September 12, 2020
Richmond Raceway (Richmond, Va.)
300 miles
Start: 19th | Finish: 16th Points: 23 | Standings: 26th
Tonight’s race was the second race in Round One of the 2020 NASCAR Playoffs
Kenseth scored points in the second stage with a ninth-place finish
The No. 42 team, along with their teammate, the No. 1 car, attempted to pit only once in the final segment, while most of the field decided to pit twice. Ultimately, with no caution flags in the entire final segment, the strategy did not pan out, and after racing much of the night inside the top 12, Kenseth had to settle for a 16th-place finish
The race was only slowed by caution three times; once for the competition caution and twice for the two stages breaks
The lead changed 19 times among nine drivers
Phil Surgen, Crew Chief, No. 42 Ronald McDonald House Charities Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE "Our car was really competitive tonight, and was capable of a top-10 finish, but the strategy we were on unfortunately didn't work out for us. We were able to make up ground early in the night and ran around the top-10 for most of the first two stages, coming away with a ninth place finish in the second stage. The adjustments we made at the stage two break had the car handling too free from the start, which Matt had to work with for about a 75-lap long run. We made some positive adjustments on the final pit stop and had the car handling better, but we were left with another pretty long run that stayed green the whole time and had too much fall-off late in the run to stay inside the top-10. Frustrating to not get the finish we know we could've had, but happy with the car we brought here tonight."
Recap: NASCAR heads to Bristol Motor Speedway next week for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race on Saturday, Sep. 19. NBC Sports, PRN affiliates and SiriusXM NASCAR Channel 90 will have live coverage beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET.