Considered boring in both personality and the way he relied on consistency over wins to earn NASCAR's top title last season, Kenseth shed the image Sunday by nipping rookie Kasey Kahne at the finish line of North Carolina Speedway to win the Subway 400.

"It feels great to come here and be able to win and lead all the laps right out of the box -- that doesn't look like us," he said. "Some people have said we can't lead laps and we can't win races, we just go finish seventh every week. So it was awesome to go out and do it." More