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Third win at Las Vegas comes on Kenseth's
41st birthday
nascar.com
Matt Kenseth’s car was superb for the third time in three races this
season. This time, the No. 20 team saw it pay off in the final
standings.
Kenseth piloted his Dollar General Toyota to a win Sunday in the Kobalt
Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway -- on his 41st birthday, no less
-- holding off a hard-charging Kasey Kahne in a final 30-lap duel. The
key was a late pit stop during caution in which Kenseth took fuel only,
allowing him jump into first place coming out of pit road while most of
the other leaders took two tires.
It was Kenseth’s third win at Las Vegas and his first since 2004.
Kenseth also became the third driver in series history to win on his
birthday, joining Cale Yarborough and Kyle Busch.
“I’m not a goal person, but my goal was to win and win early,” said
Kenseth, who visited Victory Lane in his third start with JGR. “Nobody
put any pressure on me except for myself, but I also know that Coach
(Joe Gibbs) hired me to come here and climb in the car and win races.
You certainly want to do that -- you don’t want to disappoint people…
“It’s still only week three, but I feel like this is the beginning.”
Rounding out the top five: Kahne, Brad Keselowski, Busch and Carl
Edwards.
Jimmie Johnson, who finished sixth, leaves Las Vegas as the series
leader, five points ahead of Keselowski and 10 ahead of third-place
Earnhardt.
Keselowski had dropped down to 13th place following a pit road mishap,
but he and crew chief Paul Wolfe later took four tires when most other
cars took two, leaving them in position for a fuel-only stop under
caution on Lap 235.
“Yeah, I want to win,” said Keselowski who finished fourth in the first
two events of the season, at Daytona and Phoenix. “It’s a different
perspective, because I'm not happy with top fives -- I want to win. The
last three weeks, really the last two weeks -- and I'm sure when I get
home tonight I'm going to go home and throw around some pillows and
punch some things -- because we've had a shot at winning all three
races and come up short, whether it's circumstances or bad luck or,
today, just a little bit of execution."
Kahne, who battled Hendrick Motorsports teammate Johnson for the lead
for most of the afternoon, led 114 laps. Johnson led 66 laps and
finished sixth.
Busch's fourth-place finish came on the heels of Saturday's
second-place showing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race.
Among the heavyweights who struggled Sunday were Clint Bowyer and 2012
race winner Tony Stewart. Bowyer attempted to make a pass for the lead
on Lap 3, nearly lost control of his car, and lost a few spots while
regaining his grip. It didn’t get better, and the No. 15 Toyota, which
started second, fell to 17th just 12 laps into the race with a loose
car. He pitted under green on Lap 15 and came out 43rd, two laps down,
and never recovered, finishing 27th.
Stewart also complained of a loose race car, and he dropped down the
field early but decided not to pit out of cycle. He remained around
20th place -- and one lap down -- for most of the race before getting
back onto the lead lap following a caution on Lap 194 and working his
way up to 11th place.
Race results:
1. (18) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 267
2. (4) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 267
3. (1) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 267
4. (13) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 267
5. (16) Carl Edwards, Ford, 267
6. (3) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 267
7. (12) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 267
8. (11) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 267
9. (8) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 267
10. (17) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 267
11. (9) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 267
12. (21) Joey Logano, Ford, 267
13. (23) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 267
14. (15) Mark Martin, Toyota, 267
15. (6) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 267
16. (22) Aric Almirola, Ford, 267
17. (5) Greg Biffle, Ford, 267
18. (7) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. #, Ford, 267
19. (25) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 267
20. (24) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 266
21. (27) Austin Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 266
22. (19) Marcos Ambrose, Ford, 266
23. (36) Trevor Bayne(i), Ford, 266
24. (33) Dave Blaney, Chevrolet, 266
25. (10) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 266
26. (20) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 266
27. (2) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 265
28. (31) David Gilliland, Ford, 265
29. (30) Casey Mears, Ford, 265
30. (26) Bobby Labonte, Toyota, 263
31. (29) David Ragan, Ford, 263
32. (38) David Stremme, Toyota, 261
33. (37) Danica Patrick #, Chevrolet, 261
34. (32) David Reutimann, Toyota, 261
35. (43) Josh Wise(i), Ford, 260
36. (35) JJ Yeley, Chevrolet, 259
37. (34) Ken Schrader, Ford, 258
38. (14) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, Engine, 234
39. (28) Travis Kvapil, Toyota, Engine, 217
40. (42) Joe Nemechek(i), Toyota, 216
41. (40) Scott Speed, Ford, Transmission, 143
42. (41) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, Vibration, 66
43. (39) Michael McDowell, Ford, Vibration, 21
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