By JENNA FRYER
Associated Press
AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Matt Kenseth doesn't get to end his career the way he hoped. He thinks he's got a handful of good years left in him, and can win races and compete for championships.
But, the economics of the sport have made Kenseth a casualty of NASCAR's new youth movement. He doesn't have a job for next year.
So he's going away. But he's not going quietly.
Kenseth won for the first time this season, snapping a 51-race winless streak, to earn one final victory celebration.
"Just got one race left and everybody dreams of going out a winner," a tearful Kenseth said after climbing from his Toyota.
"It's just been quite a journey, and today was a really special day for me, to know that next week is almost for sure my last week behind the wheel."
Kenseth passed Chase Elliott with 10 laps remaining to win Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway and deny Elliott the final berth in next week's championship race. Had Elliott hung on for the win, he would have qualified for the championship finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Elliott finished second for the seventh time in his career.
Brad Keselowski earned the final spot in the championship on points because a playoff-eligible driver did not win the race. Keselowski will race Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick for the championship next Sunday at Homestead. The field, two Toyota drivers and two Ford drivers, includes three former series champions and Truex, the most dominant driver of the season.
Kenseth had already been eliminated from the playoffs, so his victory was purely personal satisfaction. The 2003 NASCAR champion is a two-time Daytona 500 winner and consistent playoff driver, but he's 45 and being replaced at Joe Gibbs Racing next season by Erik Jones.
Too expensive to land a competitive ride for next season, Kenseth has decided to take time away rather than drive a car that can't win races.
"He's been really down and frustrated and trying to figure out this season and what it's all about, to try to go out there and try to win in his final season, not on his own terms final season," said teammate Busch, one of many drivers to congratulate Kenseth.
"I think it shows that there's no reason why he couldn't have gotten a job anywhere else. It's just, I guess, the industry didn't see Matt Kenseth as their driver, and that's really, really unfortunate because I love the guy and have raced with respect for him for a long, long time and will forever respect him for what he's done for the sport."
Kenseth said he's finally found peace with his future.
"I probably knew around August that it really wasn't meant for me to be racing anymore at this level, you know, going forward," Kenseth said. "I probably fought it for too long and kind of looked at different opportunities and thought about doing something different, but then just really embraced it.
"Not many people get to go out in really good cars and win races and have a chance to win a championship. It's really a blessing to be able to go to work every day and work as hard as you can on it, put everything into it that you've got and finally get one here."
The Kenseth win salvaged the day for Gibbs, which had a chance to get Denny Hamlin into the championship until his feud with Elliott cost him the chance.
The two were racing for position and Elliott gave Hamlin several taps as he tried to get past him for position, and when he finally was able to pull alongside Hamlin, the two cars made contact. Hamlin grazed the wall and immediately began losing positions on the track.
Just a few laps later, his tire blew, Hamlin hit the wall and his race was over. Elliott admitted he raced Hamlin aggressively, same as Hamlin did when he wrecked Elliott from the lead at Martinsville.
"A wise man once told me that he'll race guys how they race him with a smile on his face, so that's what I did today," Elliott said. "I raced him how he raced me, and that's the way I saw it. That's about all I have to say."
Hamlin was racing to win, but could have beaten Keselowski into the finale on points had he not wrecked. He has maintained that he didn't mean to wreck Elliott at Martinsville, and the payback Sunday was redemption.
"It just proves to the people who thought I was a bad guy that he would do the exact same thing under the same circumstances," Hamlin said. "I got into him and he chose to retaliate."
Jimmie Johnson also wrecked early in the race , ending his bid to make the championship. The elimination of the seven-time champion means NASCAR will not have a repeat winner.
LARSON'S WOES
Kyle Larson won the first stage of the race, and then his recent run of bad luck continued. His engine failed early in the second stage and Larson went to the garage with a last-place finish.
It's the fourth straight race Larson has failed to finish dating to Kansas when an engine failure knocked him out of the playoffs. Larson was considered a strong contender to win the title.
"It's a crappy way to end the season," Larson said. "I haven't blown up an engine since my first two Cup starts in 2013, now I've had three this season. It's a little disappointing and definitely a bad time of year to have that stuff happen."
The Chip Ganassi Racing team gets its engines from Hendrick Motorsports.
BIG HIT
Trevor Bayne had a tire go down in the third stage of the race that caused his car to veer directly into the wall.
"That hurt so bad," Bayne said on his team radio.
He was able to climb from his car and walk to a waiting ambulance for a mandatory check in the care center.
FIRE BREAK
The race was briefly red-flagged with 58 laps remaining when an accident involving Chris Buescher caused two different fires.
The brake rotor on Buescher's car exploded and pieces landed inside the energy-absorbing SAFER barrier. The hot parts caused the Styrofoam to catch fire in two different parts of the wall. NASCAR executive Steve O'Donnell tweeted during the five-minute stoppage that the red flag was used to "avoid too many lost laps" during the cleanup.
UP NEXT
The season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday. The highest finishing driver of the four contenders will win the championship.
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Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Race - Can-Am 500
Phoenix Raceway
Avondale, Arizona
Sunday, November 12, 2017
1. (7) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 312.
2. (4) Chase Elliott (P), Chevrolet, 312.
3. (5) Martin Truex Jr. (P), Toyota, 312.
4. (11) Erik Jones #, Toyota, 312.
5. (6) Kevin Harvick (P), Ford, 312.
6. (13) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 312.
7. (8) Kyle Busch (P), Toyota, 312.
8. (27) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 312.
9. (22) Aric Almirola, Ford, 312.
10. (14) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 312.
11. (29) Ty Dillon #, Chevrolet, 312.
12. (9) Joey Logano, Ford, 312.
13. (20) Clint Bowyer, Ford, 312.
14. (21) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 312.
15. (19) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 312.
16. (16) Brad Keselowski (P), Ford, 312.
17. (1) Ryan Blaney (P), Ford, 312.
18. (10) Daniel Suarez #, Toyota, 312.
19. (17) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 311.
20. (18) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 311.
21. (15) Kurt Busch, Ford, 310.
22. (28) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 309.
23. (23) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 309.
24. (32) Landon Cassill, Ford, 309.
25. (24) Danica Patrick, Ford, 309.
26. (37) DJ Kennington, Chevrolet, 307.
27. (30) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 306.
28. (36) * David Starr(i), Toyota, 305.
29. (38) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, 305.
30. (35) * Joey Gase(i), Chevrolet, 304.
31. (33) Corey LaJoie #, Toyota, 303.
32. (40) * Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, 302.
33. (26) David Ragan, Ford, 301.
34. (39) * Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, 294.
35. (2) Denny Hamlin (P), Toyota, Accident, 275.
36. (34) Cole Whitt, Chevrolet, Accident, 258.
37. (31) Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, Accident, 247.
38. (25) Trevor Bayne, Ford, Accident, 226.
39. (12) Jimmie Johnson (P), Chevrolet, Accident, 148.
40. (3) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, Engine, 104.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 105.534 mph.
Time of Race: 02 Hrs, 57 Mins, 23 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.207 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 7 for 41 laps.
Lead Changes: 9 among 5 drivers.
Lap Leaders: R. Blaney (P) 1-11; C. Elliott (P) 12-25; D. Hamlin (P) 26; C. Elliott (P) 27; D. Hamlin (P) 28-67; K. Larson 68-79; D. Hamlin (P) 80-231; M. Kenseth 232-283; C. Elliott (P) 284-302; M. Kenseth 303-312.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): D. Hamlin (P) 3 times for 193 laps; M. Kenseth 2 times for 62 laps; C. Elliott (P) 3 times for 34 laps; K. Larson 1 time for 12 laps; R. Blaney (P) 1 time for 11 laps.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 42,11,24,20,4,18,77,78,31,48
Stage #2 Top Ten: 11,20,77,78,18,4,1,31,24,14
By SCHUYLER DIXON
Associated Press
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Elliott Sadler kept losing ground late while Erik Jones cruised to a Texas season sweep in the NASCAR Xfinity Series on Saturday night.
The veteran driver gained on the competition that mattered most, though.
Jones led 137 of 200 laps for the first Texas sweep of NASCAR's No. 2 circuit in eight years, and Sadler took the points lead with one race remaining to set the final four in the run for the series championship.
"We were able to do things that we needed to do to get ourselves in pretty decent position going to Phoenix," Sadler said. "That's what our goal was as we entered the weekend and we feel like we did that."
Jones and fellow Cup driver Ryan Blaney pulled away from Sadler over the final 30 laps in Jones' third Xfinity victory of the season and third in six tries on the 1.5-mile Texas track.
Sadler was the top finisher among the playoff contenders, taking fourth, one spot ahead of fellow playoff driver Cole Custer. Sadler moved up from third in the point standings, five ahead of William Byron, who took ninth.
Justin Allgaier, the points leader coming in, finished 11th and dropped to third in points. Brennan Poole, who took seventh, is fourth in points, 24 back.
The championship field for the finale at Homestead will be set next week in Phoenix.
"Phoenix is a tricky track with the dogleg on the back and people using the apron and cutting across," Sadler said. "That place can get wild. I don't think any points is a really safe margin to have."
Jones qualified on the pole a couple of hours before the race and led the entire first stage, covering 46 laps. He trailed through the middle before taking over again late. Jones and Blaney made late fuel-only pit stops.
The first two Xfinity wins for Jones were back-to-back in the spring at Texas and Bristol, Tennessee. He's the first with an Xfinity sweep at Texas since Kyle Busch in 2009.
"The first time I came here in a truck, I'll never forget, I never thought I'd like the place and ever since then it's just kind of clicked for me," Jones said.
Matt Tifft, who was sent to the back of the field for a crew member coming over the wall early on a pit stop, recovered the finish eighth and is fifth in points. He's five points behind Poole, who holds the final qualifying spot at the moment.
Custer bounced back from an early flat tire and moved from eighth to sixth in points. He trails Poole by 13 points.
"I can't really say I'm too upset or too down going into Phoenix or anything," Custer said. "It's just that two weeks in a row just had some bad luck."
Cup driver Kyle Larson was third.
Christopher Bell, coming off his first Xfinity win in Kansas and competing about 200 miles south of his hometown of Norman, Oklahoma, pulled his car out of a spin about halfway through the race and finished sixth.
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NASCAR XFINITY Series Race - O'Reilly Auto Parts 300
Texas Motor Speedway
Fort Worth, Texas
Saturday, November 4, 2017
1. (1) Erik Jones(i), Toyota, 200.
2. (4) Ryan Blaney(i), Ford, 200.
3. (10) Kyle Larson(i), Chevrolet, 200.
4. (5) Elliott Sadler (P), Chevrolet, 200.
5. (2) Cole Custer # (P), Ford, 200.
6. (8) Christopher Bell(i), Toyota, 200.
7. (12) Brennan Poole (P), Chevrolet, 200.
8. (3) Matt Tifft # (P), Toyota, 200.
9. (9) William Byron # (P), Chevrolet, 200.
10. (7) Austin Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 200.
11. (13) Justin Allgaier (P), Chevrolet, 200.
12. (18) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 199.
13. (17) Blake Koch, Chevrolet, 199.
14. (6) Daniel Hemric # (P), Chevrolet, 199.
15. (16) Spencer Gallagher #, Chevrolet, 199.
16. (14) Ty Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 199.
17. (19) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 199.
18. (21) JJ Yeley, Toyota, 199.
19. (24) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 199.
20. (20) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 199.
21. (23) Dylan Lupton, Toyota, 198.
22. (25) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 198.
23. (15) Ryan Reed (P), Ford, 198.
24. (26) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 198.
25. (32) Harrison Rhodes, Chevrolet, 196.
26. (22) BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, 196.
27. (28) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 196.
28. (33) Mario Gosselin, Chevrolet, 195.
29. (36) Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 191.
30. (34) Timmy Hill, Chevrolet, 188.
31. (31) David Starr, Chevrolet, 159.
32. (37) Mike Harmon, Dodge, Suspension, 104.
33. (30) Gray Gaulding(i), Chevrolet, Vibration, 65.
34. (38) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, Electrical, 62.
35. (11) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, Accident, 60.
36. (29) Reed Sorenson(i), Chevrolet, Electrical, 52.
37. (27) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, Vibration, 50.
38. (35) Angela Ruch, Chevrolet, Accident, 47.
39. (39) Morgan Shepherd, Chevrolet, Handling, 25.
40. (40) John Jackson, Dodge, Fuel Pump, 7.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 133.862 mph.
Time of Race: 02 Hrs, 14 Mins, 28 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.018 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 7 for 33 laps.
Lead Changes: 10 among 6 drivers.
Lap Leaders: E. Jones(i) 1-48; W. Byron # (P) 49-65; E. Jones(i) 66-80; K. Larson(i) 81; E. Jones(i) 82-93; R. Blaney(i) 94-127; E. Jones(i) 128-185; K. Larson(i) 186-188; M. Annett 189; T. Dillon(i) 190-191; E. Jones(i) 192-200.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): E. Jones(i) 5 times for 142 laps; R. Blaney(i) 1 time for 34 laps; W. Byron # (P) 1 time for 17 laps; K. Larson(i) 2 times for 4 laps; T. Dillon(i) 1 time for 2 laps; M. Annett 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 20,42,1,22,19,18,9,48,7,21
Stage #2 Top Ten: 20,42,48,1,19,21,00,22,9,62
By JENNA FRYER
Associated Press
MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) — There should be no confusion about the intensity of NASCAR's playoffs after Sunday's show at Martinsville Speedway.
Chase Elliott could have won, same for Brad Keselowski, and Denny Hamlin, too.
It was Kyle Busch, though, who punched his ticket into NASCAR's championship race with a victory in overtime of a race that turned wild very, very quickly and ended with a multicar accident after Busch took the checkered flag.
Busch moved Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Hamlin out of his way to earn a spot in next month's championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway for the third consecutive year. He won the series title in 2015.
"We weren't the best all day, but we put ourselves in the right spots there at the end," Busch said. "There was kind of chaos ensuing and none of it was our fault, we just came out on the right end of the stick."
Keselowski was in position to win when Joey Logano developed a tire problem with about 10 laps remaining in regulation. Had his Team Penske teammate pitted under green to fix the tire, Keselowski likely would have coasted to the win and earned the spot in the finale.
Instead, Logano spun and brought out a caution.
Keselowski was moved out of the way by Elliott after a restart, and Hamlin then spun Elliott out of the lead with two laps remaining in regulation. Elliott wrecked, chased Hamlin down on the cool-down lap to show his displeasure, and the drivers had a heated exchange after they climbed from their cars.
It was a tough result for Elliott — from potential race winner to 27th, lowest of the eight remaining playoff drivers.
"My mom always said if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all," Elliott said. "He's not worth my time. I got punted from behind and wrecked in Turn 3 leading the race. I don't know what his problem was. It was unnecessary and I hadn't raced him dirty all day long.
"We had the best car I've ever had here at Martinsville, and had an opportunity to go straight to Homestead and because of him we don't."
Elliott could repeatedly be seen saying 'You wrecked me,' to Hamlin as the crowd roared its approval over the tension. Hamlin at first defended his actions because of the stakes, but later apologized to Elliott on social media.
"I've raced nearly 10,000 races since I was 7. Today was the first time I ever spun out the leader," Hamlin wrote on Twitter. "I regret the outcome because it was not intentional the way it turned out but I am responsible for my own car and take blame. Nothing I say now can turn back the clock."
Hamlin faded to seventh after Busch bumped him for the win.
"That was our chance to move to Homestead," Busch shrugged.
Keselowski wound up fourth in a race his team believed he had to win.
Instead, he was simply darting his way around a huge pileup on the final lap that ended an emotional opening race of the third round of the playoffs.
"Yeah, everybody is just desperate," Keselowski said.
Martin Truex Jr. wound up second in a 1-2 sweep for Toyota, which has won six of the seven playoff races. Truex and Busch have won three playoff races each, while Keselowski won in the second round.
The favorite to win the title, Truex said he is confident enough he will make it to next month's finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway without having to bump Busch out of his way to grab the automatic berth.
"I don't know that I would have done anything differently," Truex said. "I think we can get to Homestead without making too many enemies. We'll let everybody else fight and we'll try to do our own thing."
Clint Bowyer, not eligible for the playoffs, finished third.
Kevin Harvick was fifth in a Ford, Ryan Blaney eighth for the Wood Brothers of nearby Stuart, Virginia, and the manufacturer placed six drivers in the top 10.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the highest-finishing Chevrolet driver in 11th and was dumbfounded by the last-lap chaos.
"Man, I can't believe how everybody crossed the finish line. I ain't seen nothing like that, I ain't seen it, I don't know if I ever have seen it," Earnhardt said. "There was a wreck one time at Richmond before they ever reconfigured it in the Xfinity race on the front straightaway in like 1982 — that is the only thing I ever seen like it. Crazy finish."
Seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson finished 12th.
That was a near victory for Johnson, who spun in Sunday morning qualifying and needed to make repairs to his Chevrolet that forced him to start last. A nine-time Martinsville winner, he used this race last year to vault him toward his record-tying seventh championship.
At one point late in Sunday's race, Johnson was put a lap down by Hendrick Motorsports teammate Elliott.
"We were just terrible all day," Johnson said. "Oh, what a bummer. We had high hopes for this weekend."
WOMP, WOMP
Kyle Larson had been considered a strong championship contender until his engine blew in last week's elimination race at Kansas. Now out of the playoffs, he wasn't competitive Sunday, crashed and finished 37th.
"Another Martinsville for us. I've got to figure out how to get around this place," Larson said. He has one career top-10 finish at the track.
SQUEEZED SCHEDULE
NASCAR experimented with a condensed two-day show at Martinsville, where qualifying was held a little more than three hours before the start of the race. Although roughly two hours of practice time was lost by dumping the third on-track day, fans did get an autograph session and Fan Fest after Saturday's two practice sessions.
LIGHTS
The long race day gave Martinsville the opportunity to make the NASCAR debut of its new $5 million LED lighting system.
NASCAR's oldest track completed the project in February and used it once, last month in a lower-level event. Because of Sunday's late afternoon start time, the lights — enough to brighten eight football fields with one of 15 different lighting scenes — were flipped on roughly two hours into the race.
"Why we don't race at night is beyond me here," Bowyer said. "We should definitely utilize those lights for something other than (overtime) because it's pretty damned cool under the lights."
UP NEXT
The middle race of this playoff round, Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway. Carl Edwards is the defending race winner, but now retired. Johnson won at Texas in the spring.
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More AP Auto Racing: http://racing.ap.org/
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Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Race - First Data 500
Martinsville Speedway
Martinsville, Virginia
Sunday, October 29, 2017
1. (14) Kyle Busch (P), Toyota, 505.
2. (2) Martin Truex Jr. (P), Toyota, 505.
3. (5) Clint Bowyer, Ford, 505.
4. (7) Brad Keselowski (P), Ford, 505.
5. (13) Kevin Harvick (P), Ford, 505.
6. (34) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 505.
7. (6) Denny Hamlin (P), Toyota, 505.
8. (4) Ryan Blaney (P), Ford, 505.
9. (17) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 505.
10. (22) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 505.
11. (21) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 505.
12. (24) Jimmie Johnson (P), Chevrolet, 505.
13. (25) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 505.
14. (18) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 505.
15. (15) Daniel Suarez #, Toyota, 505.
16. (12) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 505.
17. (23) Danica Patrick, Ford, 505.
18. (10) Aric Almirola, Ford, 505.
19. (20) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 505.
20. (19) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 505.
21. (29) Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, 505.
22. (11) Kurt Busch, Ford, 505.
23. (33) Landon Cassill, Ford, 505.
24. (1) Joey Logano, Ford, 504.
25. (30) Cole Whitt, Chevrolet, 504.
26. (8) Erik Jones #, Toyota, 504.
27. (3) Chase Elliott (P), Chevrolet, 504.
28. (31) David Ragan, Ford, 503.
29. (16) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 503.
30. (26) Ty Dillon #, Chevrolet, 501.
31. (35) * Gray Gaulding #, Toyota, 501.
32. (32) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 500.
33. (36) Corey LaJoie #, Toyota, 500.
34. (40) * Hermie Sadler, Chevrolet, 494.
35. (38) * Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, 488.
36. (39) * Carl Long(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 444.
37. (9) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, Accident, 300.
38. (37) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, Rear Gear, 274.
39. (28) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, Electrical, 187.
40. (27) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, Accident, 94.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 74.902 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 32 Mins, 47 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.141 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 11 for 74 laps.
Lead Changes: 16 among 6 drivers.
Lap Leaders: J. Logano 1-48; B. Keselowski (P) 49-78; J. Logano 79-89; J. Johnson (P) 90-113; B. Keselowski (P) 114-134; K. Busch (P) 135-257; B. Keselowski (P) 258-265; K. Busch (P) 266-324; C. Elliott (P) 325-362; B. Keselowski (P) 363-385; C. Elliott (P) 386-458; K. Busch (P) 459; C. Elliott (P) 460-470; B. Keselowski (P) 471-496; C. Elliott (P) 497; D. Hamlin (P) 498-504; K. Busch (P) 505;.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): K. Busch (P) 4 times for 184 laps; C. Elliott (P) 4 times for 123 laps; B. Keselowski (P) 5 times for 108 laps; J. Logano 2 times for 59 laps; J. Johnson (P) 1 time for 24 laps; D. Hamlin (P) 1 time for 7 laps.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 2,18,22,48,78,24,21,5,3,11
Stage #2 Top Ten: 2,18,22,78,24,21,4,20,14,48
