"Matt Kenseth the Man at Auto Club Speedway"

The crowd who did attend the Auto Club 500 saw 50 late race laps of slice and dice hammer and tong racing between 4 time series champion Jeff Gordon, who came up 1.4 seconds short behind the 2003 series champion and Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth. Kenseth, along with crew chief Drew Blickensderfer, is now 2 for 2009. That battle again denied Kyle Busch his chance to sweep all three of NASCAR's National Touring Series (Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck) in a single weekend. The younger brother of 2004 champion Kurt Busch (finished 5th) had to settle for a distant third.

The race had four rain cautions, and some uncharacteristic engine woes for the Hendrick crew of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mark Martin. Kevin Harvick of Richard Childress racing, was NOT "happy" after smacking the turn one wall; he was credited with 38th place.

Points going into Las Vegas:

Matt Kenseth/385

Jeff Gordon/304

Kurt Busch/294

Tony Stewart/294

Greg Biffle/268

Clint Bowyer/266

Michael Waltrip/264

David Ragan/262

Carl Edwards/260

Juan Pablo Montoya/256

Elliott Sadler/248

David Reutimann/248

We'll catch up with you in Las Vegas. In the meantime, you can catch our weekly "Race-Talk" via podcast, and you will not need an iPod to do it. Just enter this in your browser:

http://msrpk.com/podcast/racetalk.rss

"More Texts than Calls; In-N-Out for Kurt"

2009 Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth said he received a lot more texts and e-mails than phone calls. He said that his Sprint Blackberry vibrated like crazy after he won the Daytona 500 last week in the first half hour after the race finished. He thought the David Letterman appearance was cool, but quickly reminded us that the focus had to be turned back to the track and the "rest of the season". Kenseth won here in 2006 and 2007. His teammate Carl Edwards won the rain delayed race last February. Greg Biffle won the February 2005 race here.

We talked with Kurt Busch for next week's "Race-Talk" program earlier today...and the 2004 Sprint Cup champion, like many of us, heads for the iconic In-N-Out hamburger chain for their freshly made products once he gets back to the West Coast and his native Las Vegas. My personal favorite is the "Double-Double, Animal Style" combo. I kid my acquaintances that all the cars I have have an autopilot for the In-N-Out near Los Angeles International Airport on Sepuldeva.

We'll be here for a long day, and post a snapshot from the polesitter for Sunday's West Coast Matinee, later on.

"Drew, Matt and the Cat"

When a driver wrecks a couple of cars at Daytona, you could be in for a long afternoon, especially starting 39th, as did Roush Fenway Racing's Matt Kenseth. But if that driver has quick enough pit work, and can put the car in the right place at the right time, anything can happen--just ask Matt what happened when he passed then leader Elliott Sadler on lap 146 and then the last of eight cautions flew the next lap later. The 2003 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion won the 51st Daytona 500, when NASCAR called the race after 152 laps. 2007 winner Kevin "Happy" Harvick finished 2nd; A. J. Allmendinger 3rd (a popular podium finish and some say not the last one for the driver from Los Gatos, California) Clint Bowyer 4th and Sadler 5th. Rookie phenom Joey Logano was in an accident and wrecked out 43rd...Kyle Busch led 88 laps and was caught up in the "big one"--he was credited with 41st. Tony Stewart led 15 laps and came home 8th...his teammate Ryan Newman not so lucky--36th after all his woes.

We'll be catching breakfast at the Daytona 500 Experience with Kenseth (middle), crew chief Drew Blickensderfer (left) and team owner Jack Roush (right) tomorrow.

"The Blue Oval Gang--2009"

From left to right around the 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid coming to a Ford Store near you:

Jamie McMurray, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, David Ragan and Carl Edwards (Roush-Fenway Racing)

Bill Elliott (Wood Brothers, partial schedule)

Paul Menard (Yates Racing), Bobby Labonte (Hall of Fame powered by Yates) and Travis Kvapil (Yates)

NASCAR says their sport is strong through the turns...we'll see if all of the confidence heard on the tour is true or just whistling past the graveyard. They took a shot at the IndyCar and American LeMans Series, saying that their commitment to green is just a change of fuel, and that ethanol (when everything is considered) puts more emissions into the air than NASCAR...so says Brian Z. France, NASCAR Chairman/CEO. A bit of tunnel vision from the Maximum Leader.

Lowe's Motor Speedway deserves props for putting this on during the economic hiccup.

We'll rejoin you over the 24 Hours of Daytona, and the American LeMans Sebring test.

"Buzzie's Kid on Pole; Red Bull 2nd; Champ starts 30th--Cousin Carl 4th..and still no wins for Kevin 'Happy' Harvick"

David Reutimann (son of Northeast modified legend Buzzie Reutimann) won his first pole in Sprint Cup competition for the season ending Ford 400 at Homestead, with a lap timed at 171.636 miles an hour. Scott Speed jumped into the Red Bull #83 car and proceeded to put it on the front row...while teammate Brian Vickers drove the #84 Red Bull car to a 20th starting position (all about the points for 2009--very important for Speed...since he'll be a rookie without any NASCAR testing).

As for the points race...Jimmie Johnson didn't qualify well...but they don't pay points for qualifying. Johnson will start the race 30th...and if he finishes there, he locks out "Cousin Carl" Edwards, who starts from the outside of Row Number 2 (4th).

What is interesting here, is that the #29 car (pictured above) of Kevin "Happy" Harvick, has yet to visit Victory Lane in 2008..."Happy" starts 5th. The other surprising non winners are Matt Kenseth (3rd) and Jeff Gordon (37th).

But Wait, There's (Really) More: The NASCAR testing ban goes into effect on January 1, 2009. Like all other NASCAR rules, it is written in pencil, with a big eraser. To hear major domo Mike Helton explain, the ban will supposedly save teams 100K per test per car--almost 100 million dollars over the entire industry. No tests can occur at NASCAR sanctioned tracks. Will tests occur? The tire supplier--Goodyear--will continue their program, and benevolent NASCAR will jawbone racing boss Stu Grant to make sure all teams are represented fairly--Stu says no problem.

Fairness is supposedly a part of NASCAR's decision loop. Fairness would dictate a rules freeze for 2009. Fairness and NASCAR are, in reality, mutually exclusive terms.

We'll post some comments and snapshots from the Ford 400.

Also...there will be a very trying time for the industry beginning Monday. NASCAR teams are expected to begin layoffs and downsizing once they return to North Carolina. This downsizing will spread--no doubt--to the way the series is covered by print and broadcast media outlets.

"Beast of the Southeast grabs Jr., Cousin Carl and Kenseth; Burton wins, now 2nd in points"

Jeff Burton won the Bank of America 500 over Kasey Kahne, 2nd and Kurt Busch, 3rd. More important--Burton now trails Jimmie Johnson (finished 6th) by 69 points. Johnson led 67 of the 334 laps..but his car seemed to lose the handle and the two time and defending champion literally hung on to finish 6th. Carl Edwards had an electrical problem which dropped him back to a 33rd place finish, and 168 points behind Johnson. Dale Earnhardt Jr was caught up in a crash...and finished 36th. Matt Kenseth crashed out and was credited with a 41st place finish. Jr is 10th in points (-354); Kenseth 11th (-360).

Kahne had the fastest car at the end...and cut a lead by Burton (up to 1.7 seconds at one point) to .946 of a second at the checkers.

We'll button up here...and join you later this morning in Petersburg, VA.