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Raining Champ: Kenseth Takes Daytona

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By TONY FABRIZIO

afabrizio@tampatrib.com

Published: February 15, 2009

DAYTONA BEACH - Matt Kenseth's one-victory championship in 2003 drew so many darts from fans and media that NASCAR changed the point system the next year.

What now after his win in Sunday's rain-shortened Daytona 500 - rain tires and windshield wipers?

Likely not.

The Wisconsinite whose accomplishments never seem to get the acknowledgment they merit will go down as a deserving, if lucky, Daytona 500 champion. He benefited from a 10-car wreck triggered by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Brian Vickers and a perfectly timed party-ender by Mother Nature.

When the race was called after 152 of 200 laps, the "dull and unemotional" Kenseth - mocked as a robot in a Nextel commercial - couldn't keep his voice from breaking.

"It's going to be really wet out here because I'm crying like a baby, but I've got to thank my team and thank the Lord for giving me this opportunity," Kenseth said outside his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford in Victory Lane.

Runner-up Kevin Harvick, the 2007 race winner, welcomed Kenseth into the fraternity of 500 champions.

"I think in the garage it will definitely be a popular win," Harvick said. "Matt's obviously a pretty stand-up person and a great racecar driver. He's one of those guys that can win seven or eight races in a year and never receive any credit."

The fourth Daytona 500 in 51 years shortened by rain - the first since Michael Waltrip's 109-lap victory in 2003 - was called only a few minutes after NASCAR brought the cars to pit road with a red flag.

Kenseth passed Elliott Sadler for the lead a half-lap before Tampa's Aric Almirola spun out after being bumped by Kasey Kahne. That occurred on Lap 146, and the race never went back to green.

While everyone waited to see whether NASCAR officials would try to wait out the rain and dry the track, Kenseth hoped for the heavens to open up. As it turned out, there was just enough rain still on the way to end the night.

A.J. Allmendinger, who landed a part-time ride with Richard Petty Motorsports last month, finished third. Clint Bowyer finished fourth for Richard Childress Racing's new No. 33 team and Sadler in Petty's No. 19 Dodge wound up fifth.

A heartsick Sadler, that is.

"To be a half-lap short of being the champion of the Daytona 500 is very emotional for me," he said after leading 24 of the last 25 green-flag laps. "I had a chance to win it. Just made one mistake off Turn 4. I didn't drag the brake enough.

"I thought maybe if I blocked to the outside, somebody might come with me. But they Kenseth and Harvick had such a good head of steam."

Rain threatened the race from the outset, with the early morning forecast calling for a 90 percent chance of showers at race time.

The green flag dropped on time, but the radar - which all of the crew chiefs were watching - showed a band of precipitation closing in from the northwest. The approaching rain created a sense of urgency, and with that, the kind of aggressive driving normally seen in the final 20 laps.

Kyle Busch led the most laps in the race for the second consecutive year - 88 this time. But he was in the wrong place when Earnhardt, who admitted later he was upset about being penalized a lap for being slightly out of bounds in his pit box, charged hard on a restart.

Earnhardt wanted to pass Brian Vickers to put himself in position to get the free pass that would go to the lead driver one lap down with the next caution, but Vickers, who was also a lap down, aggressively blocked him.

The block dropped Earnhardt below the yellow no-passing line. When he came back up the track, he clipped Vickers' left rear, turning the No. 83 into track.

Busch was among those collected. So were Denny Hamlin, Johnson, Jamie McMurray and Carl Edwards in capable cars.

Vickers and Earnhardt blamed each other, with Vickers questioning why Earnhardt wasn't penalized for aggressive driving, as Jason Leffler was in Saturday's Nationwide Series race.

Earnhardt said he did nothing wrong.

Kenseth had to drop to the back of the field in a backup car, as did Tony Stewart, who drove through the field to lead once for 15 laps and finish eighth. Jeff Gordon was the only other driver to lead double-digit laps (12), and he finished 13th after having a tire problem.

Earnhardt, after finishing 27th, joined a parade of drivers who wanted to congratulate Kenseth.

"He always said he wanted me to tutor him on these plate tracks," he said. "He finally got his trophy, and he can give me some pointers now."

Reporter Tony Fabrizio can be reached at (813) 259-7994.

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