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Nascar and Racing

Kenseth Earns 'Best Driver' in California

Posted Feb 22, 2009 10:18PM By Geoffrey Miller (RSS feed)

Filed Under: Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Sprint Cup

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On a night when Hollywood was honoring its best just miles down the road, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series saw a mellowed star continue his rise back to the top.

Matt Kenseth, fresh off his win in the rain a week ago in the season-opening Daytona 500, made it two in a row Sunday night by winning the Auto Club 500 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif.

And yes, this time it did go the full distance.


It didn't come easy for Kenseth as Jeff Gordon, winless since October 2007, tried to get close enough to make a move around the No. 17 several times in the final 34 laps. Gordon closed to within a half-second and less than a handful of car lengths more than once in the final run, but could never get alongside the No. 17 as he had done in the previous green flag run.

After the race, Gordon said an adjustment on the final pit stop might have been the difference in his and Kenseth's view of the checkered flag.

"We made an adjustment that made my car just a little too tight at the end," said Gordon during a television interview on pit road following the race.

Regardless, Gordon acknowledged his team has taken significant strides over its performance level from just one year ago. Sunday night, he led 64 of the race's 250 laps on the style of track his team struggled with in 2008.

Kenseth was able to seal the deal and become just the fourth driver in NASCAR Sprint Cup history to win a season's first two events, thanks both to his flawless final drive and work on pit road that was consistently the fastest all night. The No. 17 team managed to get Kenseth's Ford back on track during the final pit stop just ahead of Gordon after coming in for a four-tire change on the bumper of the No. 24.

The rest of the top five included Kyle Busch, Greg Biffle and Kurt Busch, though Biffle was the only one who showed he a had a legitimate shot to win the race. On the race's final pit stop that all but secured the race win for his teammate Kenseth, Biffle slid through his pit box and over the air hose, costing the team several seconds on pit lane and dropping him to deep in the top 10 for the final restart.

After the race, Biffle was beside himself for the mistake and wondered aloud why his team shouldn't just fire him on the spot for the costly mistake.

Perhaps Biffle still has his job because the race win kept his team a perfect five wins and zero losses during the race's February date on the Cup schedule. Biffle started that streak in 2005.

During the middle parts of the race -- one that was exceptionally clean with just one caution for Kevin Harvick losing an engine and smacking the Turn 1 wall, and four other cautions for brief rain showers -- a sense of worry spread over the Hendrick Motorsports camp. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mark Martin both developed similar engine trouble that resulted in 39th and 40th for the Chevrolet drivers, respectively.

Teammates Gordon and Jimmie Johnson (finished 9th), as well as the Hendrick engine-supplied Stewart-Haas Racing, never had problems develop on their end. Tony Stewart wound up 8th and Ryan Newman 28th.

Pole sitter Brian Vickers was never a factor all night after being forced to start last on the field thanks to an engine change. He finished 10th.

Tags: AutoClub500, AutoClubSpeedway, GregBiffle, HendrickMotorsports, JeffGordon, KurtBusch, KyleBusch, MattKenseth, RoushFenwayRacing

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