This is a guest post by Vince Evans. Vince has grown up around cars but is currently in between rigs after his 1980 Firebird flew the coop. When he’s not trying to resurrect American muscle he writes about NASCAR or New York used cars.
Matt Kenseth maneuvered his way into the victory lane in Sunday’s Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with a solid race, brilliant tactical planning, and non-stop defensive driving late in the race.
It was Kahne that was the race favorite with the fastest car on the track, not to mention his home field advantage. Kahne lived up to much his fan’s hopes by leading 113 laps. Matt Kenseth hung back while maintaining a position in the top ten drivers. It wasn’t until the second to last caution flag that Kenseth became a serious contender for the victory lane. As the rest of the racers pit stopped for fresh tires, Kenseth’s team decided to trade the potential of a better performing car for a restart at the front of the pack. On the restart Kenseth pushed his car, completing his fastest lap of the race and assuring that only he and Kahne were the contenders for victory lane.
Kahne, with two fresh tires, quickly returned to second place. With the fastest car in the practice round and fresh tires, Kahne’s car was in better condition than Kenseth’s. Kahne’s victory would have been assured if he passed Kenseth. During the last 25 laps, Kenseth, knowing Kahne would attempt to pass on the inside of the track, he blocked each attempt. He maintained his lead position through a second caution flag and final restart and then once again put a gap between the two lead drivers and the rest of the race.
When that led to lapping Danica Patrick and other drivers, the lapped drivers moved to the bottom of the track, leaving a gap at the far end of the track for Kenseth to drive without his lead position being jeopardized by Kahne passing under the lapped drivers or Kenseth losing enough speed for Kahne to pass. The few seconds that it took to overtake the lapped drivers allowed Kenseth a slight lead and a break from blocking Kahne’s attempts to pass. As the number of laps to the finish dwindled, Kenseth continued to block and Kahne continued to slow after each attempt to pass.
In the end it was Kenseth that finished first, earning himself a third Kobalt 400 victory to go with his wins in 2003 and 2004. Sunday’s win also landed Kenseth in the record books as the third NASCAR driver to win a race on his birthday. At forty-one years old, Kenseth has one win, one top five, and two top ten finishes so far in the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup.
At 93 points, Kenseth is 36 points and six ranks behind the current Sprint Cup leader Jimmie Johnson. If Kenseth can continue to perform as he did in Sunday’s race, he will be a serious contender for the 2013 Sprint Cup.
