Matt Kenseth surges late for New Hampshire win – Nascar

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Matt Kenseth came on strong late to get by Martin Truex Jr. and later Denny Hamlin for the win in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series New Hampshire 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota also had to survive a rash of cautions late to secure the victory.

Kenseth took the lead for first time at Lap 258, passing Truex for the first position. Kenseth then passed his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Hamlin on Lap 271 to take the lead back to stay after Hamlin stayed out under a Lap 264 caution while nearly the rest of the field pitted.

The win is Kenseth’s second of the season, third at New Hampshire and the 38th of his Sprint Cup career. All of Kenseth’s wins at the 1.058-mile track have come in his four years at JGR.

Tony Stewart scored the runner-up spot. This was his second straight top-five finish and fourth top-10 result in the past five races. Joey Logano took third. Kevin Harvick and Greg Biffle, finished fourth and fifth, respectively. The fifth-place finish was Biffle’s best of the season and his third straight top 10.

Kyle Busch and Truex dominated the first two-thirds-plus of the race. Busch led a race-high 133 laps but came home eighth. However, he along with Carl Edwards secured their spots in the top 30 in the point standings and thus locked in their Chase spots. Truex guided his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota to lead 123 laps but suffered a broken shifter and had clutch issues late in the race. He wound up 16th.

Alex Bowman placed 26th as the interim driver in the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Bowman was making his first Sprint Cup start since last season’s finale at Homestead, serving as a substitute with Dale Earnhardt Jr. sidelined by concussion-like symptoms.

Bowman suffered a blown tire that brought out a caution on Lap 273. Before that, he spent much of the race in the top 15 with some time spent in the top 10 as well.

The Sprint Cup Series will be back in action next weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Crown Royal Presents the Combat Wounded Coalition 400 at the Brickyard (Sunday, July 24, 3 p.m. ET, NBCSN, IMS Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

This story will be updated.