Kenseth claims 2nd career win
While Sterling Marlin wonders where the red flag was!
By Cliff Maurand - Staff Writer
02/25/2002

Matt Kenseth won the Subway 400 on Sunday, after making what can only be described as a "slick" move on race leaders Sterling Marlin and Bobby Labonte. With only six laps to go, Kenseth made a run to the inside, at the same time, Marlin and Labonte got into an oil slick and had to slow a little, as well as run high. Kenseth made a clear pass of both the lead cars.

Marlin and Labonte didn't have enough time left to do anything about, as they completed that particular lap, the track went yellow because of the oil and debris on the track. The remaining five laps were finished under the caution flag, and Kenseth defaulted to the win, his career second victory. Kenseth's only other win came at the Coca-Cola 600 nearly 2 years ago.

Sterling Marlin was seeing red following the show, or at least wondering why he hadn't seen red. In what appeared to be another inconsistency by NASCAR, who red flagged the end of the Daytona 500 last week so that the race could finish under green, chose not to stop this event. While it did seem like a complete departure from last weeks procedure, it was apparently due to the number of laps that were remaining.

NASCAR president Mike Helton explained that had the caution come out one lap earlier, they would have had the necessary time to stop the race. Their policy is to throw the red flag, clean the track, and get things back under green for the finish. That also must include enough laps to allow for teams to make a pit stop. According to Helton, the caution flag came out after lap 389 was completed, but past the point where the pace car would pick up the field.

The pace couldn't pick up the leader until lap 390. Helton went on to explain "Had we stopped on lap 390, cleaned up the track and rolled off, we would have opened up pit road on lap 391. That would have given them the one-to-go on lap 392. The race ended on 393, so there was not enough time to red flag it and finish under green. So we ended up finishing it the way we did."

Marlin did manage to finish in second place, with Bobby Labonte right behind him in third. Tony Stewart finished fourth, with Ricky Craven in fifth place. Rounding out the top ten were Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, Rusty Wallace, Bobby Hamilton, and Kenny Wallace.

While Sterling Marlin may not have like the fact he didn't get a last chance run on the winner, he didn't come out this empty handed either. Marlin assumed the series points lead, placing last weeks race winner Ward Burton 18 points behind in second place. Kurt Busch is third in the points, with Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton the remainder of the top five.

Ricky Craven had a great day going, but he and his team made a major error in their race strategy. When the caution flag came out late in the race, Craven & crew decided to take a chance and stayed out, while the rest of the field pitted with 29 to go. This left Craven in the lead, but it wasn't going to last very long. When the race restarted, it didn't take the strongest teams with fresh tires to catch him and take over the lead. While that decision may have cost him the possibility of the win, it did work out in lesser way, providing him with a 5th place finish for the day.

The one engine rule also paid a price this week. Dale Jarrett was an early favorite for this event, and was leading early on. But his engine blew after completing only 145 laps of the race. It's not clear if this is an indication of too much on one motor or not, but they are certainly looking at it that way. But the attrition rate due to motor problems wasn't that high, with only 4 drivers listed as out early due to failed motor's. So the jury is still out on this one, but it will be watched very closely over the next few weeks.

As a final note, this was the last race that the two Travis Carter teams will run under the Kmart sponsorship. Due to Kmart's chapter 11 bankruptcy, they are no longer able to maintain their commitment, and have ended their sponsorship. This move will leave Carter searching for new sponsor's for not one, but two teams. Both Todd Bodine and Joe Nemechek have been running under the Big Kmart banner.

Next up is a trip to the desert, as the teams play the odd's in Las Vegas.

Complete race results have been posted.

You can reach Cliff Maurand at: cliff@maurand.com

Be sure to visit Cliff's site: Victory Lane Online