Kenseth cruises to second win of year

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Matt Kenseth came from last to win the rain delayed Samsung/RadioShack 500 Monday at Texas Motor Speedway.

Jack Roush (left) with Matt Kenseth

Kenseth won his second NASCAR Winston Cup race of the season in the No. 17 Dewalt Ford and gained 29 points on leader Sterling Marlin in the process by taking two tires on the final pit stop with less than 30 laps remaining.

Kenseth -- who was turning laps of nearly 184 mph in the stretch -- remained in the lead after his pit stop but was behind Jeff Green's end-of-the-lead-lap car at the restart at lap 313.

He quickly passed Green and held the lead to the end of the 334-lap event on the fast 1.5-mile oval.

"It was a great run," said Kenseth, who won the second race of the season, at North Carolina Speedway, from the 25th position. "We were worried about it being a one-groove race track but it didn't turn out to be that way.

	Dale Earnhardt Jr. smacked the wall and finished 42nd.

"The outside groove developed way quicker than I ever could have imagined -- you could run side by side and it was a great race track.

"We were able to start in the back and work to the front and pass a lot of cars. I was concerned about it (but) the car was adjustable and we were able to work with it and the track -- that was the key."

He averaged 142.435 mph and was .888 seconds ahead of Jeff Gordon's No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet, which also took two tires on the final stop and snapped a career-long 14-race skein without a top-five finish.

It had been the worst such drought of Gordon's career.

Kenseth won after his team made an engine change on Friday. As a result, he had to drop back to the rear of the field on Sunday.

"It's about the people," Kenseth's crew chief Robbie Reiser said. "The guys at the shop who put these great cars together for us are the best.

Ward Burton is helped from his car after his crash on lap 171.

"The 97 and 17 (Roush Racing shop mates Kurt Busch and Kenseth) are working together great and so are the 6 (Mark Martin) and 99 (Jeff Burton). It's going good and it's exciting."

All four Roush teams came into the race in the top-10 in points, though Burton suffered an ill-handling car and bouncing off the wall to finish 39th, dropping to 14th in the standings on account. Kenseth is 70 points behind Marlin, while Martin moved up three spots into fifth and Busch dropped two to seventh.

Martin's Viagra Ford, Ricky Rudd's No. 28 Havoline Ford and Tony Stewart's No. 20 Home Depot Pontiacfinished third-fifth.

"It's a team effort and we worked for it," Gordon said. "Thank God for this team --- they never gave up.

"To start where we started from (26th) -- the car was great, we just needed track position. Robbie (Loomis, crew chief) made a great call to take two tires -- we just couldn't catch Matt."

"I wanted to be out front so it could be my race to lose," Kenseth said. "I was more worried about it on cold tires. I figured the other guys had taken two tires because they came out fast.

	Bobby Labonte (front) races brother Terry in the tri-oval.

"I knew we had equal tires and once the tires got warm I knew if I could get a little bit of a cushion I figured I'd have a shot at it."

Rookie of the Year point leader Jimmie Johnson's Chevrolet; Marlin, Jimmy Spencer and Bud Pole winner Bill Elliott in Dodges and former Texas winner Terry Labonte's Chevrolet finished sixth-10th.

Rusty Wallace and Mike Skinner rounded out the lead lap cars, in 11th and 12th. Johnny Benson, Ricky Craven and Dave Blaney were 13th-15th.

The fortunes in the race changed faster than its 180-plus mph lap times.

The final opportunity came at lap 309 when the race's seventh and final caution flew for a spin by Busch's Ford between Turns 3 and 4.

By halfway through the race, at lap 167, leaders Dale Jarrett and teammate Rudd had lapped up to 19th position and led nearly half the total race laps. But just after lap 225, both Rudd and Jarrett ran out of fuel before making green flag pit stops.

By the time the exchange was complete, defending race winner Jarrett had been blocked in the pits and lost two laps -- on his way to finishing 24th -- and Rudd a bunch of ground to leader Wallace.

By the time the exchange was complete, defending race winner Jarrett had lost two laps -- on his way to finishing 24th -- and Rudd a bunch of ground to leader Wallace.

At about lap 250, second-place Raybestos Rookie of the Year contender Ryan Newman blew the engine in his No. 12 Ford while running 11th.

His misfortune allowed Johnson, Rudd, Martin, Elliott, Marlin and Labonte back onto the lead lap when the fifth caution flew.

	Sterling Marlin chases Rusty Wallace into Turn 1.

Earlier in the race, two heavy crashes eliminated contenders Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Ward Burton but resulted in no major injuries.

Burton wore out a right front tire that deflated, causing him to slam into the Turn 1 wall. Burton had negative x-rays of his neck before he was released from the HCA Infield Care Center and was the first car out.

Earnhardt Jr. got tangled up with the lapped car of Shawna Robinson while battling for a top-10 position and backed into the Turn 1 wall. He got out of the car favoring his left shoulder but was treated and released from the infield care center.

His crew repaired the No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet and he returned to the race more than 75 laps down to the leader. However, after about 30 more laps the car's engine failed and Earnhardt retired in 42nd position.

"The car drove OK," Earnhardt said of his short return. "But I forgot to tell the crew there was a hole in the radiator. We burned the engine up. This was not the worst hit I've ever taken, by far. I am fine."