Kenseth fills in and gets the victory at Charlotte

CONCORD, N.C. -- In his first Nationwide Series start of the season -- and his first ever in the current generation of Nationwide race car -- Matt Kenseth out-dueled Roush Fenway Racing teammate Carl Edwards to win Saturday's Top Gear 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Subbing for sidelined Trevor Bayne, Kenseth's Nationwide win was the 26th of his career. Edwards ran second, followed by Kyle Busch, pole-sitter Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Reed Sorenson. Brad Keselowski, Steve Wallace, Brian Scott, Aric Almirola and Elliott Sadler completed the top 10.

In his Nationwide debut, Kimi Raikkonen fought the handling of his No. 87 Toyota before a pit-road speeding penalty and damage to the front splitter relegated him to a 27th-place finish.

Within one victory of tying Mark Martin for the career wins lead in the series at 49, Busch passed Edwards for the lead on Lap 60 and held it -- with the exception of Lap 74 under caution -- until Kenseth slipped past him at the finish line to complete Lap 103.

Kenseth was still out front after a cycle of green-flag pit stops when caution flew on Lap 148 because of debris on the backstretch. Kenseth, Kevin Harvick, Stenhouse, Keselowski, Sorenson and Joey Logano were among those who came to pit road for fuel and tires on Lap 150, while Edwards, Busch, Kasey Kahne and Jason Leffler stayed out, confident they had enough fuel to go the distance.

Edwards, who last pitted on Lap 137, pulled away from Busch after a restart on Lap 155 and maintained a half-second lead on Kenseth. In the final 15 laps, however, Kenseth closed the gap and challenged his Roush Fenway Racing teammate for the top spot.

On Lap 195, they swapped the lead, with Kenseth powering past Edwards through Turn 2 and Edwards regaining the point in Turn 3. Kenseth made the pass stick on Lap 198 and pulled away to win by .763 seconds as Edwards ran out of gas at the finish line.