By: Pete Pistone / MRN
Matt Kenseth became the third driver in Sprint Cup Series history to win on his birthday when he took the checkered flag in Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Kenseth held off Kasey Kahne in a closing laps to battle to score his first win as a member of Joe Gibbs Racing and the 25th of his career.
“This is awesome,” Kenseth said. “I just want to thank the Lord for this opportunity. I just knew it. I felt really good about this group and I really feel like this is just the beginning.”
The 41-year-old joins Kyle Busch and Cale Yarborough, who turned the trick twice, as the only drivers to win on their birthdays.
“I was real nervous all day,” said Kenseth. “(Kahne) had the fastest car. … I didn’t have the fastest car at the end but had it where we needed to be. It was great pit stops, great pit strategy and we were in the right place at the right time, and we took advantage of it.”
While Kahne led 114 laps, it was a late race pit stop call by Kenseth and crew chief Jason Ratcliff to take fuel only that gave the No. 20 Toyota driver track position and helped him win the race.
“I felt like I could have gotten there,” Kahne said. “I could turn down in the center of the corner and carry a ton of speed doing it. I felt confident I could do it when I got to him, but when I got to Matt I couldn’t do it.
“I tried it all, lifting early and lifting late. He did a really good job keeping his momentum and speed up. He put up a great battle and pulled it off on old tires, a good job.”
Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards rounded out the top five.
“Never ever give up,” said Keselowski who rallied back from challenges including on pit road. “Never give up. This team doesn’t and we didn’t today. You get a good run like we did and that is a product of that effort.”
Busch had a very fast car and charge back from an early pit road speeding penalty to challenge for the win.
“I wish we had had a little more at the end and wish we had a little more long-run speed,” said Busch. “We’ve got some work to do. But it’s good to see the 20 in victory lane for the first time.”
Edwards followed up his Phoenix victory a week ago with a fifth place performance on Sunday.
“We wanted better but I think if I would have done a better job on my restarts then we would have been better,” said Edwards. “We were sliding all over the place out there. I am sure we wore out some steering boxes and that was a good race. That was as hard as we could drive. Congrats to Matt and those guys.”
Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick and Paul Menard completed the first ten finishers.
There were 22 lead changes among eight drivers and five cautions for 25 yellow flag laps. The average speed was 146.287mph.
Johnson leads Keselowski by five in the Sprint Cup Series point standings with Earnhardt Jr. eight behind.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series now heads to Bristol Motor Speedway for next Sunday’s running of the Food City 500.
