O’Reilly 300 - Texas Motor Speedway

Kenseth Spins and Wins in Texas
Matt Kenseth survived an early spin and held off charging Denny Hamlin in the closing laps to win Saturday's O'Reilly 300 Busch Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. Kenseth took then lead after Hamlin slipped on Lap 192 and stayed out front the rest of the way in winning his second Busch race at TMS and the 23rd of his career. Kenseth led Hamlin by .128 seconds at the stripe, the closest Busch Series finish in track history. Points leader Carl Edwards ran third, followed by Casey Mears and polesitter David Ragan, who posted his best finish in the series. David Reutimann, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Paul Menard and Jeff Burton completed the top 10. Kenseth spun in Turn 1 on Lap 54 but managed to keep his No. 17 Roush Fenway Ford off the wall. Though he lost a lap as his crew changed his flat tires, he regained it as the beneficiary after the fourth caution on Lap 125 and gradually worked his way to the front. "I heard something break going into (Turn) 1 -- I guess it was the right rear tire blowing out," Kenseth said. "I was able to figure out how to not hit the wall. A lot of it was luck. We lost a lap, but the main thing was to fix the car so it was still fast afterwards." Once again, Kyle Busch had a strong car that failed to win. He led 113 laps before an untimely caution after a green-flag pit stop on Lap 119 forced him to restart at the tail end of the field. Though he regained track position after a subsequent caution, Busch was no match for the leaders in traffic. Hamlin, who similarly was caught by a caution after short-pitting on Lap 51, held the lead when the field restarted on Lap 187. The restart was needed because Juan Pablo Montoya's No. 42 Dodge clobbered the wall – thanks to a tap from Marcos Ambrose -- that brought out the seventh and final caution of the race. Kenseth was third on that restart but quickly passed Mears for second.

O’Reilly 300 Notes

· Race Results · Ford Post-Race Quotes · Toyota Post-Race Quotes · Rookie Post-Race Quotes · WIX Filters Lap Leader Notes · Fast Facts · Point Standings · Owner Point Standings · Starting Lineup · Qualifying Results · Rookie Qualifying Quotes · Toyota Qualifying Quotes · Rookie Thursday Quotes · Final Practice · Practice 2: Rookie Practice · Practice 1 · Entry List · Weekend Schedule · Raybestos Rookie Notes · Robert Richardson Notes

· Carl Edwards Notes · Dave Blaney Notes · Kevin Harvick Notes · Kyle Busch Notes · Shane Huffman Notes · Matt Kenseth Notes · Jon Wood Notes · Juan Pablo Montoya Notes · David Ragan Notes · Greg Biffle Notes · Jason Leffler Notes · Denny Hamlin Notes · Bobby Labonte Notes · Eric McClure Notes · Kasey Kahne Notes · Casey Mears Notes · Jamie McMurray Notes · Reed Sorenson Notes · Mark Martin Notes · Brad Coleman Notes

Ragan Runs to Busch Series Pole in Texas
David Ragan won the Busch Pole for the O’Reilly 300, his career-first Busch Pole in just 15 NASCAR Busch Series races. He lapped the Texas Motor Speedway in 28.263 seconds, at 191.063 mph. This is his second top-10 start in 2007. He started sixth last week at Nashville and his first top-10 start in two races at Texas Motor Speedway. He started 34th and finished 39th in this race in 2005. Carl Edwards qualified second, posting his third top-10 start in five races at Texas. It is his sixth top-10 start in 2007. Kyle Busch (third) posted his fourth top-10 start in five races at Texas. Casey Mears (fourth) scored his season-best start and second top-10 start in three NASCAR Busch Series races at Texas. Mears has started in the top 10 in all four of his NASCAR Busch Series races this season.