Bittersweet second-place for Kenseth

Matt Kenseth was the second-happiest person at Watkins Glen International after the I LOVE NEW YORK 355.

"Martin (Truex Jr.) is the happiest," said Kenseth after his runner-up finish. "We really needed the win. Honestly, I don't even think about the playoffs. I more think about coming here for however many – 15, 17, 18 years, whatever it's been – and not really having a win or an opportunity to win and never even really been that great here."

A victory would have locked Kenseth into the playoffs. Through 22 races, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver remains winless on the year and holds down the final spot on the playoff grid. But a top-five did help Kenseth pad his advantage over Clint Bowyer, who is the first driver on the outside.

"I felt like we had a top-five car," said Kenseth. "Obviously we had good fortune there at the end with our track position and our fuel mileage and all that to stay in it and have a shot at it, but man, when it's that close, and you see him saving, and you're saving and then you got after him there on that last lap, it's disappointing not to get it.

"Especially when I saw him (Truex) miss Turn 6, I was like, 'Man, I'm going to have a shot,' and he was so fast I still couldn't get to him getting into (Turn) 7."

Kenseth had restarted eighth on Lap 54, after the race's final caution. The No. 20, which pitted for the final time on Lap 53, began making its way to second over the closing laps as those around Kenseth either backed off to save fuel or made a pit stop.

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On the final lap, Kenseth was within striking distance of Truex but wound up with his best finish of the season and sixth top-five finish. Sunday was also Kenseth's fourth consecutive top-nine finish. There are four weeks left of Kenseth, the 2003 champion, trying to hold onto the final playoff spot.

"To be honest with you, I haven't really thought about it that much. I realize how many different winners there've been and there's only, I think, maybe three spots left or something," said Kenseth. "But honestly, I feel like with driving for JGR and having Jason (Ratcliff) as my crew chief and the team we have, that we shouldn't be over a year without a win. It's kind of our own doing no matter what happens.

"We're running a lot better lately. At the beginning of the year we ran so-so and just had so many DNFs, so many problems and no stage points, just got buried in the points. We've been able to make a little comeback in the points, which is nice. Especially for the season that we've had.

"I feel like [if] we keep running like this, hopefully we can get a win in the next few weeks."