Matt Kenseth has not finishes worse than 11th in his past four races. Credit: Autostock

Kenseth disappointed despite second-place run

JOLIET, Ill. -- Despite running second, his best finish of 2005, Matt Kenseth was far from jovial in Joliet.

That's because Kenseth dominated Sunday's USG Sheetrock 400 at Chicagoland Speedway, leading 176 of 267 laps. But when Kenseth took four tires on his final pit stop, he was able to run down everyone but winner Dale Earnhardt Jr., trailing by four-tenths of a second at the finish.

USG SHEETROCK 400 •   Unofficial Results •   Unofficial Standings Final lapsJeff Gordon wrecks and Junior makes a late pass for the lead Waltrip wrecksMichael joins the list of drivers who have hit the wall More tire issuesSadler blows a tire and hits the wall in the tri-oval Kasey in the wallKahne slows and gets punted into the wall by McMurray Feeling downCarl Edwards cuts a tire and hits the wall hard Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

"You always try to be a gracious loser but it's a tough one when you lead all day and we had the field by two or three tenths depending on how hard I wanted to run it," Kenseth said.

"It's disappointing to give it away. It's tough to lead almost every lap and get beat at the end on pit strategy. It's a tough loss for us to take but we've been gaining some momentum and running a little bit better and more what we're capable of."

Kenseth grabbed the lead from Greg Biffle on Lap 65 -- and except for giving up the lead on caution flag pit stops -- had the top spot for the next 180 laps, pulling away from the competition.

At that point, debris on Lap 245 brought out another caution -- so Kenseth and nearly everyone else on the lead lap stopped for new tires. However, while Kenseth's crew put four tires on the No. 17 Ford, Earnhardt's team opted for two tires and track position.

Earnhardt came out behind Scott Wimmer, who didn't pit, while Kenseth was stuck back in seventh.

"Every time a caution came out, if we had run more than 10 laps, we came in and got four tires," Kenseth said. "We really didn't have anything to talk about all day."

"When the caution came out, I just let Robbie [Reiser] [make the call for four]. I wasn't going to argue with him," Kenseth said of his crew chief's decision.

Kenseth said the leader is a sitting duck in that situation, because other teams can use different strategies to gain positions.

"I knew some guys were going to get two and there may even be a couple of guys who were going to gamble and stay out," he said. "It's difficult to pass when you get behind because of aerodynamics and how fast we're going."

Even then, Kenseth still thought 20 laps would be enough to chase down either Wimmer or Junior. But shortly after the restart, Mike Bliss got into Jeff Gordon, spinning both cars into the wall and bringing out the 10 and final caution.

"On the first restart, I passed three cars and the caution came out," Kenseth said. "I knew that the way we were racing, we were losing a lot of time to the leader."

Kenseth said he passed three cars immediately following the restart, but got held up trying to get back to the front while Earnhardt was in clean air.

"I still thought we had a shot at them," Kenseth said. "When we got that last caution, we just didn't have enough time left.

"If it had gone green for 20 laps or 19 -- whatever it was -- on the last restart, I still think we would have won the race."