On old tires, Kenseth beats Jarrett at Michigan

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- After an intense battle with rookies Jimmie Johnson then Ryan Newman, and a last-lap scare from Dale Jarrett, Matt Kenseth survived a three-lap shootout to win the Sirius Satellite Radio 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

	Matt Kenseth scored his fourth win in 91 Winston Cup starts. Credit: Autostock

With six laps remaining, Elliott Sadler hit the wall to a red flag. On the restart, Kenseth put the No. 17 DeWalt Ford out front, with Johnson in second. Ryan Newman shot low to pass Johnson and put the pressure on Kenseth.

Newman was then passed by Jarrett -- with four fresh tires -- who bolted from ninth on the restart and now set his sights on Kenseth. As the two battled to the checkered flag, Kenseth crossed first to finish 0.131 seconds ahead of Jarrett.

It was Kenseth's third win this season, and fourth of his career.

"We had a great day on pit road and we got in and out of there quick," said Kenseth, who started 20th. "We struggled a little bit early in the day and I'm glad we're back in Victory Lane.

"We ran well the last two weeks, but we had some things happen like blowing tires and then had a broken transmission last week. I thought for sure I was going to lose it on that last restart.

"Usually, we're not super fast on restarts and they look under me on new tires and it takes awhile for me to get handling well and catch them."

Matt Kenseth takes on fuel only on the last pit stop. Credit: Autostock

Well, Kenseth did what he needed to do on the restart that mattered most. However, he knew exactly who was behind him and what he was up against.

"Then, we had the No. 12 (Newman) and he'd get a good run on me. But, we were able to get him up off the corner and we were able to pull away. I was trying to block him because he was getting a real good run on me in the corners.

"I tried to back him up some and then get right back into the gas and pull away from him. I had a good last two laps, and I guess he didn't."

The victory moved Kenseth up two spots to fifth in points and was his sixth top-five and ninth top-10 finish this year.

While Newman was working on Kenseth for the lead, Jarrett was working as well bolting up from ninth to challenge Newman and then for the lead.

Bill Elliott goes around Dale Earnhardt Jr. Elliott led 31 laps but faded to finish 11th.

Fresh off his Pocono win last week, Jarrett was almost able to take advantage of another drivers disadvantage late in the race to make it two consecutive wins.

"That's two weeks in a row that we've been kind of fortunate to have some good fortune," Jarrett said. "I wish that caution would have come just a little bit earlier, but I don't want to see anyone have bad luck, either.

"Our car was great the first half of the race. It was just incredible. I guess we'll go back and see what may have caused the push I picked up. It just kept getting worse and worse and then it got to a plow instead of a push.

"When we decided to take four tires, I was all for that. I just needed one more corner because my car was faster on those four tires than the other cars."

Jimmie Johnson spent 180 laps in the top 10 but finished 14th, the last car on the lead lap. Credit: Autostock

Jarrett registered his fourth top-five finish and remains 12th in points.

Newman, driver of the No. 12 Alltel Ford, knew the shootout was a make or break situation and gave it all he could.

"All you can do is hang it out there for three laps and see what happens there at the end," Newman said. "I got a run on Matt (Kenseth) there in Turn 1 and I didn't know if it was going to stick, but I tried it anyhow.

"I cost myself a little big coming off of Turn 12 and that's when Dale (Jarrett) got by me going down into Turn 3. I love to drive this track; it's a good track we can go three and four wide on this track.

Newman was then asked why he went into Turn 1 so aggressively on the last restart not knowing if the car would stick to the asphalt.

Ricky Rudd gets a quick gas-and go on the final pit stop. Rudd finished eighth. Credit: Autostock

"That's how you win the race, that's what it's all about," Newman said. "Seriously, Jimmie Johnson had been running low and I kind of expected him to go low underneath Kenseth. He didn't do it, so I just took the initiative."

Newman was third with Michael Waltrip, Jeff Gordon, Johnny Benson, Rusty Wallace, Ricky Rudd, Mark Martin and Kurt Busch rounding out the top 10.

There were 15 lead changes among 10 drivers with Jarrett leading the most laps (71). Four cautions for 16 laps produced a race time of 2 hours, 35 minutes and an average speed of 154.822 mph.