FONTANA, Calif. -- Jeff Gordon knew if he could get to Matt Kenseth in the closing laps of Sunday's Auto Club 500, he could pass him. By the way, so did Kenseth. But even though Gordon was able to close right up on the back bumper of Kenseth's Ford with less than 20 laps to go, unlike earlier in the evening, he couldn't motor past.
And so with his 1.464-second victory, Kenseth becomes the first driver since Gordon in 1997 to win the Daytona 500 and again the following weekend. And like last weekend, weather was a factor. A persistent drizzle forced the first four caution flags, but unlike the race on the other side of the continent, Mother Nature relented enough to let this one go the distance.
And the few fans willing to take a few hours to forget California's economic meltdown were treated to a classic showdown
"I had the best seat in the house for that battle," third-place driver Kyle Busch said. "It was a good show for the fans. To see two superstars put on a show like that was great."
It wasn't surprising that the race came down to and was settled by NASCAR's two biggest and best mega-teams -- Jack Roush and Rick Hendrick -- but few people would have expected the drivers to be Kenseth and Gordon, two former Cup champions who went winless in 2008.
Twice in the final 100 laps, Kenseth's crew put the No. 17 out in front with perfect pit stops under caution, but Gordon and Greg Biffle were able to run him down once the race resumed. So when they accomplished the feat again on Lap 209, Kenseth felt it was only a matter of time before it happened again.
"I thought [Gordon] was going to pass us," Kenseth said. "I kind of have a bad habit -- some people call me a pessimist but I think it's more of a realist -- but when we took off the runs before that, we got out to a lead and ran some real fast laps and led Jeff by 15, 20 car-lengths and he just ran us down, rolled by and took off. And Greg rolled by me and took off. I couldn't do anything. I was just doing the best I could."
But the difference came down to a pair of adjustments, one for each of the combatants.
"We made some adjustments to it and they got us out in front again," Kenseth said. "And we took off, and right away, I could feel that it was better, but I didn't think it was that much better. I was getting looser as I ran and with as many laps as were left, I honestly thought 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 that he ran us down.
"I thought it was about over, but I guess they tightened his up a little bit, too tight, and I was able to hang on. These things are real sensitive. We made the perfect adjustment and the perfect pit stop."
Behind the wheel of the No. 24 Chevrolet, Gordon cut Kenseth's lead in half on Lap 230 and was directly behind the leader when the two cars crossed the start/finish line. But an adjustment made on Gordon's final stop made his car tighter than he would have liked.
"I didn't mind if he got out there on us, but when I started running him down, I thought, 'Oh yeah, we've got him, we've got him,'" Gordon said. "And my car started to get tighter and tighter and tighter."
"We got to him and I moved down and went to every groove I could think of and possibly find and the car just wouldn't turn."
Gordon tried the high side and couldn't get by. He tried down low, with similar futility. And at that point, Gordon realized the race was Kenseth's to lose.
"I knew with about 20 [laps] to go that probably unless he made a mistake, we weren't going to get him," Gordon said. "But I ran as hard as I could. We had a great race and I'm proud of this team and it's a great start to the season.
"I'm very bummed out that we didn't win the race [Sunday night]. I felt like we had the car and Matt was awful good in the pits as well as on the track."
