Matt Kenseth went the distance this time but still did it faster than anybody else and won the Auto Club 500 on Sunday.
Kenseth, who won a rain-shortened Daytona 500 last week to open the 2009 Sprint Cup season, had to endure four short rain delays in the season’s second race. But with the help of his pit crew, which several times got the No. 17 Ford off pit road first, Kenseth became the first driver since 1997 to win a season’s first two points races.
The last driver to start the season with two victories was Jeff Gordon, who fought furiously to deny Kenseth this time but settled for second.
“I thought he was going to pass us,” Kenseth said. “As many laps as were left, I honestly thought we were going to be too loose at the end, and he was going to catch us.”
“It’s such a great team,” Kenseth said. “I just thank these guys [on the crew]. They gave me a great stop and got me in clean air and that’s just a huge difference.”
No driver in series history has won the season’s first three races. Kenseth will go for that mark next weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway - a track where he has two victories.
Kyle Busch, who won both the truck and Nationwide races Saturday, finished third Sunday with Greg Biffle and Kurt Busch completing the top five. Denny Hamlin placed sixth and was followed by Carl Edwards, Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson and pole-sitter Brian Vickers, who actually started at the rear of the field because his team changed engines after Friday’s qualifying.
Others did not fare as well Sunday. Dale Earnhardt Jr. suffered engine problems and finished 39th a week after placing 27th in the Daytona 500. Earnhardt fell to 35th in the season standings and is already 252 points behind Kenseth, the points leader.
“We never have engine trouble,” Earnhardt said. “I’m sure it’s just an anomaly. They’ll figure out what it was and we’ll never have it happen again.”
Kenseth’s victory was the 18th of his career and extended Gordon’s winless streak to a career-long 43 races, but Gordon suggested his streak could end soon.
“We keep putting cars like that on the race track, it’s not going to be about trying to win a race but how many,” he said.
“I’m so excited about this race team right now. I think we’re head and shoulders above where we were. I know this is just one race (but) I love the way this car was driving. I’m also really bummed out we didn’t win the race.”
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