Kenseth’s Ford Is Just Too Good

Kevin Harvick was asked a post-race question about Matt Kenseth, and he instead deflected it to Michael Waltrip, who had just entered the room.

“Did the best car win today?”

Answered Waltrip in full stride: “Yeah, I chased him all day.” Neither Waltrip -- nor the rest of the field, for that matter -- could hold up against Kenseth, who won the NASCAR Busch Series CaliforniaSpeedway.com 300 on Saturday.

All Kenseth did in a Ford was come from deep in the field -- twice.

Kenseth started 19th but passed pole-sitter Harvick on Lap 21 to grab second place. On Lap 32, Kenseth passed Waltrip. Ten laps later, while running second to Waltrip, Kenseth pulled out of the pits without a lug nut, and was black-flagged back into the pits to get it fixed.

Since he was at the back of the lead pack, he pulled back into the pits a third time to top off with fuel.

“You’re never happy going from the lead to 26th,” said Kenseth, who actually dropped to 17th. “But we were going so fast. As long as I didn’t make a mistake and wreck the car, I knew I had a chance.”

Back in 17th, and taking the green flag on Lap 47, Kenseth needed 17 laps to crack the top 10, and by Lap 82, he pulled into third place. He passed Harvick again on Lap 90 and Waltrip on Lap 97, slipping underneath Waltrip’s Chevrolet in Turn 2.

He led for 45 of the final 54 laps, including the last 32.

“He ran through there like we were in a different race,” Waltrip said.

They were, because Kenseth had the field covered. After the final restart, Kenseth led Waltrip by 0.882 seconds at the finish line, Harvick by 2.4 seconds.

“I really like this facility,” Kenseth said. “We seem to adapt really well here, and we had a really fast car. It was fun.”

It was Kenseth’s third victory at California Speedway. He won for car owner Robbie Reiser in 1999 and 2000.

“This is a family-owned, low-budget team -- Robbie and the family foot the bill for the whole team,” Kenseth said. “It feels good for me and the Reiser family to get back to Victory Lane. Last year they couldn’t find a sponsor for any of the Busch races, and they did everything they could to keep their doors open. It feels good to get a sponsor [Aleve] on the car and win a race for them and try to keep that business alive for them.”

Kenseth ran only four races for Reiser last season. He won $67,975, and was followed to the checkered flag by the Chevrolets of Waltrip and Harvick.

The highest-finishing Busch Series driver was second-year driver Kasey Kahne, 23, the only driver in the top six who is not a Winston Cup regular. Kahne’s fourth-place finish in a Ford was twice as good as his previous career best, eighth.

Series leader Todd Bodine took fifth in a Chevrolet, followed by Jamie McMurray in a Dodge.