Sunday, February 15, 2015

Kenseth wins wreck-filled 2015 Sprint Unlimited

Matt Kenseth was 12/1 to win Sprint Unlimited
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Matt Kenseth wasn’t surprised by how fast his car was at Daytona International Speedway Saturday night.

He also wasn’t surprised that the season-opening Sprint Unlimited turned into a wreckfest.

MORE: More on Kenseth's victory | Daytona 500 qualifying will be chaos | PHOTOS: Sprint Unlimited gallery

“It’s what happens every year,” said Kenseth, a two-time Daytona 500 winner who held off Martin Truex Jr. to win the 75-lap exhibition.

“I’ve seen a lot of plate races and more end up like that than don’t.”

Nine different drivers led the wild race, but Kenseth and Truex had the strongest cars at the end, combining to lead 49 of 75 laps. But only 12 cars were running at the finish thanks to four multicar wrecks.

There was even a confrontation after the race as Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano had words over a late-race incident.

Harvick was not happy with Logano’s aggressive driving.

“It was a helluva race but just really dumb driving there at the end,” he said. “You’ve got to be aggressive but you’ve got to use our head. You can’t just detatch it and lay it on the floorboard.”

Kenseth held off Truex and new teammate Carl Edwards to win, but the frantic racing, aggressive driving and big crashes were the story of the night.

Brad Keselowski led early, but spun on Lap 23 when Kyle Larson got into him in a big pack of traffic.

Then, on Lap 45, the Big One erupted when Greg Biffle got into the back of Jamie McMurray,turning McMurray in the middle of the draft and starting a chain-reaction crash that collected 15 cars.

Biffle said McMurray’s car was loose. McMurray said it was, "when he had my back tires off the ground.”

Read More Here....Sporting News

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