A late tire puncture cost Daytona 500 winner Kevin Harvick a chance to challenge Matt Kenseth for the win at California Speedway. (Photo: Getty Images/Donald Miralle) MORE NASCAR PHOTOS » More Photos

NASCAR immediately threw the red flag and a Kenseth-Harvick shootout like the one Harvick had the week before with Martin at Daytona seemed imminent. Alas, it was not to be. After a 15-minute, 18-second red flag, the cars fired up under yellow for four final laps of racing. But just before the green fell on Lap 247, Harvick had to pit because his left-front tire was flat, the apparent victim of a piece of debris on the backstretch.

"I really thought we were going to lose when the No. 29 (Harvick) was running us down," Kenseth said. "The No. 29 was better and had some bad fortune there, and we were able to hold him off."

"We were going to beat him," said Harvick, who ended up in 17th place at a track that historically has been one of his weakest. "But, shoulda, woulda, coulda. He (Kenseth) won the race. We ran him down by a couple of seconds."

Even runner-up Gordon felt Harvick's pain. "I hated that for him," Gordon said of Harvick's flat. "That stinks. It's crazy that something like that would happen to him after winning the Daytona 500." Regardless, the flat tire made the end of the race an anti-climax.

When the green flag flew, Kenseth raced out to a big lead, as second-place Burton spun his tires and immediately fell to fourth behind Kenseth, Gordon and Johnson. And that's how they finished, drama dashed and Kenseth scoring the 15th Cup victory of his career. All told, he led 133 of 250 laps in a race where the best car won, something that doesn't always happen in NASCAR.

And an expected challenge from Gordon never materialized. "Me and Jeff were battling hard all day, and I knew he was going to be pretty aggressive to get the spot," Kenseth said. "But we were able to pull away in the end."

Afterwards, the usually stoic Kenseth was clearly emotional, dedicating the victory to suspended crew chief Robbie Reiser, who's sitting out the first four races of the season after being suspended at Daytona for unapproved aerodynamic modifications to Kenseth's car. "This team is built by Robbie Reiser," Kenseth said. "It's an emotional win, an awesome win for us." And a victory that established Kenseth once again as a title contender for the balance of the season.

Race Results



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