Kenseth outlasts Stewart, Biffle
Matt Kenseth got a gift Sunday, winning the NASCAR Nextel Cup race at California Speedway in Fontana, Calif., after the faster cars of Greg Biffle and Tony Stewart went to the garage with engine failures late in the Auto Club 500.
Two-time and reigning Cup champion Stewart led only 28 laps but overcame a botched pit stop and a flat tire to challenge Biffle late in the 250-lap race on California’s 2-mile oval. But Stewart, who had been running at the finish in 30 consecutive races, saw his race come to an end in a puff of smoke on lap 214.
That appeared to hand an easy victory to Biffle, the class of the 43-car field. Last year’s Cup runner-up, who finished first and second in the two California races last year, led 168 of the first 218 laps and built margins up to 13 seconds before he lost a cylinder in his engine on lap 225.
Kenseth, the 2003 Cup champion, easily held off Daytona 500 winner Jimmie Johnson in a two-lap overtime shootout after the last of seven caution flags came out for a smoking car with only four laps remaining in regulation.
The race restarted on lap 250. Johnson tried in the first turn to pass Kenseth on the outside, but the leader stayed held him off and pulled away from Johnson, winning by 0.338 seconds – about five car-lengths. Kenseth picked up the 11th victory of his career, but only his second in the last 72 races. He led 40 laps Sunday, including the final 33, giving Ford its first Cup victory with the new Fusion model.
“I feel bad for Greg,” Kenseth said. “He had the best car today. But I feel like we had the second- or third-best car. We had a great handling car all day.”
Three-time California winner Jeff Gordon and Kenseth both changed only two tires and beat Biffle out of the pits on the final stop by the leaders under caution on lap 216. Kenseth passed Gordon for the lead on the restart on lap 219, as another caution flew for the spinning car of Stanton Barrett, and Biffle grabbed second place on the next restart and began to chase down his Roush Racing teammate before smoke began blowing out of his exhaust a lap later.
Stewart, who wound up 43rd, right behind Biffle, shrugged off his disappointment.
“It was a good day but a bad day,” he said. “We overcame some things and I think we’re going to have a good car all year. It was really a pretty impressive effort, but I don’t think we had anything for Biffle there.”
Biffle thought about trying to finish the race, but had to head for the garage after a slow restart on lap 229.
“It’s frustrating,” Biffle said. “It kind of drains you, but I’ve got to be optimistic about our season.”
NHRA
Warren Johnson raced to his record 96th Pro Stock victory, beating Greg Anderson with a quarter-mile run of 6.770 seconds at 206.13 mph.
Rod Fuller won the Top Fuel competition and Tommy Johnson Jr. topped the Funny Car field in the $1.5 million event at Firebird International Raceway in Chandler, Ariz.