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February 25, 2002
ROCKINGHAM, N.C. -- Matt Kenseth admitted he wasn't sure he would win again.
But a late charge from fourth to first gave Kenseth the victory in Sunday's Subway 400 at North Carolina Speedway, the second win of his career and his first in 60 races.
"It felt like 160 races, like forever," the 29-year-old said after his first win since the Coca-Cola 600 in May 2000.
Kenseth's Roush Racing Ford was among the fastest cars throughout Sunday's 393-lap event and his crew, which won October's annual pit crew contest here in record time, kept him in front most of the day.
"We were slamming and banging out there and we just got real lucky," Kenseth said.
The race was completed under a yellow flag, which NASCAR threw because of debris with five laps remaining.
Kenseth took the top spot during a stop under caution on Lap 257 and stayed there until pole-sitter Ricky Craven grabbed the lead on Lap 365. Craven stayed on the 1.017-mile oval while other leaders pitted under the eighth of nine cautions.
Kenseth was behind Craven when the green flag flew on Lap 370 but got a poor restart and slipped to fourth, trailing Craven, Sterling Marlin and Rusty Wallace.
He passed Wallace, but Bobby Labonte passed both to grab third the next time around.
Craven, whose tires were 14 laps older than the other leaders', started to give up ground quickly on the rough asphalt surface. Marlin, Labonte and Kenseth, all with fresh tires, passed Craven by Lap 378, setting up the final drama.
On Lap 386, Kenseth got a strong run on the low side on Turn3, shot past Labonte's Pontiac and pulled alongside Marlin's Dodge coming off Turn4.
Then Kenseth's No. 17 Ford, which led a race-high 152 laps, pulled into the lead on Turn1 of Lap 387. One lap later the final yellow flag came out because pieces from Robby Gordon's blown tire littered the track.
"I don't know if the 40 and 18 (Marlin and Labonte) thought the caution had come out or got into some oil because they just slowed down," Kenseth said.
" ... We were never perfect, but what we usually do wrong, especially if we run halfway decent, is just kind of rest a little bit when we're running sixth or seventh, and we won't adjust the car.
"Today, I really tried to think all the time what the car was doing and tell that to Robbie," he said, referring to crew chief Robbie Reiser.
Marlin, who finished second, took the series lead by 18 points over Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton, who finished 13th Sunday.
Labonte finished third followed by Tony Stewart, Craven, Jeff Burton, defending series champion Jeff Gordon and Wallace.
In Daytona, NASCAR red-flagged the race six laps from the end to make sure it would end with a green-flag finish. NASCAR president Mike Helton explained that it was deemed too late when the yellow flag came out Sunday.