Matt Kenseth has an average finish of 8.6 through seven races. Credit: Autostock

Kenseth charges from rear for second-place run

FORT WORTH, Texas -- If there was any doubt before last weekend that Matt Kenseth and his Roush Racing team had what it took to challenge for the 2006 Nextel Cup Series crown, they dispelled it Sunday.

Kenseth, who won the 2002 Samsung/RadioShack 500 from the 31st starting position, almost repeated the feat Sunday in a new-look Ford fielded by a new-look team when he finished a charging second behind race winner Kasey Kahne.

Matt Kenseth knew he wasn't going to beat Kasey Kahne's No. 9 Dodge. Credit: Autostock

Samsung/RadioShack 500 Official Results Pos. Driver Make 1. Kasey Kahne Dodge 2. Matt Kenseth Ford 3. Tony Stewart Chevy 4. Denny Hamlin Chevy 5. Kevin Harvick Chevy 6. Jeff Burton Chevy 7. Scott Riggs Dodge 8. Martin Truex Jr. Chevy 9. Mark Martin Ford 10. Bobby Labonte Dodge • Complete results, click here • Official standings, click here Victory LaneKasey Kahne celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the Samsung/Radio Shack 500 Final lapsKasey Kahne passes Tony Stewart down the stretch Hard hitCarl Edwards' bad luck continues as he wrecks on Lap 257 Lite tap?Contact with Kurt Busch sends Greg Biffle to the garage Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

"I don't think I could be much happier," Kenseth said. "A few races [this season] we came up short that maybe we had a chance to win and didn't win, but these guys have done such a great job.

"We've been contenders every week and we've got a lot of momentum right now and these guys are operating at a championship level, so it's a lot of fun to be a part of."

The exclamation point to the effort was that it came from the tail-end starting position, necessitated when crew chief Robbie Reiser and his men had to make an engine change Saturday afternoon.

It didn't matter, and in his eighth start on Texas' fast, 1.5-mile oval, Kenseth broke a two-race drought of 20th-plus finishes. Only Kahne's lightning quick Dodge made a second victory this season impossible.

Despite leading the points once already this year and being no worse than third since he started the season 15th at Daytona, Kenseth shook his head when asked if he ever considered "points racing" Sunday.

"Whenever I get asked this question it's the same," Kenseth said. "It pays the most points to win and lead the most laps [but] it could have paid a million points to win and I couldn't have caught Kasey Kahne.

"I don't think I could have caught him with eight tires to tell you the truth, he was so fast at the end [but] you're always running as hard as you can to try to get up there and that's the best we had our car all day."

Kenseth was no slouch in the race's first 330 laps, either, but he hailed his crew for that.

"We started in the back and had an OK car," Kenseth said. "I don't think we had the car as good as [Tony Stewart's, who led the most laps], but we just had great pit stops.

"They just adjusted on the car a lot and got it better and got us the right adjustments we needed at the end to be part way competitive. We had it the best it was all day at the end so it was a good job by those guys."

And if the team has stepped up its level Kenseth, who learned how to win a championship in 2003 when he won the title, has done the same on the way to recording his fourth top-five finish this season in only seven starts.

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He's also stepped up his qualifying, earning top-11 spots in four of seven races; but when the team discovered it had to change an engine Saturday and forfeit its sixth starting position, Kenseth was nonplussed.

"Honestly, it didn't really bother me at all," Kenseth said while walking away from his post-race media briefing. "We seem to do well when we start in the back, for some reason, so starting in the back really didn't bother me.

"I knew the track is in much better shape than it was four or five years ago. It's really widened out and you can pass really good, so I wasn't too concerned about it.

"Doug Yates and those guys [Roush Yates Engines] do a great job with the engines, so I was confident they knew what the problem was and that they'd put an engine in there that would work out."

	Credit: Autostock
	Inside the Numbers Matt Kenseth in 2006 Site Start Finish Rank Daytona 11 15 15 Fontana 31 1 3 Las Vegas 9 2 2 Atlanta 27 13 3 Bristol 7 3 1 Martinsville 16 24 3 Texas 6 2 2 MATT KENSETH •   2006 Driver Page

With Sunday's result, Kenseth knows and appreciates what he's working with.

"The guys are really on it right now," Kenseth said. "Things can change. It's a really long season and things can change, but man, they're really pumped up, and they're working hard.

"They're so much fun to be around and they have a lot of energy. They love going racing and I love going racing, so right now I feel like we've got a lot of momentum and I feel real good about it -- but there's a lot of racing still to do."

Kenseth finally said he wouldn't trade much about his year.

"From my point I don't think my season could be a lot better than what it's been, really," Kenseth said. "We've had cars that have been contenders basically every week, except for probably Martinsville and there we had a top-10 car before I wrecked it -- so I don't think my season could be any better.

"We've had just super-competitive cars, the group is really energized and having a lot of fun. It's a little different group and they're excited to be at the racetrack and they're giving me great stuff, so for my part I don't think it could be a lot better."