Kenseth leaves field behind

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Until the second-to-last lap of last night's IROC race, winner Matt Kenseth spotted most of the action in his back mirror.

Kenseth, the 2004 IROC champion who led the most laps, saw Roush Racing teammate Mark Martin fall out of the race after a wreck put his car into the wall. Later, he watched World of Outlaws star Steve Kinser take a ride on his roof after getting sandwiched between Max Papis and Frank Kimmel, a wreck that also claimed Tony Stewart, Ted Musgrave, and Scott Sharp.

But on the white-flag lap, Kenseth saw Martin Truex Jr., last year's Busch Series champion, take the high line and nearly pass him for the lead. Kenseth, skirting the yellow line at the bottom of the track, wasn't having it, and the two cars appeared to touch. Truex wiggled away, drifted toward the wall, and fell off the pace.

With Truex safely behind him, Kenseth got drafting help from Kimmel to claim the checkered flag, his first IROC win at Daytona.

''It was pretty exciting," Kenseth said of his drag race with Truex. ''Neither one of us lifted all the way through there. Martin was pretty sideways."

Kenseth said he was glad to be up front for most of the race -- for good reason. On Lap 10 of the 40-lap sprint, Martin, the five-time IROC champ, got slammed from behind by Sam Hornish Jr., planted his driver's side door into the wall, then spun across the track and into the grass. As his car drifted toward the infield, Martin was tagged by Ryan Newman. Martin's run was finished, and while Newman returned to the race, he retired his car with 15 laps remaining because of a leaking radiator.

But the Big One took place with three laps remaining. Kimmel ran into Kinser, who tagged Papis, got turned sideways, and was hit by Stewart. After the collision with Stewart, Kinser's car sailed over the two-time Cup champion and landed on its roof. Musgrave, last year's Craftsman Truck Series champion, ran into Kinser, whose car finally spun to a stop in the grass.

Kinser had to be extracted by safety officials. After he was pulled from the car, Kinser walked to an ambulance and was treated at the infield care center for minor injuries.

Stewart didn't escape, either. After he hit Kinser, Stewart collided with Sharp, knocking both cars out. After the wreck, the race was red-flagged for the six remaining cars.

''Oh, boy. Wow," said Kimmel. ''That's the [darndest] thing I've been involved in for a while."

Yeley swipes pole

His Cup luck fell short Thursday in the Gatorade Duel when J.J. Yeley spun his No. 18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet and finished in 24th place.

Yesterday, he found redemption in his Busch car, clocking yesterday's fastest qualifying lap for today's Hershey's Kissables 300. Yeley posted a lap of 183.094 miles per hour, beating out Aaron Fike to capture the pole.

''It was really scary," Yeley said of his qualifying sprint. ''I was just trying to get up enough coverage to hold the thing wide open. These Busch cars are so easy to drive here, so it's not very hard for me to do."

Clint Bowyer will start in third place, Johnny Sauter ran the fourth-fastest time, and Cup veteran John Andretti, running his first Busch season, was the best-running rookie yesterday and will start in the fifth spot today.

''When I was a rookie in Cup, nobody would draft with me," said Andretti. ''But hopefully now that I've won at Daytona, they'll know that I know how to draft and think that this rookie is OK to hang around with."

Andretti won the Pepsi 400 in 1997.