Kenseth claws back to finish sixth

RICHMOND, Va. -- In today's NASCAR, where parity reigns supreme, the possibility of a driver coming back from two laps down to contend for victory is a virtual impossibility.

	Matt Kenseth

That said, the feat is especially arduous on short tracks, where the "rubbin's racin'" philosophy comes with the territory.

Don't tell that to Matt Kenseth, who did that very thing Sunday at Richmond International Raceway.

Kenseth was running third in the early stages of the Pontiac 400 Saturday night when he engaged in a door-to-door battle with Steve Park. The two cars collided, resulting in a damaged header pipe on the exhaust system of Kenseth's Ford.

Kenseth was forced into the pits to assess the damage, but heavy rain fell over the Richmond area, red-flagging the race until the following day.

When the race resumed, Kenseth was eighth in the running order, but immediately steered down the pit lane so that his team could begin repairs and also fix a damaged brake line.

Kenseth lost two laps during the yellow and restarted 42nd when the green flag flew.

No matter. Through pit strategy, a record-tying 14 cautions and a truckload of luck, Kenseth managed to make up both laps lost in the pits, an by lap 284 he had surged into the top 10.

When the checkers flew, he ventured home with a sixth-place finish and a secure grasp on second in the championship point standings.

"That was a great run. Everybody worked really hard and they did a great job of fixing our problem," Kenseth said. "They only lost two laps fixing it and we had a lot of stuff to fix there. We had a lot of problems, but we overcame all of them today and came back to get a top-10 finish out of it."

A sixth-place finish after starting two laps down in 42nd place is quite impressive, but Kenseth feels as if he had a bit more to offer.

"I would have liked to finish better because I thought our car was better than a sixth-place car," he said. "But I'm not gonna complain too much for how far we were in the back and how far we had to come today."

Kenseth's two wins -- at Rockingham and Texas, respectively -- plus four top-five and seven top-10 finishes in the first 11 races, rank him just 132 points out of the lead in the chase for the championship.

Sunday's effort was pivotal in that battle. Heading into Richmond, Kenseth ranked third behind second-place Kurt Busch and leader Sterling Marlin, some 161 points out of the lead.

He has now passed Busch, his Roush Racing teammate, and made up 29 points on Marlin.

"That kind of performance is what wins championships," crew chief Robbie Reiser said. "We came here with a car capable of winning, had some serious problems that were worse than we originally thought, and got a top-10. Matt is an awesome racecar driver, and this team is amazing. I could not be happier."