Wild late-race restart leads to heartbreak for Matt Kenseth

A win, and with it a chance at a second championship, were all within Matt Kenseth’s grasp, all he needed to do was get a good, clean restart with two laps remaining in Sunday’s playoff elimination race at Phoenix International Raceway.

Except it all went awry quickly when the green flag waved to resume the Can-Am 500. As Kenseth, who restarted in the outside groove, barreled into Turn 1, second-place Alex Bowman fended off Kyle Busch’s pass attempt by throwing a block to the inside.

Despite a nudge in the rear bumper from Busch, Bowman was able to maintain the position and continued to hold the inside line. All the while, Kenseth was able to put some slight distance between himself and the field, prompting spotter Chris Osborne to inform Kenseth he was clear of traffic.

But in the split-second it took to process Osborne’s message, Bowman had closed the gap and was now to the inside of Kenseth, who then moved down the track and clipped the frontend of Bowman’s car.

The contact sent Kenseth spinning into the Turn 1 wall, costing him what had appeared to be certain victory. Kenseth finished 21st and left eliminated from the Chase for the Sprint Cup playoff at the conclusion of Sunday’s race.

“The spotter said I was clear and I came to the bottom in Turn 1 because I certainly wanted to be at the bottom and be in front of [Bowman] going into Turn 2, and then I was in the wall,” Kenseth said. “I don’t really know any more than that.

“Obviously, it’s more than disappointing, we still had the race in control even on that last restart and I ended up giving it away.”

Feeling just as bad as Kenseth was Busch, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate. Busch took responsibility for triggering what he perceived was the sequence that culminated with Kenseth seeing his championship hopes disappear.

“I got a little bit better restart than [Bowman] did and I felt like I had a run on him and had enough that I got to the inside, and if he chopped me he was going to get wrecked and that’s what happened,” Busch said. “But it carried on into [Kenseth] and essentially, I guess, I wrecked a teammate.

“It’s so frustrating and aggravating and I feel horrible about it. It’s a shame to see it come down like that.”

Also expressing remorse on how events unfolded was Bowman, substituting for the injured Dale Earnhardt Jr. Bowman led a race-high 194 laps and was pursuing a career-first victory. He instead finished sixth.

“I feel bad, but there was really nothing I could do,” Bowman said. “You get defensive there into Turn 1 and [Kenseth’s] spotter cleared him because he just drove across the nose like he thought he was clear. It’s unfortunate and I hate that. Maybe I just got in there too deep but I was against the inside wall when we made contact.

“It’s just hard racing at the end and you know that happens because you are racing for the win in a Cup race.”

An unintended consequence of the incident saw Busch, the defending series champion, move above the cutoff to become one of four drivers vying for the Sprint Cup title next weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Busch will go against Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards and Joey Logano — who assumed the lead after Kenseth’s crash and won Sunday’s race.

“Right now, it feels pretty (expletive), but tomorrow it might feel a lot better,” Busch said of advancing at the expense of his teammate. “I’m not sure, depends on what Matt’s interpretation is and whether or not he can forgive.

“I just feel really bad about what happened. It just wasn’t what I anticipated having happen, and I just feel bad.”