Las Vegas, NV (Sports Network) - Matt Kenseth celebrated his 41st birthday on
Sunday by winning the Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Kenseth gambled on tires late in the race and then held off a hard-charging
Kasey Kahne in the closing laps to claim his 25th career Sprint Cup Series
victory but his first with Joe Gibbs Racing. It came in just his third start
with JGR's No. 20 team. Kenseth, the 2003 series champion, spent the past 13
seasons with Roush Fenway Racing.
On their last pit stops, Kenseth and Brad Keselowski took fuel only and came
out of the pits first and second, respectively, while the other front runners
put on two new tires. Kenseth led the final 41 laps on old tires.
Kahne, who led the most laps with 114, finished 0.6 seconds behind Kenseth.
Keselowski, the defending Sprint Cup champion, finished third, followed by
Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards, who won last weekend's race at Phoenix. Busch
bounced back from a pit-road speeding penalty early in the race.
Danica Patrick finished six laps down in 33rd after starting 37th. The
starting lineup for this race was determined by owner points since qualifying
was rained out on Friday.
The Sports Network