Ward Burton crashes while leading; Kenseth wins Busch race

Mike Harris

Sunday, April 30, 2000 | 4:12 a.m.

FONTANA, Calif. - Matt Kenseth took advantage of Ward Burton's crash with eight laps remaining, then held off Jeff Burton to win Saturday's Auto Club 300 Busch Series race at California Speedway.

"I'm not really sure what happened," Ward Burton said. "I don't know if I lost it or what. My crew chief told me he thought the axle might have broke. I don't know if we had it won, but we maybe had a good opportunity for it."

On lap 143 of the 150-lap race, Kenseth was running third, trailing both Burton brothers, when Ward spun and slid into the wall exiting the fourth turn on the 2-mile oval. Jeff had to brake hard to keep from hitting his older brother and Kenseth ducked low on the banked track and zoomed into the lead.

"(Ward) was loose and he got up high because he was trying to keep his momentum and it just came around on him," Jeff said. "Matt got under me. I won a race earlier in the year like that and I lost one today, so I can't complain."

He was referring to the Las Vegas race in March, where Roush Racing teammate Mark Martin was held up by a spinning car while leading late in the race, giving the lead and the victory to Burton.

On Saturday, runner-up Burton was followed by Jeff Green, Michael Waltrip, Todd Bodine and Mike Skinner, who will start from the pole in Sunday's NAPA Auto Parts 500 Winston Cup race here.

In fact, all the top finishers except Green and Bodine are regulars in the Winston Cup series and run part-time in the Busch Series.

Kenseth, the third Roush teammate, who also won the season-opener in Daytona Beach, Fla., gave the team its eighth victory in 10 Busch races this season. Martin, who skipped Saturday's race, has won five times and Jeff Burton once. Kenseth also has three second-place finishes and has finished in the top 10 eight times in 10 starts.

"I don't know if we deserved to win this one or not," Kenseth said after his ninth career victory. "We might not have had the fastest car. We really need that last caution to give us a shot. Everything really played into our hands."

The winner, who led three times for a total of 36 laps, averaged 126.375 mph in the race slowed by seven cautions for 29 laps. He won $69,850.