Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth made it two victories in a row Sunday, holding off a late challenge from Jeff Gordon to win the Auto Club 500.
Kenseth took the lead from Gordon in the pits with 38 laps to go in the 250-lap race and stayed ahead of the runner-up in the battle of former Cup champions, pulling away over the last 20 laps.
It is the first time a Cup driver has won the first two races of the season since Gordon did it in 1997 on the way to the second of his four championships.
"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."
Kenseth and Gordon were much faster than the rest of the field at the end, both of them pulling away from the pack. But Gordon, like Kenseth winless last year, was unable to get to Kenseth's rear bumper and get a real run on the No. 17 Roush Fenway Ford.
"It was a lot of fun," Gordon said. "This is a new team and they showed it tonight. We've still got a little bit of work to do. I'm so excited on one side because we ran so well and we started out the season so great, but I'm still mad on the other side because I felt like we had what it took to win tonight."
It was Kenseth's third victory on the 2-mile Auto Club Speedway oval and the fifth consecutive February victory for team co-owner Jack Roush.
Kyle Busch, who made NASCAR history by winning both the Truck and Nationwide races on Saturday, came up short of the weekend sweep.
"It's never been done before, so you know it's a challenge," Busch said after finishing third. "The last one's always the hard one to get. It's on Sunday and it's the biggest show. Maybe one day."
Greg Biffle was a contender throughout the race, but fell to 12th after being penalized for running over his own air hose on a pit stop on Lap 209. He charged all the way to fourth, but was still upset by his mistake.
"They should fire me," said Biffle, one of four Kenseth teammates. "You just can't make mistakes like that."
Kurt Busch finished fifth, followed by Denny Hamlin, defending race winner Carl Edwards, two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart and three-time reigning Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, who led 74 laps but faded in the late-going.
2009 Auto Club 500 Final Results
Pos Driver Lap Speed Time Behind Led
1. Matt Kenseth 250 168.828 42.65 0.000 84
No. 17 Carhartt Ford
2. Jeff Gordon 250 169.133 42.57 1.464 64
No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet
3. Kyle Busch 250 169.276 42.53 6.980 0
No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota
4. Greg Biffle 250 170.665 42.19 9.132 16
No. 16 3M Ford
5. Kurt Busch 250 167.993 42.86 11.328 2
No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge
6. Denny Hamlin 250 168.575 42.71 12.008 0
No. 11 Fed Ex Freight Toyota
7. Carl Edwards 250 167.973 42.86 13.657 1
No. 99 AFLAC Ford
8. Tony Stewart 250 168.646 42.69 16.610 3
No. 14 Old Spice / Office Depot Chevrolet
9. Jimmie Johnson 250 169.133 42.57 17.380 74
No. 48 Kobalt Tools / Lowe's Chevrolet
10. Brian Vickers 250 168.417 42.75 21.325 0
No. 83 Red Bull Toyota
11. Juan Montoya 250 168.330 42.77 24.315 1
No. 42 Target Chevrolet
12. Kasey Kahne 250 168.130 42.82 29.316 0
No. 9 Budweiser Dodge
13. David Stremme 250 167.695 42.94 31.174 3
No. 12 Penske Championship Racing Dodge
14. David Reutimann 250 168.044 42.85 32.755 0
No. 00 Aaron's Toyota
15. Michael Waltrip 250 167.950 42.87 35.995 0
No. 55 NAPA Toyota
16. Jamie McMurray 250 166.366 43.28 39.015 0
No. 26 Crown Royal Ford
17. David Ragan 249 167.738 42.92 1 0
No. 6 UPS Ford
18. Travis Kvapil 249 168.177 42.81 1 0
No. 28 Farmers Insurance Ford
19. Clint Bowyer 249 168.753 42.67 1 0
No. 33 Cheerios / Hamburger Helper Chevrolet
20. Bobby Labonte 249 168.224 42.80 1 0
No. 96 ASK.com Ford
21. Reed Sorenson 249 166.871 43.15 1 0
No. 43 Charter Communications Dodge
22. Marcos Ambrose 249 165.320 43.55 1 0
No. 47 Little Debbie Toyota
23. Sam Hornish Jr. 249 166.474 43.25 1 0
No. 77 AAA Insurance Dodge
24. Casey Mears 249 168.248 42.79 1 0
No. 07 Jack Daniel's Chevrolet
25. Elliott Sadler 249 166.779 43.17 1 0
No. 19 Best Buy Dodge
26. Joey Logano 249 167.275 43.04 1 0
No. 20 Home Depot Toyota
27. Martin Truex Jr. 249 165.746 43.44 1 0
No. 1 Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats Chevrolet
28. Ryan Newman 248 168.319 42.78 2 0
No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet
29. A.J. Allmendinger 248 166.933 43.13 2 0
No. 44 Charter Communications Dodge
30. Robby Gordon 248 167.602 42.96 2 0
No. 7 Jim Beam Toyota
31. John Andretti 248 166.289 43.30 2 1
No. 34 Window World Chevrolet
32. Jeff Burton 247 164.873 43.67 3 0
No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet
33. David Gilliland 246 164.967 43.64 4 0
No. 71 Unsponsored Chevrolet
34. Jeremy Mayfield 245 162.785 44.23 5 0
No. 41 All Sport Energy Drink Toyota
35. Aric Almirola 242 80.339 89.62 8 0
No. 8 Guitar Hero Chevrolet
36. Scott Riggs 240 164.911 43.66 10 0
No. 36 Red Bank Toyota
37. Paul Menard 221 162.719 44.25 29 0
No. 98 Menards Ford
38. Kevin Harvick 207 168.118 42.83 43 0
No. 29 Shell / Pennzoil Chevrolet
39. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 205 116.298 61.91 45 0
No. 88 AMP Energy / National Guard Chevrolet
40. Mark Martin 179 99.357 72.47 71 1
No. 5 CARQUEST / Kellogg's Chevrolet
41. Scott Speed 172 63.852 112.76 78 0
No. 82 Red Bull Toyota
42. Dave Blaney 50 107.339 67.08 200 0
No. 66 Unsponsored Toyota
43. Joe Nemechek 37 126.214 57.05 214 0
No. 87 Unsponsored Toyota
Race Statistics
Average Speed of Race Winner: 135.839 mph.
Time of Race: 3 hours, 40 minutes, 51 seconds.
Margin of Victory: 1.463 seconds.
Caution Flags: Five for 43 laps.
Lead Changes: 19 among 11 drivers.
Lap Leaders: J.Johnson 1-43; J.Andretti 44; Ku.Busch 45-46; J.Johnson 47-77; J.Gordon 78-85; G.Biffle 86; C.Edwards 87; J.Gordon 88-127; G.Biffle 128-142; J.Gordon 143; J.Montoya 144; M.Kenseth 145-170; J.Gordon 171; T.Stewart 172-174; M.Martin 175; M.Kenseth 176-195; J.Gordon 196-209; D.Stremme 210-212; M.Kenseth 213-250.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): M.Kenseth, 3 times for 84 laps; J.Johnson, 2 times for 74 laps; J.Gordon, 5 times for 64 laps; G.Biffle, 2 times for 16 laps; T.Stewart, 1 time for 3 laps; D.Stremme, 1 time for 3 laps; Ku.Busch, 1 time for 2 laps; C.Edwards, 1 time for 1 lap; J.Montoya, 1 time for 1 lap; J.Andretti, 1 time for 1 lap; M.Martin, 1 time for 1 lap.
Top 12 in Points: 1. M.Kenseth, 385. 2. J.Gordon, 304. 3. Ku.Busch, 294. 4. T.Stewart, 294. 5. G.Biffle, 268. 6. C.Bowyer, 266. 7. M.Waltrip, 264. 8. D.Ragan, 262. 9. C.Edwards, 260. 10. J.Montoya, 256. 11. E.Sadler, 248. 12. D.Reutimann, 248.
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