Kenseth 2 for 2 in 2009 NASCAR after win at California

It’s a foregone conclusion that Matt Kenseth won’t win *every* race on the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule.  After a winless 2008, however, Kenseth’s Roush Racing team isn’t going to complain about that.  They’re too happy having won the first two races of the 2009 season, adding this week’s Auto Club 500 victory to last week’s win at the Daytona 500.

Unlike last week, which ended in anticlimactic fashion after the final 48 races were called on account of rain the victory at California was dramatic to the very end.  Kenseth held off a determined charge from second place Jeff Gordon on the last few laps and beat the #24 Dupont Chevy to the finish line by just under a second and a half.  After the race Kenseth said that he was gravely concerned that Gordon was going to catch him for the victory:

"I honestly thought that we were going to be too loose at the end and he was going to catch us," Especially  when  I couldn't get away from him that time he ran me down and got right on my bumper [on lap 231]."

"I thought he was going to pass us again. Some people think I'm a pessimist, but I think I'm more of a realist. ... I don't even know what we changed. It wasn't easy, but we were able to hold them off."

Kenseth sounded much happier and less ‘realistic’ when praising his team and the effort that produced the victory:

"Just great team, great crew, great, great engines. You just need everything to go right, really to win these races."

"It's such a great team. I just thank these guys on the crew. They gave me a great stop and got me in clean air and that's just a huge difference.

"Our car handled really good all day and we had excellent pit stops. About the fourth one from the end, I started complaining and then, all of a sudden, they started getting me three or four spots every stop."

Second place Jeff Gordon was also pleased with his team’s performance despite falling just short of victory:

"It was a lot of fun.  This is a new team and they showed it tonight. We've still got a little bit of work to do. I'm so excited on one side because we ran so well and we started out the season so great, but I'm still mad on the other side because I felt like we had what it took to win tonight."