Matt Kenseth made it back to victory lane - 2 in a row!"You need everything to go right to be able to win these races. Our car handled really good all day. We had excellent pit stops. Fourth one from the end, we were a little bit off. I started complaining. All of a sudden they got me three or four spots every stop. The pit stops were really important to our outcome. Their adjustments were really important.It wasn't easy, but it was just good enough to hold them off." - Matt Kenseth
Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR
It's the 3rd win for Kenseth at the California track and the 5th straight February win for Jack Roush. Kenseth led 3 times for the race high 84 laps.
Matt Kenseth becomes the 1st driver to win the first 2 races of the season, since Jeff Gordon won 2 in a row in 1997. It was Gordon who gave Kenseth a late race challenge for the lead. Gordon led 5 times throughout the race for a combined total of 64 laps. Gordon finished 2nd. Jeff Gordon:
I'm so excited about this race team right now. I just think we're head and shoulders above where we were. I know it's just a couple races in and this is one race. I love the way the car was driving. To be able to battle and go to the front like that, have solid pit stops, I'm just really, really excited and also really bummed out we didn't win the race tonight.
Felt like we had the car. Matt was awful good in the pits as well as on the track. That last run, we made one little adjustment. I didn't mind if he got out there on us, but when I started running him down, I was like, We got him, we got him. Then my car started getting tighter and tighter and tighter.
As I got to him, I moved around, went to every groove I could possibly find, and the car just wouldn't turn. I kind of knew with about 20 to go that we probably, unless he made a mistake, weren't going to get him. You know, ran as hard as I could and had a great race. Really proud of this team. It's a great start to the season.
Kyle Busch didn't lead any laps, but finished a respectable 3rd place and short on his goal to become the 1st driver to win 3 different series races in NASCAR's top 3 in one weekend. Kyle Busch:
"It's never been done before, so it's definitely a challenge. We know that. I've won two in one weekend a few times. In Atlanta last year was probably my best shot to do the three. We won Friday, Saturday we led the most laps and were leading with 20 to go, and we had a shock break, put us in the wall, then we won on Sunday. The last one's always the hardest to get. They leave it the hardest to get because it's on Sunday and it's the biggest show. You know, I don't know. It's not easy in this sport. But never is. But maybe one day."
There were 5 cautions for 43 laps; 4 of which were for rain. There were 19 lead changes among 11 drivers.
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