NASCAR Cup Series

Matt Kenseth 'lucky to finish were we did' after leading most laps

Published Nov. 15, 2016 3:19 p.m. ET

Chase Wilhelm

Chase for the Sprint Cup contender Matt Kenseth felt lucky to come home with a top-10 finish at Kansas Speedway.

The No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing driver led a race-high 116 of 267 laps in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400, but he wasn’t able to close the deal after fading back in the middle of the race.

Kenseth relinquished the lead to eventual race winner Kevin Harvick on Lap 126. From there, it was all downhill on his way to a ninth-place finish.

“It was really bad. We were backing up there, we lost the handle and the track got hotter and we started getting loose and started losing a few spots,” said Kenseth after the race. “We had a good car and not sure how I did it, but I hit the wall getting into Turn 1 and then in the middle of the race I started losing some handle a little bit when the track changed. I lost track of where I was and hit the wall.”

Kenseth was in position for a potential top-five finish until he made contact with Alex Bowman in the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet on the final restart.

Afterward, Kenseth voiced his displeasure with Bowman.

“We made our way back up there at the end, I thought we were going to be okay on that last restart, then whatever that little kid’s name is who’s driving the No. 88, hung a left and knocked my whole right front fender off and we were just lucky to finish were we did.”

Despite the disappointing result, Kenseth is still 29 points to the good over eighth-place Joey Logano in the Chase standings ahead of the next Sunday's elimination race at Talladega Superspeedway.