Kenseth takes lucky Fontana win
Matt Kenseth scored a lucky win in the Auto Club 500 to complete a clean-sweep of victories for Roush Racing at the California Speedway in Fontana
Roush Racing's Mark Martin won the truck race on Friday, while Greg Biffle won the Busch event last night.
Biffle also looked certain to make it a double with a Nextel Cup win tonight, before he was forced to retire due to an engine failure with only 25 laps to go.
Biffle led 168 of the first 219 laps and his only challenge came from Tony Stewart. But the reigning Cup champion experienced his first retirement in 31 races when his engine blew up on lap 214.
"It was a good day but a bad day," said Stewart, who was classified last, in 43rd. "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 over Biffle there."
Biffle was clearly the fastest man on track when his Ford engine lost a cylinder on lap 225, forcing him to retire - and leaving the lead to teammate Kenseth.
The Roush Racing driver held off Jimmie Johnson, last week's winner at the Daytona 500, in a final two-lap shootout to cross the finish line 0.338 seconds ahead.
"I feel bad for Greg - he had the best car today," Kenseth said after the race. "But I feel like we had the second or third best car. We have a lot of loyal people who work hard and want to win."
Carl Edwards finished third, ahead of Kasey Kahne in fourth and Jeff Burton in fifth.
Pole sitter Kurt Busch was hit rearward by rookie JJ Yeley, sending the 2004 Cup champion into a spin across the track. Busch finished the race in 16th; Yeley in contrast was eighth.
Pos Driver Make Laps 1. Matt Kenseth Ford 251 2. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 251 3. Carl Edwards Ford 251 4. Kasey Kahne Dodge 251 5. Jeff Burton Chevrolet 251 6. Jamie McMurray Ford 251 7. Casey Mears Dodge 251 8. J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 251 9. Mark Martin Ford 251 10. Kyle Busch Chevrolet 251 11. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 251 12. Denny Hamlin Chevrolet 251 13. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 251 14. Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 251 15. Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet 251 16. Kurt Busch Dodge 251 17. Dale Jarrett Ford 251 18. Brian Vickers Chevrolet 250 19. Scott Riggs Dodge 250 20. Ryan Newman Dodge 250 21. Reed Sorenson Dodge 250 22. Jeremy Mayfield Dodge 250 23. Elliott Sadler Ford 250 24. Jeff Green Chevrolet 250 25. Kyle Petty Dodge 250 26. Robby Gordon Chevrolet 249 27. Joe Nemechek Chevrolet 249 28. Ken Schrader Ford 249 29. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 249 30. Dave Blaney Dodge 249 31. Bobby Labonte Dodge 249 32. Sterling Marlin Chevrolet 249 33. David Stremme Dodge 248 34. Terry Labonte Chevrolet 248 35. Kevin Lepage Ford 248 36. Michael Waltrip Dodge 247 37. Brent Sherman Dodge 247 38. Mike Garvey Chevrolet 247 39. Scott Wimmer Chevrolet 246 40. Stanton Barrett Chevrolet 242 41. Kenny Wallace Chevrolet 237 42. Greg Biffle Ford 229 43. Tony Stewart Chevrolet 214
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