Matt Kenseth wins third NASCAR Sprint Cup race of 2012

October 22, 2012

driver Matt Kenseth won his third race of the season and the second of the 2012  following the  in  yesterday. The race was the first on reconfigured and had a season-high 14 cautions. Kenseth, who started in the twelfth position, led 78 laps of the 267-lap race. driver finished second, while  finished third, ahead of  and. ,, , and followed in the next four positions. managed a tenth place finish. Other drivers participating in the Chase for the Sprint Cup finished farther back, such as who finished thirteenth.

Johnson, who was second behind Keselowski in the before the event, collided into the wall halfway through the race after leading 44 laps before the caution was given for 's crash on lap 123. Johnson's crew managed to keep Johnson on the same lap as the leaders, allowing him to gain positions. Stewart and were among other drivers who had difficulties during the race, as both had violations on pit road.

After the race, Johnson stated, "I'm definitely proud of this team and the fact that we never give up, we continue to fight and we try to get every point that we can. I'm very proud but also disappointed. I crashed the car. Spun out, trying to get inside the 56. He bobbled a little in front of me, and I thought that was an opportunity to jump on the gas real hard. When I did that, my car took off and I couldn't catch it."

Following the race, Keselowski remains the Drivers' Championship leader with 2,250 points. Seven points behind, Johnson is second with 2,243. In third, Hamlin is twenty points behind, but five ahead of Bowyer. Kahne and Truex, Jr. are fifth and sixth respectively with 2,220 and 2,207 points. Stewart, Gordon, Kenseth, and round out the top-ten positions for the Drivers' Championship with four races remaining in the season.