Long Pond, PA (June 10, 2012) – Matt Kenseth used a seventh-place finish in Sunday’s Pocono 400 to take over the Sprint Cup Series points lead from Roush Fenway teammate Greg Biffle. Kenseth led 11 laps in the race – a career high at the “Tricky Triangle”– en route to his 10th career top-10 finish at Pocono. With 14 races in the books, he leads the point standings by a 10 point margin.
“It’s probably the best we’ve ever performed at Pocono,” said Kenseth. “That was the positive part because we went up there and led some laps under green and thought we were pretty competitive, and then at the end we had to restart fourth after that pit sequence. We’ll keep working on it, but I’m happy we got a decent finish and took over the point lead.”
Kenseth started the race 14th based on Saturday’s qualifying session, but wasted little time moving through the field. By lap 36, he had moved into the top 10, before breaking into the top five on lap 42.
He eventually took over the lead on lap 93; leading the next nine laps before pitting under green on lap 102. He moved his No. 17 EcoBoost Ford back up to second place, and looked poised to take the lead and make a run at the victory, before a debris caution was called on lap 124.
Kenseth’s No. 17 Ford did not handle as well mired back in heavy traffic, and after two more cautions, he was shuffled all the way back to ninth before rebounding for a seventh-place finish in his Ford EcoBoost Fusion.
Joey Logano earned the victory in Sunday’s Pocono 400 after he reclaimed the lead from Mark Martin with three laps remaining in the race. Martin was relegated to the runner’s-up finish while Tony Stewart rounded out the top three.
Next weekend, the Sprint Cup Series travels north to Michigan for the Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway. Pre-race television coverage begins on Sunday, June 17th at 12:00 p.m. EST on TNT. Radio coverage will be provided by the Motor Racing Network (MRN).
