Matt Kenseth is on the comeback trail and should be strong in the 600...but right now he's kicking himself for losing the All-star race

  
Tony Stewart and crew climbing the fence to celebrate their All-star victory (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  
  

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   CONCORD, N.C.
   Matt Kenseth may finally be getting back on track, after a few rough and ragged weeks. But losing Saturday night's All-star race to Tony Stewart by five lengths "stinks, obviously."
   Kenseth had the game all but handed to him when Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman all banged fenders so hard just ahead of him with only eight laps left in the 1-1/2-hour event and took themselves out of contention.
   But then suddenly Stewart was on the charge, seemingly from out of nowhere, and once he got clean air just ahead of Kenseth, Stewart was gone.
   "I feel stupid," Kenseth grumbled.  "It looks like I rolled up (off the gas) and Tony went flying right by me -- which he did. But we were too loose all night. 
    "We were really slow on restarts, though for a long run we were really good, and if it would have been the 600 our car was pretty spectacular.
   "But we knew we had to tighten the car up a lot for the last 10 laps, which we did. And it was actually pretty good for five or six laps.
   "But with those short runs and cautions, and getting the body banged in a little bit, it just hurt it.
   "With three or four to go we started getting really tight. And it just wouldn't turn at all that last lap, and Tony rolled on by."
   Kenseth, Kyle Busch and anyone close to the front had trouble on restarts. Why?
   "The rules tonight are a little different than most nights," Kenseth said. "All restarts were double-file, and all restarts were started by the flagman -- there was no restart zone. 
    "You couldn't pass until you got to the start-finish line. So that first restart with 10 to go, I took off -- and my car wasn't very fast on restarts for some reason -- and Kyle rolled outside of me way before we ever got to the start-finish line…which you can't do. And he kind of right-reared me.
   "We both dropped way back.
    "Luckily there was a caution, and they re-racked them."
   Stewart's fast start to the season may be somewhat of a surprise to some, considering he's never been a Cup owner or owner-driver. And yet Stewart is off to the best season start of his career.
    However it's not surprising to Kenseth: "Considering the circumstances….If he had done his own deal and built his own cars, or if he'd taken over Bill Davis' shop, I don't think he would have won a race this year. 
    "But when you go over there and get all of Rick Hendrick's information, and their engines and chassis and everything they've got going with this car….when you've got all that to draw from, and as talented as Tony and Ryan are, I didn't really think they were not going to be competitive. 
    "I figured they'd be just about as competitive as the Hendrick cars every week, really."