Joey Logano took a second straight NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase race win at Kansas Motor Speedway in controversial fashion, after removing rival Matt Kenseth from the lead late on.
Team Penske driver Logano had closed in on Kenseth dramatically once the pair had overtaken Jimmie Johnson off a late restart.
While Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kenseth had resisted one of Logano’s earlier attacks, the pair came to blows with five laps to run when lapping traffic.
Kenseth, who headed to the event 12th and last of the remaining Chase contenders, battled his way from 11th on the grid to the lead of the field by lap 72 of the planned 267, and looked peerless off numerous mid-race caution periods.
But as the pair approached backmarkers in the closing stages Kenseth went high to block Logano’s run, only to be turned around by his rival who had grown tired of his obstructions.
That dropped Kenseth to 14th, the Toyota driver now needing a strong result at Talldega next week to stand any chance of advancing to the Eliminator round of the Chase.
Logano was able to dominate the resulting restart to claim a second win of the Contender stage ahead of Denny Hamlin and Johnson.
Hamlin just held off Johnson for second at the flag, while Kasey Kahne equalled his season’s best finish in fourth.
Kyle Busch completed the top five ahead of brother Kurt, with Ryan Blaney seventh.
Chase runners Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski – who had started from pole – and Jeff Gordon completed the top 10.
Kenseth wasn’t the only Chase driver to endure a difficult day. Both Martin Truex Jr and Kevin Harvick looked set for solid top-10 finishes, before being served with stop/go penalties for separate pitlane incidents.
That dropped the pair down the field and a lap, and while Truex fought valiantly to catch and pass his rival, and was awarded the ‘lucky dog’ to rejoin the lead lap ahead of the final restart, their limit was 15th and 16th.
Like Kenseth, Dale Earnhardt Jr also faces an uphill struggle to qualify for the Eliminator round, the Hendrick Motorsports driver struggling throughout the race en route to 21st at the flag.
