Matt Kenseth held off Kasey Kahne over the final 26 laps of Sunday's Kobalt Tools 400 to win his first race with Joe Gibbs Racing on his 41st birthday.
Kahne car was strongest through out the day, leading a race high of 114 laps, but Kenseth found himself out front after he won the race off of pit road with 41 laps to go. Why? Well, because crew chief Jason Ratcliff had made the call to take no tires while most of the rest of the leaders took two.
On the last caution, Kahne had to wait to leave his pit stall as Tony Stewart was entering his pit directly in front of Kahne's. That meant that Kahne restarted in sixth, but his car was strong enough that he was able to work his way back up to second.
"I was real nervous, all day (Kahne) had the best car," Kenseth said in victory lane. "I told (crew chief Jason Ratcliff) with about 12 to go, I'm like 'I'm sorry man, we're going to get beat.'"
Kenseth is just the third NASCAR driver to win on his birthday, joining Cale Yarborough - who did it twice - and Busch.
Defending Vegas champion Tony Stewart finished 11th, while Gibbs driver Denny Hamlin was 15th after an eventful week featuring a $25,000 fine from NASCAR for criticizing the new Gen-6 race car.
The win was the 50th for Toyota in Sprint Cup Series competition. Kenseth is just the third NASCAR driver to win on his birthday, joining Cale Yarborough -- who did it twice -- and Busch.
"I showed them a fake ID when they hired me," Kenseth said with a laugh. "Told them I was 28, going to be 29 this year."
"I'm not a huge goal person, but my goal was to win, and to win early," Kenseth said. "Nobody has put any pressure on me except for myself, but I also know that Coach hired me to come in there, climb in that car and win races. You certainly want to do that, and you don't want to disappoint people. I'm glad we got a win, but it's still only Week 3. I feel like this is the beginning."
It was a great race actually, i enjoyed it a lot.
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