DOVER, Del. (AP) — Matt Kenseth had eluded the wreckage that turned Dover into a junkyard. He never felt he could escape the pressure that Kyle Larson put on him — the anointed future star racing door-to-door with the former champion.
“He was all over me,” Kenseth said. “I think if he would have snuck inside, it would have been over.”
Kenseth used some of his veteran experience to find the high groove on the mile concrete track and surge to victory Sunday in the wreck-filled race at Dover International Speedway.
Kenseth snapped a 17-race winless streak skid with his 37th career victory — and denied Larson his first Sprint Cup victory.
Larson made Kenseth work for the victory that secured him a spot in the Chase.
But it was third-place finisher Chase Elliott that may have cost Larson as much as Kenseth’s late-race maneuvering.
Elliott, the second-generation rookie who replaced Jeff Gordon in the No. 24, made an aggressive run and briefly passed Larson for second.
Their brief battle took enough steam out of Larson’s push that Kenseth was able to create a needed gap and become the fourth Joe Gibbs Racing driver to win in 2016.
Kasey Kahne was fourth and Kurt Busch fifth. The race ended with only 14 drivers on the lead lap.