FORT WORTH, TX – It was Matt Kenseth’s first win in 76 races, but from his performance Sunday, it is hard to imagine he was out of the winner’s circle this long. Kenseth clearly dominated the race with his Roush-Fenway Ford leading 169 of 334 laps and crossing the finish line 8.34 sec ahead of Clint Boyer. Roush teammates Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle followed in 3rd and 4th places respectively. It was an impressive night for the Roush-Fenway team as David Ragan finished in seventh place.
Kenseth’s win was an important one for the 2003 series champion and was also the first victory for Crew Chief Jimmy Fennig since 2005. After heading up the Roush R&D department, Fennig was recruited as crew chief to the No17 team at the middle of last year in an effort to turn their program around. Together, the Wisconsin natives were able to pull it off with an unquestionable victory at Texas.
With Marcos Ambrose’s 6th place finish, it was an even better night for Roush Yates Engines, placing 5 engines in the top ten spots. "We're really happy to see (Roush Yates Engines) clients performing so well, across so many teams," CEO Doug Yates said. "With the Woods winning at Daytona, to Nationwide and Cup Series poles and wins spread out across so many of the Roush Fenway drivers, that is the service and consistency our company strives for as a provider of engines.”
After winning 2 of the first 3 races of the season, Roush’s dominance in 2011 was in doubt after wins by Hendrick, RCR and Gibbs in subsequent races. But the performance of the Roush-prepared cars at Texas has re-established the Fords as the favorite for 2011. "I am really proud of what we have been able to do in 2011," Roush Fenway Racing owner Jack Roush told reporters Sunday in Texas. "We tuned up our engine with Ford's help over the winter and got a new Ford nose [for the car]. Everybody got a new nose this year, but our new nose is better than our old nose and we have our FR-9 engine up to speed. All of that is going well."
The race went relatively smoothly with a minimal number of accients. The first caution was on lap 11 following some fluid loss from the #37 Ford of Tony Raines. David Gilliland caused the second caution on lap 47 when he slammed into the wall in turn 1. The biggest accident f the night occurred on lap 216 as Martin Truex lost control exiting turn 2, possibly as a result of being tapped by Kevin Harvick. Mark Martin struck Truex’ car and slammed into the wall. Regan Smith also suffered damge in the wreck.
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