Matt Kenseth, driver of the #20 Dollar General Toyota, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 10, 2013
Photo – Todd Warshaw/Getty Images

Happy Birthday Matt Kenseth!

What better way to celebrate your birthday than in victory lane? Everything came together Sunday afternoon at Las Vegas for Kenseth and his crew. This win sends a huge statement throughout the garage that says Kenseth is already acquainted with his new team and he is ready to pounce on his competition. Kenseth’s crew chief Jason Ratcliff made the late strategy call by taking no tires on the final pit stop and that allowed Kenseth to be up front. Once Kenseth got to the lead, he never looked back. Kenseth gave Kasey Kahne a few glances in his rearview mirror in the closing laps since Kahne was so close, but other than that, Kenseth didn’t look back once he gained the lead.

The race played out fairly typical for Las Vegas and there were no major surprises. The Gen 6 car’s debut on an intermediate track went well and produced the fantastic race to the finish we witnessed.

Kasey Kahne dominated the race, but just couldn’t get around Kenseth in the closing laps which prevented Kahne from taking the win he came short of earning. Kahne took the lead for the first time of the day on lap 11. After the first round of green-flag pit stops, Kahne was still up front and in the lead.

The first caution of the day didn’t come out until lap 66 when debris was spotted on the backstretch. Kahne had the lead following the caution but, he was soon passed by his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson.

Once the second round of green-flag pit stops cycled through, Johnson remained out front. Kahne would battle back and on lap 138, he regained the lead.

The second yellow-flag of the day came out on lap 160 when Marcos Ambrose did a half-spin off of turn four. The ensuing restart got dicey when Kyle Busch made it a three-wide battle for the lead and eventually cleared the other cars to take his first lead of the day. Kahne once again made his way to the front just a few laps following Busch’s move for first place.

Both Kahne and Busch swapped the lead again following the third caution of the day. Kahne and Busch had very strong cars throughout the day, but neither of them was able to seal the deal at the end of the race.

The caution that shook the field up, came with 44 laps to go when David Reutimann had engine issues. That caution featured the final pit stops of the day for the leaders and the fuel only strategy call by Kenseth’s crew chief Jason Ratcliff, which sent Kenseth to the lead on the ensuing restart.

One more caution came out in the final 32 laps, but the most excitement came in the final ten laps when Kenseth and Kahne battled head-to-head for the win. Kahne was right on Kenseth’s tail throughout the final ten laps and Kahne had to deal with the lapped traffic which took away his chance of going low and attempting to pass Kenseth. Kahne had one more opportunity on the last lap, but Kenseth was too strong and pulled away taking the checkered flag.

In only his third race with Joe Gibbs Racing, Kenseth found victory lane. This win was quite a remarkable feat for Kenseth. who had an instant connection with his new team. Very rarely does a driver succeed with a new team in the beginning of the season, but Kenseth has done it with style. Winning this race is huge for Kenseth and his team as the momentum from this win should propel Kenseth forward in the next few months, with many more wins and a lot of success. Today’s win just emphasizes that Kenseth will be a driver to watch for throughout the remainder of the season.

Results via ESPN.com