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The Hot Pass: Team lifts Kenseth to win

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Lee Spencer

Lee Spencer is the senior NASCAR writer for FOXSports.com. She has provided award-winning coverage of auto racing over the last 15 years. Spencer has lent her expertise to both television and radio and is a regular contributor to SiriusXM Radio and the Performance Racing Network.

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Updated Feb 23, 2009 11:22 AM ET
     
 

FONTANA, Calif.

For the first time since Jeff Gordon scored back-to-back victories at Daytona and Rockingham in 1997 — and went on to win the championship — Matt Kenseth became the fourth driver in NASCAR history to win the Daytona 500 and the race the following week in the Sprint Cup Series. "Awesome, awesome job. We're going to have fun this year," Kenseth said over the radio after taking the checkered flag. "Great job, guys. It's all you."

DOUBLING DAYTONA

ALTTEXT Matt Kenseth is the fourth Cup driver to follow a win in the Daytona 500 with another victory in the next race.
Year
Driver
2nd win
2009
Matt Kenseth
Fontana
1997
Jeff Gordon
Rockingham
1977
Cale Yarborough
Richmond
1973
Richard Petty
Richmond
But before Kenseth could spread goodwill, he had to get up front — which he did during the fifth and final caution of the day on Lap 208 after Kevin Harvick careened into the Turn 1 wall due to an oil filter issue. Kenseth's final pit stop was flawless. He entered the pits third, but his pit crew executed a solid stop on Lap 210 that put the No. 17 Ford in the lead — and in clean air — with the ability to extend his lead for the final 38 laps. "Great team, great pit crew, great engines — you need everything to go right to be able to win these races," said Kenseth, who went winless in 2008. "Our car handled excellent all day. We were a little bit off and I started complaining. Then the team got me three or four spots on every stop. The stops were very important to the outcome. When we got out front we were fast." The race was delayed four times over the first 177 laps for rain. Kenseth moved to the point for the first time on Lap 145. But Gordon, who led 64 laps and finished second, dogged him from Lap 145 on. "Matt didn't make one mistake," Gordon said. "And I put the heat on him all night. I give those guys a lot of credit." Kyle Busch, who set a NASCAR record for winning two races in the same day on Saturday, finished third. "I couldn't even challenge them," Busch said. "I couldn't even keep up with the 17 and the 24 on that last run. Never thought it was a winning car. Felt like if I could just bide my time right there, I could finish third, just try to protect a third-place finish." Greg Biffle, who led 16 laps, and Kurt Busch rounded out the top five. Kenseth's 18th career victory enabled the No. 17 Ford to extend its lead in the standings to 81 points over Gordon.

Biffle takes the blame

Greg Biffle appeared to be a solid contender in Sunday's Auto Club 500 before he ran over the air hose in his pit during the fifth and final caution on Lap 208. Biffle was second entering pit road, but upon entering pit road he rolled passed his pit box and backed up, losing precious time and consequently, nine positions in the pits. "They should fire me," Biffle said after getting out of his ride. "This was a pretty fast car, I just screwed it up. Trying to get greedy. You know, it was so hard to pass out here, and I was hoping to beat the 24 out and I was trying to give my guys every advantage I could. I stopped in the box, I wasn't out of the box, but the guy pulled the hose around, and we had this problem before. It's just me stopping too deep in the box and caught them off-guard and ran over the hose. And this box is super-long anyway. But they didn't do anything wrong, it was my fault." However, Biffle's ability to race back to fourth-place over the final 35 laps enabled the No. 16 Roush Fenway team to vault from 20th to fifth in the point standings, 117 markers behind teammate Matt Kenseth.

Team Hendrick experiences engine woes

Mark Martin's and Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s nights were cut short after engine issues ended the Hendrick Motorsports teammates' run. Martin qualified 18th, but gained four positions by the second caution on Lap 42. By Lap 75, Martin was running in the top 10 and maintained his track position before his car lost power on Lap 179. He ended up finishing 40th and dropped 12 positions to 27th in the standings. "We had a great race car tonight," Martin said. "It was fast, faster than the leaders most of the time. We were trying to be careful and get up there when it counts. Then after that caution (Lap 171, rain) — about two laps later, we had a valve break. "We tried to play the weather game and it wasn't in our favor this weekend. Once we restarted, there was nothing we could do." Earnhardt radioed about possible engine gremlins, but the No. 88 Chevrolet slowed to the point where teammate Jeff Gordon, who was leading the race, put him a lap down on Lap 201. Earnhardt's night ended four laps later after his engine soured and NASCAR called the No. 88 Chevrolet to the garage for not maintaining minimum speed. "Something broke in the motor," Earnhardt said. "We were just sitting there running good. Just had a caution and got back up. We were sitting there looking at maybe driving it into the top 10 for the first time tonight and probably broke a valve spring." Earnhardt's 39th-place finish dropped the No. 88 to 35th in the owner points. It's Earnhardt's first engine failure since he moved to Hendrick Motorsports last year.

Hot laps

For those who thought Tony Stewart would struggle playing dual roles as owner/driver, think again. Stewart has finished eighth in the first two events and is currently fourth in the point standings. "I'm not really that good here so it tells you the car is probably better than I am," Stewart said. "I really think we are capable of doing it. I mean, we have done it two weeks in a row. It is still a little early to test but I thought this week was a truer test than last week was and I was satisfied with the results. This is about where I would normally finish here really. I am just not good here." Next week, Stewart will likely improve on last year's Las Vegas effort where he crashed after completing just 107 laps and was scored 43rd. Prior to that race, he finished 10th or better in five of the six previous events
  • Unlike Smoke, his replacement Joey Logano is experiencing growing pains after jumping into the seat of the No. 20 Toyota. Although J. Lo was the top finishing rookie, he went down a circuit on Lap 75 and finished 26th. The No. 20 car is still outside the top 35 in owner points at 38th — behind Phil Parsons' No. 66 Toyota (37th) and Chip Ganassi's No. 8 Chevrolet (36th).
  • Jamie McMurray started third and ran in the top 10 for most of the evening until he was plagued with brake issues late in the race. Mac made multiple stops in the pits during the fifth caution for the crew to add brake fluid but nothing helped. Not wanting to cause a wreck, McMurray dropped the No. 26 Ford to the end of the lead pack and salvaged a 16th-place finish.
    • Tagged: Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch

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