Kenseth drives to Busch victory

Matt Kenseth passed teammate Carl Edwards for the lead with 11 laps to go Saturday night at Homestead, Fla., then pulled away for his second consecutive Busch Series victory.

Kenseth won last week in Phoenix, but had to hold off Kevin Harvick in a three-lap sprint to the finish to claim the win. This time he led 90 laps, lost the lead on a poor pit stop, and had to chase down Edwards to reclaim it.

Once out front, there was no catching him. The win was wrapped up when Jay Sauter spun on the final lap to bring out the caution and freeze the field. It was the third Busch win of the season for Kenseth and 21st of his career.

Now he’ll try to carry it over into today’s Nextel Cup finale. He heads into the race trailing points leader Jimmie Johnson by 63 points.

“Oh man, I learned some stuff; Jimmie’s in big trouble,” Kenseth deadpanned.

Harvick, meanwhile, finally got to celebrate the Busch Series title he won four weeks ago. Even though it has long been clinched, NASCAR waited until the season finale for the championship celebration.

From the Associated Press

*

Tony Jones of Norco closed out the USAC/CRA sprint car season by winning the 40-lap Jack Kindoll Classic at the Perris Auto Speedway.

Having the best season of his racing career, Jones started the evening by out-qualifying the 41-car field in time trials. Starting eighth in the feature race, he inherited the lead 10 laps from the finish after Mike Spencer suffered a mechanical failure.

“I’m not sure what happened to Spencer, I’m just thrilled to be driving for the Alexander Brothers, who gave me the best car on the track,” Jones said, adding that he wouldn’t have believed at the start of the year that he was going to win eight races.

Cory Kruseman of Ventura, who clinched his first USAC/CRA driving title last weekend in Phoenix, started on the pole and led the first 25 laps before settling for a runner-up finish.

Danny Sheridan of Santa Maria finished third ahead of 2005 USAC National sprint car champion Levi Jones of Olney, Ill.

-- Robert Mayson