Report: Kenseth wins at Rockingham

The Ford driver, who dominated much of the event, took the win under yellow caution flags caused by a couple of late-race spins.

Kenseth was running third behind Sterling Marlin and Bobby Labonte with eight laps to go when Robby Gordon spun while trying to pass Jimmie Johnson, and on the same lap Ken Schrader tagged the wall. The result was an oil slick on the track which slowed the leaders coming out of Turn Four. Kenseth took his chance and dived under both Marlin and Labonte to take the lead and, once the yellows came out, he just had to cruise round the one-mile oval until the chequered flag flew.

"Everything went our way," said Kenseth. "I came into Turn Four and those two guys were almost stopped and I was able to get under them."

Marlin and Labonte were confused that NASCAR did not decide to halt the race with red flags to set up a final sprint and avoid finishing under yellows, a move that was taken last week at the Daytona 500. "I can't understand the red flag situation," said Marlin. "It hurt us last week and cost us again today." Meanwhile, Labonte called for some consistency on how to judge such situations.

The race set a new Rockingham record of 10 yellow flag periods. After just four of them, Kenseth had moved into the lead from his lowly 25th on the grid.

Behind Marlin and Labonte, Tony Stewart took fourth, ahead of pole winner Ricky Craven.

Matt Kenseth Ford
Sterling Marlin Dodge
Bobby Labonte Pontiac
Tony Stewart Pontiac
Ricky Craven Ford
Jeff Burton Ford
Jeff Gordon Chevrolet
Rusty Wallace Ford
Bobby Hamilton Chevrolet
Kenny Wallace Chevrolet

For the full results click HERE.