Matt Kenseth won the Subway 400 at the North Carolina Speedway, scoring his eighth career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victory in his 150th career start. His most recent victory came at Las Vegas last March, 35 races ago.
Kenseth is the first repeat winner in the last five races at Rockingham. He won this race in 2002.
Kenseth is one of just three drivers to start the 2004 season with top-10 finishes in each of the first two races of the season. Kenseth finished ninth at Daytona. He is joined by Dale Earnhardt Jr., (fifth) and Jeff Gordon (10th) two top-10 finishes in both of the races this season.
This is Kenseth’s second victory, third straight top-five and sixth straight top-10 finish at Rockingham.
This race was the first victory for Ford in 2004 and first since Ford won at Bristol last August, 14 races ago.
Today’s 0.010 margin of victory ties Atlanta (Dale Earnhardt over Bobby Labonte – 3-12-00) for the fourth closest finish since electronic scoring was introduced in 1993. The closest margin of victory was 0.002 second by Ricky Craven over Kurt Busch at Darlington in March 2003. Dale Earnhardt beat Ernie Irvan by 0.005 second at Talladega in July 1993 for the second closest finish. Kevin Harvick crossed the line just 0.006 second ahead of Jeff Gordon at Atlanta in March 2001 in the third closest race since the advent of electronic timing.
The 2004 Subway 400 marks the first time since the inaugural American 500 in 1965 that only one race will be run at the North Carolina Speedway.
Rookie Kasey Kahne (second) scored his career-first top-10 finish [and top-5]. It is the second straight race that a rookie has finished in the top three. Scott Wimmer finished third at Daytona.
Jamie McMurray (third) scored his first top-10 finish in 2004. It marked his second top-five finish in four races at Rockingham.
Sterling Marlin (fourth) scored his first top-10 finish in 2004. It was his 15th top-10 finish in 37 races at Rockingham.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. (fifth) is the only driver with two top-five finishes this season. He retained the lead in the NEXTEL Cup point standings by just seven points over second-place Matt Kenseth. This was his best finish in nine races at Rockingham. His previous best here was 13th last fall.
Jeff Gordon (10th) scored his second top-10 finish in 2004. He has scored 11 top-10 finishes in 23 races at Rockingham.
Jimmie Johnson ended an eight-race streak of top-10 finishes that dated to Kansas City last October. With his 41st-place finish in the Subway 400, Johnson dropped to 25th in the 2004 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings. Johnson had ranked in the NASCAR Top 10 for 70 straight races (since Atlanta in March 2002), the longest streak in the top-10 since Dale Earnhardt stayed in the top-10 for 123 races between Daytona (2-14-93) and Atlanta (11-10-96). Johnson ranks ninth in consecutive races ranked among the top 10 under the current point system.
Terry Labonte (17th) has been running at the finish in the last 44 straight races, a streak that began at Charlotte in October 2002.
Five of the drivers in the final 2003 point standings are currently ranked among the top-10 in 2004. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (first), 2003 Champion Matt Kenseth (second), Kevin Harvick (third), Jeff Gordon (fifth) and Tony Stewart (sixth).
The NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Leader bonus will be worth $30,000 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. (NASCAR Stats Services)(2-22-2004)
