Burton wins race, outlasts Kenseth
FORT WORTH, Texas -- Jeff Burton was in the same position as the last time he was a runner-up. He was chasing the leader in the closing laps.
Jeff Burton did nothing different this time in Texas, and still had a much better result. He won the Samsung 500.
Like last month at Bristol when trailing eventual winner Kyle Busch, Jeff Burton didn't try to push Matt Kenseth out of the way Sunday. Jeff Burton raced clean and waited for his chance -- and finally made the winning pass with a half-lap left.
"Winning a race because you knock someone out of the way didn't mean you were better,'' Jeff Burton said. "You just give up some integrity to win a trophy. That's not what I'm about and that's not what this team is about. We're going to do it the right way.''
Ten years after winning the inaugural race in Texas,Jeff Burton became the first two-time winner at the 11/2-mile, high-banked track. His only lead came when he finally overtook Matt Kenseth, his former Roush Racing teammate, on the backstretch coming out of Turn 2 for the last time.
"I was hoping I could hold him up one more lap, but he was smart and hung back,'' Matt Kenseth said.
While Burton became the first driver in 13 Nextel Cup races at the track to win twice, Matt Kenseth was denied a true Texas two-step after winning the Kyle Busch race Saturday.
Jeff Burton's 19th career victory -- at the same track he got his first -- also ended a four-race winning streak by Hendrick Motorsports.
Jeff Gordon led 173 of 334 laps and finished fourth, the fifth top-five finish in the seven races this season for the Hendrick driver. But he is 0-for-13 at Texas, one of three active Cup tracks where the four-time series champion hasn't won.
``Man, I'm just sick,'' Jeff Gordon said. ``I don't want to give away races. I felt like we had the car to beat there. ... Another Texas race getting away from us.''
Jeff Gordon was still leading with 21 laps to go when he scraped the outside wall coming out of Turn 4 -- one of a few times he did that. Jeff Gordon managed to stay in front five more laps before Matt Kenseth passed him, and then Jeff Burton.
Once in pursuit of Matt Kenseth, Jeff Burton went high and low looking for any gap to take over the lead. When it was almost too late, Jeff Burton finally surged ahead
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