KFDM COOP Posted March 13, 2006 Report Posted March 13, 2006 Johnson passes Kenseth for last-lap win at Vegas LAS VEGAS -- It took Jimmie Johnson 270 laps to get to the front Sunday, but that was soon enough. Johnson took advantage of a late-race caution flag Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, catching and passing Matt Kenseth in a two-lap overtime sprint to the finish in the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400. 1. Jimmie Johnson Chevy 2. Matt Kenseth Ford 3. Kyle Busch Chevy 4. Kasey Kahne Dodge 5. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet Victory LaneJimmie Johnson celebrates his Las Vegas victory Final lapsJohnson passes Kenseth in the last turn to take the win Runner-upKenseth disappointed with his second-place finish Rough racingThings get heated between Stewart and Kyle Busch Early cautionsNewman and Sorenson both smack the wall hard Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836 Johnson's No. 48 Chevrolet surged past Kenseth's No. 17 Ford on the outside after the two sped side-by-side through the third and fourth turns on the 1.5-mile oval for the final time. The winner crossed by finish line 0.115 seconds -- about half a car-length -- ahead as he led a lap for the only time in the 271-lap event. Johnson said he sympathized with Kenseth for getting beat that way, noting he lost to Carl Edwards on the same kind of move last spring in Atlanta and then edged Bobby Labonte with an outside pass on the last lap in May at Charlotte. "I was slowly catching Matt before that last caution," Johnson said. "I think we could have got up there to race with him but, if it stayed green, I believe Matt had it in the bag. Then we got that last yellow. "I thought long and hard about what I would do if I was protecting the lead. I knew I wanted to be on the outside. I faked kind of to the bottom and he kind of bought it." Asked if he thought about trying to block Johnson's move to the outside, Kenseth said, "I was running in the groove where my car was the fastest. If I had to redo it right now, I don't think there was anything I could have done different." Johnson is off to a great start in 2006, winning the Daytona 500 and finishing second two weeks ago in California before taking his 20th career win on Sunday. And he's doing it without crew chief Chad Knaus, banned by NASCAR for the first four races of the season after making unapproved modifications to Johnson's car in Daytona qualifying. With lead engineer Darian Grubb stepping in for Knaus, Johnson will head to Atlanta Motor Speedway next week with a 52-point lead on Kenseth in the standings. It was Johnson's second consecutive victory at Vegas, but this one was a lot harder than 2005 when he led 107 laps. It appeared through most of the race that Kenseth was going to get an easy win after being handed a victory two weeks ago in California when front-runners Greg Biffle and Tony Stewart encountered late-race engine problems. ENGINES EXAMINED LAS VEGAS -- NASCAR spent Sunday night examining the motors from five of the top-running cars in the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400. NASCAR tore down the engines of race-winner Jimmie Johnson and runner-up Matt Kenseth in the garage area at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The engines of Mark Martin, Kasey Kahne and Kyle Busch were taken by NASCAR and will be torn down at the NASCAR Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C. NASCAR takes engines, often with little notice, to measure their horsepower and gauge parity between teams. The sanctioning body selects engines that represent all three manufacturers, sometimes taking up to 10 motors from the 43 finishers. Kenseth, who won at Vegas in 2003 and 2004, led a race-high 146 laps and was out front and almost assured of victory before a collision between rookie Denny Hamlin and Kenny Wallace brought out the last of seven caution flags on Lap 264 of the race scheduled to go 267 laps. A dejected Kenseth told his crew by radio his engine didn't feel strong for the restart, but he was able to hold off Johnson for a lap-and-a-half after the green flag waved for the final time on Lap 270. "Sorry, you guys won a race and I lost it," Kenseth said to his crew. "Can't do no more, I don't know." All three Cup races this season have gone into overtime because of late-race cautions. After getting out of the car, Kenseth said, "Nobody likes to run second. We led all day. ... If I tried any harder, we were going to wreck. I just got beat." Local boy Kyle Busch, who ran second to Johnson last year, finished third, followed by Kasey Kahne, Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin. Two-time and reigning Cup champion Stewart had his second consecutive disappointing finish after running fifth in Daytona. He led 54 laps Sunday and stayed in the top five until the last few laps when he had a tire rubbing and fell back into the pack, finishing 21st. Stewart became angry at Busch late in the race, reaching out the window and shaking his fist at the younger driver and bumping the rear of Busch's car at one point. The defending champ is 19th in the standings, already 236 points behind Johnson. The 20-year-old Busch, who was criticized by Stewart at Daytona for being too aggressive on the racetrack, said he didn't feel he was doing anything wrong but would be glad to talk with Stewart about it. "With about 40 laps to go, it's time to race and time to get after it and that's what I was doing," said Busch, last year's top rookie. "If I did something and aggravated Stewart, well, I'm sorry."
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