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Written by:
Tom Jensen
02/24/2007 - 07:00 PM
Fontana, Calif.
Matt Kenseth's second trophy of the weekend at California Speedway, for his victory in the Auto Club 500, was a very cool one, indeed. (Photo: Getty Images/Rusty Jarrett) MORE NASCAR PHOTOS ยป More Photos
Matt Kenseth survived a stern challenge from Kevin Harvick and a late-race red flag to win Sunday's Auto Club 500 NASCAR Nextel Cup race at California Speedway. The victory gave Kenseth a sweep of the Cup and Busch Series races at the 2-mile oval, and was the first official Cup victory for the newly-created Roush Fenway Racing team. It was also the second year in a row that the Wisconsin native has won this race.
Kenseth's Roush Fenway Racing Ford Fusion crossed the finish line 0.679 seconds ahead of the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets of Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. They were trailed by Jeff Burton's Richard Childress Racing Chevy and the Ginn Racing Chevy of Mark Martin, who assumed the series points lead two races into the lengthy 36-race season.
While the Chevrolets were strong all race long, Kenseth was the lone Ford able to consistently run in the top 10 throughout the 250-lap race distance. Kenseth clearly had the fastest car in the race and appeared headed to a fairly routine victory when he pitted ahead of Johnson on Lap 197, taking fuel and four tires. But once the pit stops cycled through, Johnson was in the lead and Kenseth was playing the role of the pursuer.
And Johnson probably would have won had NASCAR not thrown a caution on Lap 226 for an alleged piece of debris on the backstretch, debris
During this round of pit stops, it was Kenseth's crew of Killer Bs who made a stellar pit stop, returning the 2003 Nextel Cup champ to the front of the field, while Johnson came out in fifth place behind Kenseth, Burton, Kevin Harvick and Gordon. When the track went green on Lap 231, Kenseth got a great restart and immediately sailed off to a lead of more than a second in just one lap.
On Lap 233, Harvick passed his RCR teammate Burton for second and quickly set off after Kenseth, hoping to score another victory to back up his Daytona 500 win last weekend. At Lap 235, Kenseth led Harvick by 1.06 seconds, but six circuits later, Harvick had cut the margin in half and was wide-open in pursuit of the Roush Fenway Ford. As the laps wound down, Harvick kept getting closer and closer.
The complexion of the race changed at the end, though. On Lap 243, David Reutimann was nudged by Greg Biffle coming out of Turn 4, sending Reutimann's Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota careening head-on into the wall in a terrifying impact that left Reutimann shaken, though fortunately not seriously injured.
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