Matt Kenseth put the disappointment of Daytona well behind him Sunday, driving away with his second victory of the weekend and second NASCAR Nextel Cup win at California Speedway.

Kenseth, who got caught up in the last-lap melee the previous week at the Daytona 500 and wound up 27th after starting that lap in third, stayed away from trouble Sunday in the Auto Club 500. He got the lead for good with a fast pit stop during a caution period just 23 laps from the finish.

The victory, his 15th in Cup, came with engineer Chip Bolin sitting in for suspended crew chief Robbie Reiser, sent home for four races after the team was caught cheating at the beginning of Daytona’s Speedweeks. And it came less than 24 hours after the 2003 Cup champion won the Busch Series races on the same 2-mile oval.

“It’s a special one,” said Kenseth, who broke the transmission on his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford as he spun his tires in a postrace celebration. “It’s not without Robbie though. He spent the week at home while we were at Daytona building this car. Robbie built this team.”

Kevin Harvick, who swept the Busch and Cup races at Daytona, came out of the final pit stop in second and was making up ground up Kenseth until rookie David Reutimann and former series champion Bobby Labonte crashed on lap 243 of the 250-lap event.

NASCAR red-flagged the race to give safety officials time to clean up the debris from the wreck. Once the cars were restarted, Harvick found he had a deflating left front tire and had to pit.

Three-time California winner Jeff Gordon, the only other multiple Cup race winner here, jumped past Jeff Burton into second on the restart with four laps to go, but couldn’t get close enough to challenge Kenseth the rest of the way.

sfgate.com/AP

RESULTS:

Pos St # Driver Sponsor Car Pts Status Laps

1 25 17 Matt Kenseth Carhartt Ford 195 Running 250
2 1 24 Jeff Gordon DuPont Chevrolet 175 Running 250
3 23 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s Chevrolet 170 Running 250
4 8 31 Jeff Burton Cingular Wireless Chevrolet 165 Running 250
5 3 01 Mark Martin U.S. Army Chevrolet 160 Running 250
6 6 07 Clint Bowyer Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet 155 Running 250
7 18 2 Kurt Busch Miller Lite Dodge 146 Running 250
8 11 20 Tony Stewart The Home Depot Chevrolet 147 Running 250
9 12 5 Kyle Busch Kellogg’s Chevrolet 143 Running 250
10 15 83 Brian Vickers Red Bull Toyota 134 Running 250
11 17 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Chevrolet 130 Running 250
12 19 12 Ryan Newman Mobil One Dodge 127 Running 250
13 29 18 J.J. Yeley Interstate Batteries Chevrolet 124 Running 250
14 26 13 Joe Nemechek CertainTeed Chevrolet 121 Running 250
15 13 16 Greg Biffle Ameriquest Ford 123 Running 250
16 39 6 David Ragan AAA Ford 115 Running 250
17 4 29 Kevin Harvick Shell Chevrolet 117 Running 250
18 31 70 Johnny Sauter Yellow Transportation Chevrolet 109 Running 249
19 24 40 David Stremme Coors Light Dodge 106 Running 249
20 22 15 Paul Menard Menards Chevrolet 103 Running 249
21 42 7 Robby Gordon Jim Beam Ford 100 Running 249
22 37 45 Kyle Petty Wells Fargo Dodge 102 Running 249
23 41 96 Tony Raines DLP HDTV Chevrolet 94 Running 249
24 38 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge 91 Running 248
25 40 38 David Gilliland M&M’s Ford 88 Running 248
26 9 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Texaco/Havoline Dodge 85 Running 248
27 34 88 Ricky Rudd Snickers Ford 82 Running 248
28 28 43 Bobby Labonte Cheerios Dodge 79 Running 248
29 21 99 Carl Edwards Office Depot Ford 76 Running 247
30 16 66 Jeff Green Best Buy Chevrolet 73 Running 247
31 10 25 Casey Mears National Guard/GMAC Chevrolet 70 Running 246
32 43 44 Dale Jarrett UPS Toyota 67 Running 246
33 33 00 David Reutimann Domino’s Toyota 64 Accident 239
34 32 37 John Andretti Camping World Dodge 61 Mechanical 220
35 27 14 Sterling Marlin Panasonic Chevrolet 58 Mechanical 198
36 36 21 Ken Schrader Little Debbie Ford 55 Engine 160
37 35 26 Jamie McMurray Crown Royal Ford 52 Running 134
38 2 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge 54 Engine 129
39 14 22 Dave Blaney Caterpillar Toyota 51 Engine 112
40 5 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Budweiser Chevrolet 43 Engine 74
41 30 10 Scott Riggs Valvoline Dodge 40 Accident 16
42 7 1 Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet 37 Engine 14
43 20 41 Reed Sorenson Target Dodge 34 Accident 7

Driver quotes to follow…