Kenseth chases rest of Nextel field

Matt Kenseth used a strong finish in the 26-race prelude to the Chase for the championship to make the field for the 10 races to decide the title.

The rally was necessitated by a slow start, beginning with a 42nd in the Daytona 500 that had him 16th in points only 10 races before the Chase began. He made it to ninth in the 25th race, and stayed there as the field was set at Richmond.

But Kenseth’s team has cooled off, making his performance in the Chase look a lot like the first half of the season. He finds himself in ninth place, 124 points off the lead.

“It’s kind of good news, bad news,” he said Saturday, one day before starting 25th in today’s Subway 500 in Martinsville, Va. “The bad news is we’ve had two bad finishes in the Chase. The good news is we ran good in all five races so far.”

Two flat tires at Dover in Week Two of the Chase brought a 35th-place finish, dropping him from fifth to ninth in the standings. The last week, a blown right front tire caused multiple stops for repairs and he finished 26th at Charlotte.

“If we could have kept air in the tires, we’d have some good finishes,” he said.

NASCAR Busch Series

Clint Bowyer won his second Busch Series race of the season, rallying from deep in the field to win the Sam’s Town 250 at Memphis Motorsports Park in Millington, Tenn.

Boyer worked his way to the front after starting 35th in the 43-car field and dominated the second half of the race. With the win, he closed within 100 points of defending series champion Martin Truex Jr. with three events remaining.

Truex, who started from the pole, dominated early and wound up third behind J.J. Yeley, leads with 4,511 points. Bowyer improved to 4,411.

Former series champion David Green finished fourth.

Carl Edwards, whose car was stopped for speeding as he tried to get from morning Nextel Cup practice at Martinsville to Memphis to run this event, arrived moments before the race. He started in the 38th position and wound up fifth.

“Today, we did everything we could do, even though I put us in a bad spot,” said Bowyer, who crashed his ACDelco Chevrolet in the final turn of his second qualifying lap in the morning.

Bowyer, who was trying to shake off a 33rd-place finish at Charlotte last week, was in the middle of the fray with a sledge hammer.

“I was an auto body man. I know how to knock out dents,” said Bowyer, whose other win this season came at Nashville in June.

NASCAR Craftsman Trucks

Ricky Craven drove the last 145 laps on the same tires and tank of gas, and made Jack Roush the leader in career wins among owners in the NASCAR truck series with a victory in the Kroger 200 at Martinsville Speedway.

The victory was the 37th for Roush in the series and first since Carl Edwards won at Bristol in August 2004. Todd Kluever was second in the Kroger 200, giving Roush Fords their first 1-2 finish since Jon Wood and Edwards did it here in October 2003.

The race also cost Dennis Setzer the Craftsman Truck points lead. He started with a five-point lead over Ted Musgrave, but had a rough day, finishing 19th to Musgrave’s fourth.

Musgrave leads Setzer by 54 points with four races remaining.

Craven pitted for tires and fuel after 55 laps, took the lead on lap 106 when most of the leaders pitted under caution and held on with the help of a series of cautions.

Craven, who is leaving Roush after this season, became the 15th driver in NASCAR history to win in all three of its top series. His first truck series victory came at the track where he earned his first Nextel Cup win in 2001.