Kenseth Dominates in California
Jonathan Monfiletto
Issue date: 3/1/07 Section: Sports
Fox Racing announcer Darrell Waltrip is calling this season "the year of the sweep," and for the second week in a row a driver won Sunday's Nextel Cup race after taking Saturday's Busch Grand National event.
Kevin Harvick pulled off the sweep last week, grabbing a win in Saturday's Orbitz 300 before claiming victory in a thrilling Daytona 500. This time around, it was Matt Kenseth who dominated Saturday's Stater Bros. 300 and continued the trend with Sunday's Auto Club 500, leading 129 of 250 laps en route to his 15th career victory.
Kenseth, known for being a poor performer on qualifying day, started the race from the 25th position and steadily worked his way up through the field. He spent most of the day at the front while battling with contenders such as pole sitter Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, and the RCR trio of Harvick, Jeff Burton, and Clint Bowyer.
Kenseth took the lead for good after beating the rest of the racers off pit road after a pit stop with 22 laps to go during a caution. He was followed out of the pits by Childress teammates Burton and Harvick, but was able to pull away from the duo on a restart. However, Harvick passed Burton and nearly closed in on Kenseth when another caution came out with seven laps to go.
Harvick and Burton were taken out of contention when Harvick incurred a flat tire under caution and Burton spun his tires on the restart. Left with Hendrick Motorsports teammates Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, Kenseth easily cruised to the finish line to take the win.
Rounding out the top ten, behind Kenseth, were Gordon, Johnson, Burton, Mark Martin, Bowyer, Kurt Busch, Stewart, Kyle Busch, and Brian Vickers. Vickers, driving for Team Red Bull, scored the first top-ten finish for Toyota since it introduced its Camry brand to the Nextel Cup Series this year.
The Auto Club 500 was marked by a rash of engine failures that may or may not have been caused by the introduction of unleaded fuel into Nextel Cup Series cars this weekend. DEI teammates Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Martin Truex Jr. both suffered their second DNFs (did not finish) of the season with engine problems, as did other drivers.
Kasey Kahne, always a frontrunner at intermediate racetracks, was taken out of contention after a blown motor. Dave Blaney had a similar fate in the race, after looking to give Toyota a strong run in its second race in Nextel Cup competition. John Andretti and Ken Schrader also suffered engine trouble, while other drivers were sidelined by crashes.
With a strong fifth-place run, Martin took a five-point lead over Burton in the point standings. The current Chase for the Cup contenders include Martin, Burton, Gordon, Harvick, David Ragan, Bowyer, Joe Nemechek, J.J. Yeley, Kyle Busch, David Stremme, David Gilliland and Kenseth.
Next week, the Nextel Cup Series doesn't race as the Busch Series will compete at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City in the Telcel 300. The Cup Series will return on March 11 to race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the UAW-Daimler Chrysler 400.
Kevin Harvick pulled off the sweep last week, grabbing a win in Saturday's Orbitz 300 before claiming victory in a thrilling Daytona 500. This time around, it was Matt Kenseth who dominated Saturday's Stater Bros. 300 and continued the trend with Sunday's Auto Club 500, leading 129 of 250 laps en route to his 15th career victory.
Kenseth, known for being a poor performer on qualifying day, started the race from the 25th position and steadily worked his way up through the field. He spent most of the day at the front while battling with contenders such as pole sitter Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, and the RCR trio of Harvick, Jeff Burton, and Clint Bowyer.
Kenseth took the lead for good after beating the rest of the racers off pit road after a pit stop with 22 laps to go during a caution. He was followed out of the pits by Childress teammates Burton and Harvick, but was able to pull away from the duo on a restart. However, Harvick passed Burton and nearly closed in on Kenseth when another caution came out with seven laps to go.
Harvick and Burton were taken out of contention when Harvick incurred a flat tire under caution and Burton spun his tires on the restart. Left with Hendrick Motorsports teammates Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, Kenseth easily cruised to the finish line to take the win.
Rounding out the top ten, behind Kenseth, were Gordon, Johnson, Burton, Mark Martin, Bowyer, Kurt Busch, Stewart, Kyle Busch, and Brian Vickers. Vickers, driving for Team Red Bull, scored the first top-ten finish for Toyota since it introduced its Camry brand to the Nextel Cup Series this year.
The Auto Club 500 was marked by a rash of engine failures that may or may not have been caused by the introduction of unleaded fuel into Nextel Cup Series cars this weekend. DEI teammates Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Martin Truex Jr. both suffered their second DNFs (did not finish) of the season with engine problems, as did other drivers.
Kasey Kahne, always a frontrunner at intermediate racetracks, was taken out of contention after a blown motor. Dave Blaney had a similar fate in the race, after looking to give Toyota a strong run in its second race in Nextel Cup competition. John Andretti and Ken Schrader also suffered engine trouble, while other drivers were sidelined by crashes.
With a strong fifth-place run, Martin took a five-point lead over Burton in the point standings. The current Chase for the Cup contenders include Martin, Burton, Gordon, Harvick, David Ragan, Bowyer, Joe Nemechek, J.J. Yeley, Kyle Busch, David Stremme, David Gilliland and Kenseth.
Next week, the Nextel Cup Series doesn't race as the Busch Series will compete at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City in the Telcel 300. The Cup Series will return on March 11 to race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the UAW-Daimler Chrysler 400.
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