In the second-closest finish in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup history (. 005 second), Jamie McMurray led a train of Roush Fenway Racing cars that teamed up on the outside line to propel McMurray to the win, Roush Fenway’s third of the year. Matt Kenseth, who ran inside the top 10 nearly all evening, was the final Roush Fenway car in line, helping to provide a push for teammates, McMurray, Carl Edwards, and Greg Biffle on the final circuit. Kenseth finished eighth, his sixth top-10 finish at Daytona and third straight top 10 in the Pepsi 400.
Typical of Daytona in July, it was hot and humid and rain threatened for most of the weekend, actually canceling NEXTEL Cup qualifying on Friday and postponing the Busch Series race until Saturday morning. But, any inclement weather on Saturday held off and the 150,000 on hand witnessed points leader Jeff Gordon lead the field to the green flag at 8:22 PM Eastern. Kenseth’s No. 17 Ford, adorned with the R+L Carriers paint scheme, rolled off third.
For the first half of the event, Kenseth reported the car as being too loose. When he drove the No. 17 onto pit road for the first time under caution on lap 16, the Robbie Reiser-led crew went to work making significant adjustments to improve the handling of the car. The night on pit road was an atypical one for the No. 17 team as they had their share of problems throughout the night. Thankfully, being a restrictor-plate race, no mistake was so severe where Kenseth lost the draft and he was able to recover each time.
After restarting outside the top 10 on lap 26, Kenseth quickly began his march towards the front – all the way up to the fourth position by lap 33. But, every time Kenseth got close to the lead, he never could get the help he needed to push him out front. Kenseth, still reporting the car as being too loose came to pit road under caution on lap 58 in the sixth position, but upon entry to his pit stall locked up the brakes and slid too close to the wall. Because of this, the pit crew had difficulty in servicing the left side of the car and a slow stop resulted in Kenseth returning to the track in the 21st position.
But, Kenseth didn’t stay there long; each time there was a set back, the No. 17 Ford came charging back to the front. After restarting 21st on lap 62, Kenseth moved into ninth by lap 72 and after a long hard-fought battle with the No. 5 car moved into third on lap 93. Kenseth was running in the fourth spot when the field began cycling through the first and only green-flag stops of the evening. After the stop, Kenseth cycled out in the eighth position on lap 112, just 48 laps shy of the finish.
Over the course of the next 20 laps, Kenseth continued to toil inside the top 10 but after his final stop on lap 134 was slotted in the 15th position. Two cautions slowed the action over the final 25 laps; the final caution coming on lap 151, just nine laps from the finish.
Kenseth took the final restart in the 10th position and quickly committed to the high line behind teammates McMurray and Biffle. As the field took the white flag, Edwards jumped up between the leader McMurray and his drafting partner Biffle to make it a four-car Roush Fenway freight train on the top side. That line proved true by. 005 second as, with the help, McMurray was able to hold of the Busch brothers down low for the victory. Kenseth crossed the line less than a second by the leader, in the eighth position.
“I’m real happy for Jamie and those guys, ” said Kenseth following the race. “They’ve worked really hard all year to improve and they deserve this. It was a great night for Roush Fenway Racing. We had all of our cars finish inside the top 12, so that’s pretty cool. Our car was good but just didn’t have quite the speed we needed to get up there and challenge for the win. The handling was pretty good, we just needed to find a little more speed. But, I’m happy with the finish, I’m happy that we all stuck together there at the end and that Jamie got the win. ”
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