Happy Birthday Matt Kenseth. When most people head to Vegas for a birthday weekend, its normally filled with lots of drinks, parting, girls and a lot of bad choices made by all, not for Matt Kenseth. He became only the third driver ever to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup race on his birthday and it just so happened to come in Las Vegas.
“Man, this is awesome. All Day he (Kahne) had the best car, and I told Jason (Rarcliff, Crew Chief) with about 12 (laps) to go –I apologized to him, ‘Like I’m sorry man, I’m beat.’ I was getting too tight and I was killing the right front (tire),” Said Kenseth after the race in the Neon Garage victory lane. “I just had to make sure I stayed in front of him. Didn’t have quite the fastest car there at the end, but we had it where it needed to be. Great pit stops. Great pit strategy. We were in the right place at the right time. Took advantage of it today.”
Kenseth earned his 25th career NASCAR Sprint Cup victory in just his third start in the JGR Toyota after leaving Roush Fenway in the offseason. He took the lead away from Kahne out of a late restart and fended off Kahne’s Chevrolet over the final laps, adding another trophy to his Las Vegas victories in 2003 and 2004.
Pole sitter Brad Keselowski finished third, with hometown driver Kyle Busch in fourth and Dale Earnhardt Jr. fifth.
Kenseth is just the third NASCAR driver to win on his birthday, joining Cale Yarborough – who did it twice – and Busch.
