Kenseth in the groove

Thursday, March 2, 2006 | 7:20 a.m.

Two weeks ago Matt Kenseth said he felt he had the car to win the Daytona 500, but he had to settle for a 15th-place finish.

Last weekend at California Speedway, Kenseth admitted he didn't have the best car in the field, but he still found himself in victory lane for the 11th time in his career.

"Sometimes it feels like there is justice in the world, so that feels good because I felt (at Daytona) we had a car that could have won," Kenseth said. "Usually I go away from the (restrictor-plate races) and don't feel like I'm very good at it and usually aren't in position to win. We had a real fast car and felt like we did all the right things ... and I thought we were going to be in position to win.

"Hopefully, this (win) will carry some momentum and we'll be able to get to victory lane a few more times this year."

Kenseth, the 2003 NASCAR Cup champion, never has won a restrictor-plate race and has scored nine of his 11 career Cup victories at superspeedways - including his two Cup wins (2003 and 2004) at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Kenseth, who vaulted from 15th to third in Nextel Cup Series points with his victory at California Speedway, is optimistic heading into next weekend's UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at the speedway.

"Our Vegas test went good," Kenseth said. "It feels good to get off to a good start. Last year we didn't, but a couple of years before that we did and it certainly helped us both seasons. I think we won early in '03 and '04, so hopefully we can keep it up all the way through the year."

Class act

Officials from California Speedway and NASCAR threw a party last week to honor longtime Los Angeles Times motor sports writer Shav Glick, who retired in January after 55 years with the paper.

Although all three of NASCAR's top series (Nextel Cup, Busch and Craftsman Truck) were racing at the Fontana track last weekend, only one current driver saw fit to stop by and congratulate Glick: Las Vegas native Brendan Gaughan.

"Other than my hometown newspapers, he wrote the first big story on me - and it was on the cover of the L.A. Times (sports section)," Gaughan said. "How could I not drop by?"

Also noted:

Brian Hilderbrand can be reached at 259-4089 or at bh@lasvegassun.com.