Matt Kenseth wins long, wild day and night at Bristol

Matt Kenseth celebrates Sunday at Bristol (Getty Images)
Matt Kenseth celebrates Sunday at Bristol  (Getty Images)
Matt Kenseth celebrates Sunday at Bristol (Getty Images)

In a bit of irony, Matt Kenseth ended a 51 race dry spell Sunday night on one of the wettest days of the NASCAR season. After multiple rain delays, Kenseth held off Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon on a green-white-checkered finish to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup series Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway to end a nine hour marathon.

Kenseth executed a perfect restart after a final rain delay and won for the first time since September 2013. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver took the lead for the final time from Kyle Larson on lap 437 and held off first Kurt Busch, then Carl Edwards and finally Johnson, Gordon and the rain to score his first win since September of 2013 at New Hampshire.   Behind Johnson and Gordon in second and third, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was a career best fourth and Ryan Newman fifth.

Kevin Harvick was the class of the field for most of the race leading a race high 184 laps. MORE>>>

Greg Engle
About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.