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Updated: 1:29 p.m. Sunday, March 4, 2007 | Posted: 11:15 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 25, 2007
The victory was Kenseth's first of the season and 15th of his Nextel Cup career.
"That was a special one its pretty awesome to do the double here," said Kenseth.
Three-time California Speedway winner Gordon brought the field to the green flag to begin the 250-lap event, but before they got to the backstretch for the first time, Kasey Kahne owned the lead. Gordon continued to slid back through the top-10.
The first caution flag flew on lap eight when Scott Riggs got loose and collected Jamie McMurray and Reed Sorenson.
After three early caution flags, the field was jumbled with different strategies. Kyle Busch led the race with Saturday's Busch Series winner Kenseth in second place.
Kenseth took the lead on lap 31, ducking to the bottom of the track and in front of Busch. His lead grew to more than two seconds by lap 40 and 3.641 second 10 laps later.
Then without notice, two challengers suddenly pulled into the garage on lap 69 - Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kahne. It appeared both had engine problems.
"I was really, really worried about the motor situation going into this race because in out test in Las Vegas we blew two motors," said Earnhardt Jr. "We'll get a good look at it (the engine) and see what we need to do before we go to Vegas."
Though both Earnhardt Jr. and Kahne would return to the track, they would be more than 50 laps behind the leaders.
Kenseth had company out front and both Tony Stewart and Jeff Burton took turns with the lead. The No.17 Roush Racing Ford was still the leader as the field passed the 100-lap mark. Clint Bowyer and Daytona 500 winner Kevin Harvick were also in the top-seven as Richard Childress Racing cars were having another good day.
On lap 113 Dave Blaney's Toyota, another contender, coasted into the garage with no oil pressure. The oil pump belt had been knocked off and the engine was "cooked."
Kenseth was still the leader at the mid-point of the race having led 58 of 125 laps.
Could we go a second straight week with a driver sweeping both the Busch and Cup events?
After winning the pole, but losing the lead in the first turn, Gordon finally got his five-point bonus when he led lap 136. But Kenseth took the lead back on the next lap.
However, their side-by-side battle brought Bowyer and Stewart within striking distance. Kenseth and Gordon continued to play with each other and Stewart took advantage of their games to grab the lead on lap 149.
During the next green flag pit stops Stewart was caught speeding leaving him a lap down. With Stewart out of it, Kenseth and Gordon resumed their battle at the top.
Stewart wasn't giving up however. He was faster than the leaders and up to 17th by lap 170. The No.20 Home Depot Chevrolet cracked the top-10 on lap 192.
Up front, about 22 seconds ahead of Stewart, was the trio of Kenseth, Gordon and 2006 Nextel Cup champion Jimmie Johnson. They were about three seconds ahead of fourth-place Burton at lap 190.
Another round of green flag pit stops and this time Johnson was your leader with Kenseth, Gordon and Burton behind him. Just 50 laps remained to be run. Johnson was posting his best laps of the day and at lap 210 held one second on Kenseth and four seconds on Gordon and Burton.
Gordon dropped from the contenders with 32 laps to go - he was just not able to stay with Burton. Harvick passed Gordon for fourth with 31 laps to go.
So barring a late flag, the race was down to three drivers, Johnson, Kenseth and Burton. Then with 25 laps to go a caution flag for debris set a 20-lap shootout to the checkered flag. It also meant Stewart, who was in 10th but 20 seconds back, had one last shot at the victory.
A final round of stops and the No.17 Roush crew did the job getting Kenseth out first. He was followed by Burton Harvick Gordon and Johnson. On the restart, Kenseth put a lapped car between himself and Burton. It worked and Kenseth opened up a 0.669-second lead. He set his fastest time of the day on lap 232 to expand the lead to 1.157-seconds. Meanwhile, Stewart battled up to seventh and was still charging.
Harvick passed his teammate Burton for second place with 15 laps to go and he was slightly quicker than Kenseth.
Could he cut into Kenseth's lead and make it a "race?"
Harvick cut the margin in half with eight laps to go. He was going to be able to reach his rear bumper, but would he be able to pass him?
Then with seven laps to go David Reutimann crashed after being hit by Greg Biffle to bring out one last caution flag. The race was stopped to clean up the accident damage.
The single-file restart came with five laps to go, but Kevin Harvick's luck ran out, he had a left-front tire go flat just as they were set to go to green.
So the race was between Kenseth, Burton and Gordon.
Burton spun his tires on the start and both Gordon and Johnson flew around the outside of Burton. But no one could catch Kenseth and he completed the weekend sweep.
"I thought it was going to slip away, the No.29 was better and had some bad fortune there at the end," said Kenseth.
"I'm proud of this Dupont team for coming back to finish second, that's a great effort for us," said Gordon.
Johnson, Burton and Mark Martin completed the top-five.
After one week off, the next race in the series is set for Sunday, March 11th at the newly revamped Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
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