Kenseth's controversial restart gets him a win
Kevin Harvick accused NASCAR of favoritism.
AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- Matt Kenseth used a terrific final restart Saturday to hold off Kevin Harvick at Phoenix International Raceway, spoiling Harvick's bid to break Sam Ard's record of Busch Series wins in a season.
Ard won 10 races in 1983 and Harvick, a nine-time winner this season who has already wrapped up the Busch title, had hoped to use wins in the final two events this year to break the mark. Now the best he can do is win in next week's finale to tie Ard after finishing second to Kenseth in Phoenix.
But he wasn't concerned about the record after the race, instead focusing on the final restart, which he believed Kenseth jumped.
"If that had been us, we would have been sitting on pit road [under penalty]," Harvick said. "That's pretty bad."
Kenseth maintained his start -- which came during a two-lap overtime shootout after the 11th and final caution-- was clean.
"It's all whose shoes you are wearing," Kenseth said. "In the driver's meeting every week, they say start in a vicinity of the line, which is a couple car lengths as I take it. I thought I was in a car length or two of the line."
Newcomers finish way back
All that activity was way in front of Indianapolis 500 winners Juan Pablo Montoya and Sam Hornish Jr., who had rough days in the desert.
Montoya, the former Formula One driver making a full-time switch to NASCAR, wound up 20th in his third Busch race.
Hornish, the reigning IndyCar Series champion who is giving NASCAR a tryout, was 36th and failed to finish his debut.
"I never said this was going to be easy," Hornish said.
"We missed on the setup and didn't have it right from the beginning. I learned a lot of little things, like what the car needs on the long run to be able to go fast."
Montoya, meanwhile, was frustrated with his finish because of the lack of give and take at the back of the Busch field.
He bounced off the wall during the incident that collected Hornish, and had several other bumps as he struggled to get much leeway on the track.
"It's tough passing these guys -- they seem like they don't see you, they just sort of play dumb," he said. "When you run up front, the guy up front runs a lot cleaner, a lot smarter. The guys in the back are just too dumb. I'm trying to keep the car in one piece and its very hard, because, yes, I am a rookie -- but no, I am not a rookie."
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