Kenseth takes advantage of caution to get victory in Kansas

Matt Kenseth won the race off pit road after taking two tires under caution, and a No. 20 Toyota that had been strong all day slowly pulled away.

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The cars of Kyle Busch (18) and Joey Logano got stuck together after a violent wreck that sent debris across the track.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Matt Kenseth knew that he had a front-running car Sunday.

It was simply a matter of getting there.

So when a caution flag came out with several leaders on pit road, and Kenseth found himself leading the pack into the pits, he had a feeling things were going his way.

"That was the key," he would say later.

Kenseth won the race off pit road after taking two tires under caution, and a No. 20 Toyota that had been strong all day slowly pulled away. Kasey Kahne trimmed into the lead once he moved into second, but Kenseth managed to block every move he tried to make.

Kahne pulled alongside him entering Turn 4 with the white flag flying, but Kenseth pulled back ahead along the front stretch and then cruised to the win at Kansas Speedway.

"When it was in front, we knew it was really fast," Kenseth said after his second straight win at the track. "And if we could get out there first, we'd be tough to beat."

It was the third straight win from the pole in the Sprint Cup series.

Jimmie Johnson did it two weeks ago at Martinsville, and Kyle Busch did the same last weekend at Texas. The last time three straight winners came from the pole was in 1985, when Bill Elliott and Dale Earnhardt combined to do it at Michigan, Bristol, and Darlington.

"The fastest car is supposed to win, right? That's what racing is about," Kenseth said. "I think it's a little bit of a coincidence, the way things worked out."

Points leader Johnson finished third with a car that kept getting better during long, green flag runs. Martin Truex, Jr., came home in fourth, and Clint Bowyer was fifth.

Matt Kenseth won the race off pit road after taking two tires under caution, and a No. 20 Toyota that had been strong all day slowly pulled away.

"Matt's good. He always has been," Johnson said. "He impresses me in his ability to lead the team, make adjustments on the car, and his knowledge of the car, but most importantly, inside the car, and finding a little bit more. The guy can do it."

So can Brad Keselowski, who put a positive spin on an ugly week for Penske Racing.

Keselowski picked up some minor damage to the rear of his car early in the race, and fell a lap down when he was slow getting off pit road under caution. The damage kept getting worse as the laps ticked along, and eventually a huge piece of his rear end ripped off.

The No. 2 team managed to get it fixed up enough, and Keselowski slowly picked off positions in the waning laps to finish a heartening sixth after a frustrating week.

Penske Racing is appealing heavy sanctions handed down by NASCAR after an unapproved rear-end housing was found on its two cars last week at Texas. The penalties include six-race suspensions for seven-crew members, including both crew chiefs, $200,000 in fines, and 25-point penalties.

The date of the appeal hasn't been set, allowing both teams to arrive in full at Kansas.

"Usually you're not happy unless you win," Keselowski said, "but you know, a day where you can fight through adversity like we did today and get a solid finish, that's kind of a win."

Logano didn't have the same chipper feeling.

He was struggling to find speed when Busch got in trouble along the wall, shot down to the apron of the track, and smacked into his No. 22 Ford in a devastating head-to-head collision. The wreck knocked both cars out of the race and left debris scattered all over the asphalt.

"What was going through my mind? 'This is going to hurt,'" Logano said. "I was committed to going by him on the bottom at that point and as soon as I committed to it, he started heading down the race track. At that point I was just kind of screwed."

Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., spent most of the afternoon running at the front, with Kenseth chasing the No. 17 Ford that he drove to victory last year at the newly resurfaced Kansas Speedway.

But Stenhouse was among several leading drivers, including Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle, who were forced to pit under green with about 50 laps to go. They were just getting back onto the track when the rear bumper on Keselowski's car that had been hanging on by a thread finally came loose.

The metal chattered across the track and brought out a caution.

Kenseth beat Truex in the race off pit road — critical at Kansas, where a second groove didn't start to round into shape until late in the race. Kahne had them both in his sights, but by the time he moved into second place, Kenseth had more than a full second on the field.

"I felt like restarting fourth, I needed to get to third, to second, and to first as quickly as I possibly could," Kahne said. "I got by Jimmie and when I got to Truex, I just went around him before he could block the move, but by then, Kenseth was already gone."

Kahne, trying for his first win at Kansas, took advantage of some lapped cars to pull within a car-length with about seven laps left, only to slip backward when the traffic thinned out.

He made one last charge with two laps remaining, pulling door-to-door in Turn 4. But he couldn't make the move stick, and Kenseth pulled away over the final lap for the win.

"We had a good car, and everything worked out at the end," Kenseth said. "We were in front for the last pit stop, and that was the key."

Another tough day in Kansas for Busch

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Busch hit just about everything during another lousy weekend at Kansas Speedway.

The driver of the No. 18 for Joe Gibbs Racing had to go to a backup car after wrecking in practice. Busch also crashed out of the Truck Series race Saturday. He then spun twice more Sunday, the second time colliding with Logano and ending his afternoon early.

Busch was running 22nd when he slid up the track, turned sideways, and headed for the apron. He hit Logano nose to nose in a bone-rattling wreck, leaving debris scattered over the track.

Asked if he was OK, Busch radioed back to his team, "Kansas, right?"

Indeed, Kansas.

Last weekend's winner at Texas, Busch has a rough history at the vexing 1½-mile tri-oval. It's one of six tracks on which he's never won, and he entered the weekend with an average finish of 21st at Kansas — an average that didn't improve with his 38th-place result Sunday.

"Spun twice on our own," Busch said. "Just don't know what to do with Kansas."

Busch also won earlier this year at Bristol and had matched a career best by finishing in the top five the last five races. But he dropped to seventh in the standings after his rough afternoon at Kansas and is 57 points adrift of Johnson heading to Richmond.

Busch said he was having trouble finding grip early in the race over the recently repaved surface of Kansas Speedway, and that caused him to get sideways in the corner.

Logano had nowhere to go.

"Just trying to get back up to the front and making some gains, but the car just snaps out from you every corner," Busch said.