Kenseth leaves Bristol with bigger points lead

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Nights like this prove the stars are aligned for Matt Kenseth.

	Kenseth says even with the big lead, he's not points racing. Credit: Autostock

The Sharpie 500 included 20 cautions, tying the NASCAR record for most accidents in a single event.

Yet Kenseth managed to steer clear of the mayhem, post a fourth-place finish with barely a scratch on the DeWalt Ford and tighten his stranglehold on the championship points race for the third consecutive week.

He now leads second-place Dale Earnhardt, Jr. by 351 points, marking his largest advantage of the season. But don't think for a second that he's points racing. Quite the contrary, he says.

SHARPIE 500 Busch celebrates a season sweep at Bristol Play video Hear from the top finishers in Saturday's race Play video Busch holds off Harvick in the closing laps Play video Busch takes the lead and Gordon is spun by Kenseth Play video Mark Martin is angry after hitting the wall Play video  •  Results  •  Standings  •  Photo Gallery

"I think it would be hard, if I were a critic, to say we're points racing," said Kenseth, who has held the points lead for 21 consecutive weeks. "We drove up through there at the end, and with five more laps we would have finished second. And 20 more (laps), I think we could have won."

He nearly finished third, but Jamie McMurray, who finished just ahead of Kenseth Saturday evening, admittedly blocked the points leader on the final lap.

"If he wasn't the points leader I wouldn't have blocked him," McMurray said with a grin. "He had more to lose than he did to gain by that one spot. He had a really good run on me, so I pulled down and tried to protect my position.

"He got into me a little bit, but I'll tell you, that guy is a hell of a race car driver, and I didn't feel like he'd take me out."

As good as Kenseth's day was, he wasn't completely content with the outcome. With 55 laps remaining, Kenseth got into Jeff Gordon and spun Gordon into the wall, ending his day prematurely.

"I feel real bad about getting into Jeff and wrecked his day, feel terrible about that. I feel bad for the whole day because of that incident with the 24," Kenseth said. "I pulled down to actually get out of his way because he was on new tires, and he got by me and then there was a car coming on the outside.

"He was on the gas and was coming in front of me real good and I don't think he was sure I was out of there, so I got out of the gas. He got out of the gas at the same time and I just ran him over.

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"I just flat ran him over. I feel like an idiot. I should have backed off him four car lengths."

Following the accident, Kenseth set his sights on leader Kurt Busch and second place Kevin Harvick. But when Tony Raines' spin brought out the night's final caution with 40 laps remaining, Kenseth and crew chief Robbie Reiser opted to pit for new tires.

Suddenly, the DeWalt Ford was a rocket ship.

"I was good at the end," Kenseth said. "I had new tires, so that obviously helped. We came from 18th all the way back to fourth. We stayed out of trouble all day, had a good car and we raced hard.

"I wish we'd have had a few more laps or pitted one time earlier. We'd have had a shot at the victory. We really want to get back to Victory Lane bad.

"But overall,it was a great day. We finished in the top five in both races and gained a few more points, so that's a good thing."