Matt Kenseth made the save first, then he picked up the victory.

That might sound a little backward for baseball fans, but it made perfect sense Saturday in the O’Reilly 300 Busch Series race.

Kenseth ended Carl Edwards’ two-race Busch winning streak by pulling his car out of a spin without hitting the wall early in the race, then overtaking Denny Hamlin with nine laps left.

Hamlin’s frantic efforts to pass over the final five laps failed in the closest margin for a Busch race in Texas at 0.128 seconds. Edwards finished third.

Kenseth, who was running second when a tire popped and caused the spin on Lap 55, got his second Busch win of the season and his 10th top 10 in 12 Texas races. He chose to lock up the wheels to try to stay off the wall.

“I didn’t really save it. We still spun out,” Kenseth said. “I knew I’d have all flat tires and lose a lap going to the pits. I just tried to keep it in the middle of the track and stop.”

azcentral.com

Pos, St, #, Driver, Sponsor, Car, Pts, Status, Laps

1 10 17 Matt Kenseth Arby’s Ford 190 Running 200
2 6 20 Denny Hamlin Rockwell Automation Chevrolet 175 Running 200
3 2 60 Carl Edwards Scotts Ford 170 Running 200
4 4 24 Casey Mears National Guard Chevrolet 165 Running 200
5 1 6 David Ragan Discount Tire Ford 160 Running 200
6 7 99 David Reutimann Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota 150 Running 200
7 3 5 Kyle Busch Spectracide/Lowe’s Chevrolet 156 Running 200
8 18 12 Kurt Busch Penske Truck Rental Dodge 142 Running 200
9 15 15 Paul Menard Menard’s Chevrolet 138 Running 200
10 9 29 Jeff Burton Holiday Inn Chevrolet 139 Running 200
11 23 33 Kevin Harvick RoadLoans Chevrolet 130 Running 200
12 8 06 Mark Martin Dish Network Ford 127 Running 200
13 24 38 Jason Leffler Great Clips Toyota 124 Running 200
14 26 35 Bobby Hamilton Jr. McDonald’s Ford 121 Running 200
15 32 7 Mike Wallace GEICO Chevrolet 123 Running 200
16 39 18 Brad Coleman Carino’s Italian Grill Chevrolet 115 Running 200
17 21 37 Jamie McMurray Yard-Man Ford 112 Running 200
18 37 1 J.J. Yeley Miccosukee Resort Chevrolet 109 Running 199
19 22 22 David Stremme Supercuts Dodge 106 Running 198
20 16 90 Stephen Leicht citifinancial Ford 103 Running 198
21 19 27 Ward Burton Cottonelle Ford 100 Running 198
22 33 77 Bobby Labonte Dollar General Chevrolet 97 Running 198
23 35 28 Johnny Sauter DaytonaBrands.com Chevrolet 94 Running 198
24 38 70 Justin Diercks Foretravel Chevrolet 91 Running 198
25 42 10 Dave Blaney ABF U-Pack Moving Toyota 88 Running 197
26 12 25 David Gilliland Freecreditreport.com Ford 85 Running 197
27 27 14 Kyle Krisiloff Clabber Girl Baking Powder Ford 82 Running 197
28 5 9 Kasey Kahne Hellmann’s Dodge 79 Running 197
29 34 0 Eric McClure Hefty Chevrolet 76 Running 195
30 14 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Texaco/Havoline Dodge 73 Accident 179
31 29 59 Marcos Ambrose Kingsford/Bush’s Baked Beans Ford 70 Accident 179
32 17 66 Steve Wallace Homelife Communities Dodge 67 Running 141
33 40 30 Stanton Barrett Bad Boy Power Drink Chevrolet 64 Running 132
34 25 4 Regan Smith Ginn Racing Chevrolet 61 Accident 129
35 36 41 Reed Sorenson Wrigley Dodge 58 Running 127
36 13 16 Greg Biffle 3M Ford 55 Running 115
37 28 36 Brent Sherman Big Lots Chevrolet 52 Running 112
38 11 47 Jon Wood Clorox/American Red Cross Ford 49 Running 111
39 20 88 Shane Huffman Navy Chevrolet 46 Accident 69
40 43 05 Brett Rowe 31-W Insulation Chevrolet 43 Engine 57
41 30 21 Timothy Peters Autozone Chevrolet 40 Accident 17
42 41 52 Kevin Lepage DuraGloss Ford 37 Mechanical 15
43 31 23 Brad Keselowski Oklahoma Centennial Chevrolet 34 Engine 6