Matt Kenseth, just recently penalized along with his Joe Gibbs Racing team for post-race engine violations, garnered the Pole position for Saturday night’s race at Richmond International Raceway with a track record lap of 130.334 MPH in Friday qualifying.  He edged out teammate Brian Vickers for the top spot.  Jeff Gordon was third, Kasy Kahne, and Clint Bowyer rounded out the top five.  The race is set for 7:30 PM Saturday night.

Brad Keselowski won the Nationwide race Friday night, passing Kyle Busch with ten laps to go and then holding off a final charge by Kevin Harvick.

This weekend the Sprint Cup Drivers are in Richmond, Virginia for the Toyota Owners 400.  The Green Flag drops at 7:30 PM for the reace Saturday night.  Friday night the Nationwide race takes place at the track, the Toyota 250 at 7:30 PM.

Matt Kenseth and Joe Gibbs Racing were assessed strong penalties by racing’s governing body, NASCAR, for engine construction violations that were noted after the race in Kansas that Kenseth won during post race inspection.  One of eight connecting rods failed to meet the minimum weight requirement  by 3 grams.  The team itself had nothing to do  with the error, as Toyota immediatley accepted responsibility for the engine issue, as it was explained by Toyota Racing Development President, Lee White.  White said, “We take full responsibility for this issue with the engine, as JGR is not involved  in the process of selecting parts or assembling the Cup Series engines.”  Nevertheless, the penalties stand against Kenseth and the race team.  Kenseth will be docked fifty points in the Cup Points race, and his crew chief is suspended for the next six races.

Matt Kenseth held off Kasey Kahne to win the STP 400 at the Kansas Speedway Sunday afternoon.  Kenseth had also won the pole for the race on Friday.  Kenseth won with a different team last October, and this one he wins for his new team, Joe Gibbs Racing.  It was his second win of the year for his new team.  Kahne moved to second in the points standings, 37 behind leader Jimmie Johnson who finished third and added to his points lead.  Kyle Busch dropped from second to sixth in the points with a wreck marred 38th place finish.   Kenseth picked up two places in the point standings moving to eighth.

Matt Kenseth won the pole for Sunday’s STP 400 at Kansas City, Kansas with a track record speed of 191.864 MPH.  Carl Edwards was second followed by Ricky Stenhouse Junior, Sam Hornish Jr., and Kyle Busch.  Points leader Jimmie Johnson will start 21st.  The Green flag for the race Sunday comes out at 1:00 PM.