Kenseth celebrates 41st birthday with win at Las Vegas
Mar. 10, 2013
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
LAS VEGAS, Nev.—Happy birthday, Matt Kenseth!
Kenseth
held off Kasey Kahne in a 26-lap green-flag run to the finish Sunday to
win the Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
In
winning the 25th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race of his career, Kenseth,
who turned 41 Sunday, became the third driver in series history to win
on his birthday, joining Cale
Yarborough and Kyle Busch in that exclusive club.
Kenseth
crossed the finish line .594 seconds ahead of Kahne, who led a
race-high 114 laps. Defending series champion Brad Keselowski ran third,
followed by Kyle Busch and Carl
Edwards. Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Martin Truex Jr., Kevin
Harvick and Paul Menard completed the top 10.
Johnson leaves Las Vegas as the series leader, five points ahead of Keselowski and 10 ahead of third-place Earnhardt.
Kahne
had opened a lead of more than two seconds over Johnson when the engine
in Travis Kvapil’s Toyota exploded in Turn 4, trailing smoke and
dropping oil on the track.
During
pit stops under caution on Lap 226 of 267, Kenseth and Keselowski opted
for fuel only and left pit road 1-2, with Johnson, Edwards, Earnhardt
and Kahne—all of whom took
two tires—trailing behind them.
Kahne
lost five spots in the pits after his egress from his pit stall was
blocked by Tony Stewart, who had to slow down on the way to his pit box
to avoid Kenseth, who was
leaving after the fuel-only stop.
Kahne
got two spots back after a restart on Lap 231, but his progress was
interrupted on Lap 235 when Ryan Newman’s Chevrolet blew its engine on
Lap 235.
After the subsequent yellow, Kahne restarted fourth on Lap 242. Kenseth kept the No. 5 Chevrolet at bay the rest of the way.
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