Matt Kenseth was simply not going to be denied Sunday afternoon at Phoenix Raceway.
If you looked around Martinsville Speedway and on social media Sunday night, there was a legion of fans believing Denny Hamlin should have been penalized for his late-race bump of Chase Elliott at the end of the First Data 500.
A chaotic Friday practice session for Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series teams at Texas Motor Speedway saw three potential race winners encounter issues at the newly-repaved and reconfigured 1.5-mile oval.
After stage one saw chaos and calamity, stage two of Sunday’s STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway ran caution-free but saw an equally exciting finish, as Chase Elliott edged out Kyle Busch for the stage win and accompanying playoff point in a photo finish.
Chase Elliott continued his Saturday roll at Martinsville Speedway during stage one of the Alpha Energy Solutions 250, leading all 70 laps from the pole as GMS Racing continued to run the headlines.
A daring three-wide pass for the lead carried Chase Elliott to his first stage victory of the season, as the Hendrick Motorsports young gun took the lead at lap 85 and went on to triumph in stage two of the Camping World 500 at Phoenix Int’l Raceway on Sunday.