all four tires while he was serving his pass through, which is a no-no. As a result, he was issued a stop and go penalty for stopping to service his car while serving a penalty.

    “My bad,” crew chief Todd Gordon said on the radio afterwards.

    Logano rejoined the race in 27th, one lap down, which is where he finished.

    This race has been the tale of his season since scoring his encumbered victory at Richmond Raceway. Logano, who finished outside the top-10 only once in the first quarter of the season, has only posted three top-10 finishes since his win at Richmond.

    It also didn’t help that his performance was average at best, with a 17.7 average running position through the race.

    He leaves Pocono trailing Matt Kenseth by 69 points for the 16th-place cutoff in the playoffs.