Kenseth beats Edwards to Busch win

Polesitter and 2006 champion Kevin Harvick had swapped the lead with Kenseth in the early stages, but then began to fade near half-distance.

Edwards and Kenseth swept past Harvick, with Kenseth passing Edwards for the lead soon afterwards. Once in front, Kenseth simply disappeared - his lead margin as large as eight seconds before full course yellows intervened.

A slightly slow final stop put Kenseth back to fourth as Edwards hit the front again. It didn't take Kenseth long to recover to second when the green flag flew on lap 180, but his chase of Edwards was delayed as Paul Menard and Denny Hamlin tried to stop Kenseth getting away from them.

Within a few laps Kenseth had managed to shake off his pursuers and close in on Edwards, eventually making it back into the lead with nine laps remaining and pulling away to secure victory.

"We had a great car all night," said Kenseth. "It was really, really awesome on a long run."

The winner had a late scare when he sensed what he feared might be an engine problem.

"I always have demons when we're running good," Kenseth joked. "It just skipped a couple of times going into Turn 1 and then didn't run right for about two or three laps, but then it just cleared up and ran again.

"So I don't know it it was my imagination or what it was."

Edwards had his hands full with Menard and Hamlin in the closing moments, but managed to cling on to second. Harvick slipped to sixth, behind JJ Yeley.

Chassis adjustments at his first pit stop helped Juan Pablo Montoya make determined progress from 31st in the starting line-up to 10th place, although he dropped back to 14th in the last stint.

He still fared significantly better than fellow stock car newcomer Sam Hornish Jr. The IRL IndyCar Series champion was involved in an accident after just three laps and had to retire as a consequence.

Results

Pos  Driver              Make       Laps
 1.  Matt Kenseth        Ford        198
 2.  Carl Edwards        Ford        198
 3.  Paul Menard         Chevrolet   198
 4.  Denny Hamlin        Chevrolet   198
 5.  J.J. Yeley          Chevrolet   198
 6.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet   198
 7.  Dale Earnhardt Jr.  Chevrolet   198
 8.  Kasey Kahne         Dodge       198
 9.  Todd Kluever        Ford        198
10.  Johnny Sauter       Chevrolet   198
11.  Clint Bowyer        Chevrolet   197
12.  David Reutimann     Dodge       197
13.  Brian Vickers       Chevrolet   197
14.  Juan Montoya        Dodge       197
15.  Scott Wimmer        Ford        197
16.  John Andretti       Ford        197
17.  Stacy Compton       Ford        196
18.  Jon Wood            Ford        196
19.  Jason Leffler       Chevrolet   196
20.  Ashton Lewis        Ford        196
21.  Casey Atwood        Ford        196
22.  Steve Wallace       Dodge       196
23.  Joe Nemechek        Chevrolet   195
24.  Mike Skinner        Dodge       195
25.  Mike Wallace        Dodge       195
26.  Kenny Wallace       Ford        195
27.  Jay Sauter          Chevrolet   195
28.  Stephen Leicht      Ford        195
29.  Erin Crocker        Dodge       195
30.  Bobby Labonte       Chevrolet   195
31.  Regan Smith         Ford        194
32.  Auggie Vidovich     Dodge       194
33.  Carlos Contreras    Dodge       194
34.  Brent Sherman       Chevrolet   179
35.  Danny O'Quinn Jr.   Ford        177
36.  Ron Hornaday        Chevrolet   172
37.  Shane Huffman       Chevrolet   163
38.  Greg Biffle         Ford        161
39.  Brad Keselowski     Chevrolet   127
40.  Jorge Goeters       Chevrolet   84
41.  Kyle Busch          Chevrolet   66
42.  Reed Sorenson       Dodge       43
43.  Sam Hornish Jr.     Dodge       20