It was by no means the most exciting race in NASCAR history as two of the 19 passes made in the Auto Club 500 at Auto Club Speedway in California were made in the pits. Making matters worse were the various bands of weak rain showers that passed over the track causing four different caution periods. Nonetheless, after 3 hours, 40 minutes, 51 seconds of racing and after all was said and done, it was Roush Fenway Racing's Matt Kenseth — after leading the last 38 laps — crossing the finish line 1.463 seconds ahead of the #24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Jeff Gordon. For Kenseth, who won last Sunday’s Daytona 500, it was his second consecutive victory.

“Great team. Great engines. You need them all to win races in this series,” said Kenseth who is off to a hell of a start in 2009.

Although he has not won a NASCAR Sprint Cup race since October 13, 2007, Californian Jeff Gordon drove a great race in Fontana. Gordon led 64 of 250 laps on the 2-mile speedway and actually passed Kenseth for the lead on Lap 198. Then, on Lap 209, the last caution flag of the race was thrown when Kevin Harvick of the Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet heavily clouted the outside wall. With the lead cars hitting the pits immediately thereafter, Kenseth’s Roush Fenway Racing pit crew was slightly quicker and more efficient than that of Gordon’s thus Kenseth barely beat him out of the pits to reassume the number one on-track position. Out front in the lead and with clean air pushing the nose of his Ford into the track and optimizing the car’s handling, Kenseth simply kept Gordon behind him to win the race.

Disappointed and desperate for a win, Gordon remained optimistic in the pit area after the race was run. “This is a new team and they showed it tonight,” said Gordon. “We’ve still got a little bit of work to do, but, man, I’m so excited because on one side, we ran so good and we started off the season so great, but I’m so mad on the other, because I felt like we had what it took to win tonight.

“Matt Kenseth, you’ve got to give those guys a lot of credit on that 17 team,” Gordon said. “They had great pit stops. They adjusted there and made his car a little bit better, and we made an adjustment that made mine a little bit too tight. When I caught him, I just couldn’t do anything with him. He drove a great race, didn’t make any mistakes.

“It was bittersweet, but we’ve got to come away with this with a lot of positive feelings,” he said. “Because we’re a long ways ahead of where we were at this time last year. I’m pumped. I’m really excited about this season.”

Kyle Busch was third in the Auto Cub 500, followed by Roush-Fenway Racing’s Greg Biffle and Penske Racing South’s Kurt Busch. Hendrick Motorsport’s Jimmie Johnson was an off-song ninth while Casey Mears placed a lowly 29th.

Eric Johnson