Kenseth makes it two in a row

The champion's ninth Nextel Cup win was vintage Kenseth. Starting from the middle of the pack, he was running with the leaders by the end of the first pit stops under caution on lap 39. He took the lead from Tony Stewart after the second caution on lap 94, and from then on he fought the race out from the front.

Two wins from three races has gone a long way to dispelling the comments made about Kenseth after last season when he was accused of racing for points rather than wins, and he is clearly enjoying himself. "It's pretty bad to the bone so far," he said afterwards. "It's been fun. It's been nice getting the extra points for winning!

"It's been a fun two weeks - the most fun I've ever had driving a racecar in my life. I've got the greatest race team in the world and man are these things fun to drive."

As expected with the new regulations, which require a shorter rear spoiler and softer tyres, it has become harder for drivers to stay in the sweet spot and several early front-runners, including Kahne and Jamie McMurray fell right off the leading group mid-race. McMurray's Chip Ganassi entry actually clipped the wall in Turn 4 and required some attention during the second of six race cautions.

"I got into the wall early on and it didn't really knock the tow out it just knocked the fender in and the car got really tight," he said, "But I fought back."

Both the Dodge drivers came on strong late in the race in fact, and with 20 laps to go the order was Kenseth, Kevin Harvick whose RCR Chevrolet was competitive all day, Tony Stewart - another to be consistently up front - McMurray, Kahne and local boy Kurt Busch.

As Kenseth built on a two second lead secure in the knowledge that he had enough fuel to make it to the flag after 40 laps under green, Harvick fought to keep Stewart behind him. But with five laps to go Harvick's race was run having gambled on a risky fuel strategy and lost. By this time Stewart was by him, but at the expense of his front tyres.

Kahne, who had flown back through the field after running wide mid-race and wrecking a set of his own tyres, seized his chance. Stewart defended hard and traded paint more than once but had to give way to the youngster, who has not finished lower than third in his three-race Nextel Cup career.

"You can't go out and just run real hard," said Stewart. "I mean that's how we lost second to Kahne. I burnt my tyres out trying to get by Harvick and if I had known he was going to run out of fuel I would have taken it a bit more easy!"

McMurray was fourth ahead of veteran Mark Martin, who ran a solid race, and Elliot Sadler. Casey Mears scored his best ever Nextel Cup finish in seventh ahead of Bobby Labonte, Busch and Rusty Wallace.

Kenseth also moved into the lead of the points chase after a dismal performance from erstwhile series leader and Daytona 500 winner Dale Earnhardt Jr who was forced to turn the race into a test session after dropping four laps down before half distance.