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[/media-credit]For as fast as Matt Kenseth’s No. 17 Best Buy Ford Fusion was winning his second Daytona 500 in four seasons wasn’t an easy Monday night drive.
Kenseth, who won a rain shortened event in 2009, won the 54th Daytona 500 in a green-white-checkered finish over Dale Earnhardt Jr. and teammate Greg Biffle. He became just the ninth driver to win multiple Daytona 500’s and has broken the six-year streak of first time winners.
“It feels great, we even went overtime a little bit since we didn’t quite go the whole distance the first time we won it,” said Kenseth.
“Feels great. We had a really fast car all day, had a lot of adversity to overcome, a lot of problems with the car. We were able to get it figured out and had a great pit stop at the end that put us in position, and it feels great. I wasn’t expecting to win when I woke up this morning, so it feels good to be sitting here.”
Right from the green flag gremlins started to arise. For all 202 laps, 500 miles the team had problems with their radio either static or the team occasionally not being able to hear Kenseth. Fortunately he was able to hear the team and spotter Mike Calinoff.
Then came the water problems, the race wasn’t even 70 laps old. Before pit stops Kenseth told crew chief Jimmy Fennig to get the motor guys ready because they were going to have to work on the car. Fearing that something was keeping the water from staying inside the car, evident by the amount of water that started gushing from it during their pit stop.
But in another round of good fortune Kenseth was able to stay on the lead lap and by the time the race hit the lap 150 mark he was back in the mix.
From there Kenseth dodged the wrecks, a fire and a green-white-checkered finish to lead the final 38 laps, 50 total, on his way to his 22nd career win. It was the second Daytona 500 win for himself and Fennig who won with Bobby Allison in 1988. It was Roush Fenway’s 300th career win.
Kenseth’s win capped off Roush’s week long domination. Biffle and Carl Edwards sat on the front row for the Daytona 500, Kenseth started fourth after winning his Gatorade Duel race last Thursday. Then they finished one, three, eight Monday’s race.
“I think the 16 had one of the strongest cars all week, and I think ours was right there, as well,” said Kenseth. “Our car for some reason was a lot faster out front than it was in traffic. It took a long time to get to the front. But like Thursday once we were in the front, it was hard for anybody to get locked onto you.”
Lessons from Thursday’s Duel helped in the 500. Kenseth knew what his car liked and didn’t like, what it could do and what others would be able to do behind him. But until the very end Kenseth was waiting for Biffle and Earnhardt Jr. to make a run at him, at least he entered turn three and saw that he was sitting pretty.
“Greg, if he could have passed me on the last lap or two laps to go or whatever, he certainly would have,” Kenseth said.
“But we did have a pretty good plan on restarts that worked well together to help both of us get to first and second and get in line, because that’s where our cars were strong was on the bottom when we got in line like that. It was a good combination of working together, trying to help each other, and it was best for both of us to get the best position we could get.”
The position it puts Kenseth in is Daytona 500 winner and current point leader. Still disappointed over how his 2011 Chase ended, he’s looking for more this upcoming season. Heading to Phoenix, where he’s a past winner, Kenseth knows the real season is about to begin and he’s anxious to show he’s ready to contend for the championship again.
“Last year was a great year for us,” Kenseth said. “I think we went almost two years without a win or something like that. So last year was a really special year. I really still to this moment feel like I really let these guys down in the Chase, but I feel like we ran good enough in the Chase performance-wise and as far as what the team gave me to use and what Jimmy did and the pit crew did to race for a championship and we were able to win a few races along the way.
“We were in position to win a few more that we didn’t win. Last year was a great year for us. I think it built a lot of confidence. It really made me feel good and be happy. So you always hope after the offseason to go into the next season and be strong. You never expect to come down here and win, but I didn’t expect to be as strong as we were down here. So I’m real anxious to get to the next few tracks and see how we are.”
