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Delayed
NASCAR race ends FORT WORTH — Matt Kenseth took the lead with a late-race, two-tire stop and drove to an easy victory Monday in the rain-delayed Samsung/Radio Shack 500. It was the second victory of the season for the former NASCAR Winston Cup rookie of the year, who solidified his hold on second place — behind Sterling Marlin — in the season points. The leaders made their final pit stops on lap 308, in the last of seven caution periods in the 334-lap event at Texas Motor Speedway. Kenseth, who had been battling at the front with Tony Stewart, got a very fast pit stop and came back out ahead of Jeff Gordon, who also took only two tires. Stewart had taken two tires on his previous stop to get track position and was forced to take four this time. He slid all the way to eighth and never got back into contention, finishing well off the pace in fifth. “Clean air was a big deal,” said Kenseth, who will celebrate his 30th birthday Wednesday. “If you were up front and had clean air, you were in pretty good shape. We were up front when it counted.” Kenseth, who has five top-10 finishes in seven starts this season, including a victory in Rockingham, N.C., was listed as starting 31st in the 43-car field, but actually had to pull to the back of the field for the green flag after blowing an engine in practice Friday. Under
NASCAR’s new one-engine rule, the teams must use only one motor
for the entire race weekend or start the race from the back. “This was awesome,” he said. “I never thought we’d have a shot at winning it today. Passing was real hard. Once you got up to another car, it took the air off the front and made you push up toward the wall. Once we got to the front we were real fast, but it was tough before that.” The green flag waved for the final time with 22 laps remaining, and Kenseth’s Ford Taurus pulled steadily away from Gordon, who had his hands full with Kenseth’s Roush Racing teammate Mark Martin. Gordon’s Chevy was able to hold off Martin’s Ford for second, but Kenseth won by 0.888-seconds — about eight car-lengths. For Gordon, the four-time and defending series champion, it was his best finish since a victory in Kansas City last September. Ricky Rudd, who led in the early going, wound up fourth, followed by Stewart, rookie Jimmie Johnson and Marlin, who now leads Kenseth by 70 points. It appeared through the first half of the race that defending race winner Dale Jarrett, Rudd’s teammate, had the best car in the field. He led a race-high 134 laps and was running second on lap 229 when he ran out of gas coming off turn two and had to coast to the pits. He then got trapped in his pit stall behind Gordon’s car for about 10 seconds and wound up losing two laps. He finished 24th. Crowd favorite and former Texas winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. hit the wall on lap 184 after a brush with the lapped car of Shawna Robinson, the only woman in the field. Ward Burton and Robby Gordon were also involved in single-car crashes. None of the drivers were injured. |
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TCU Daily Skiff © 2002 |
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