Cashing It All In: Matt Kenseth Wins The Bank Of America 500 At Charlotte

Whoever said that Matt Kenseth was a boring racer obviously didn't catch Saturday night's Bank of America 500 from the Charlotte Motor Speedway, which might be a pivotal race for the 2003 Champion's chances for a second title.

Sure, Kenseth didn't lead the most laps, as that honor went to Kyle Busch with a race-high 111, but he made it a rather exciting battle for the lead late in the race, capturing his third win of the season.

His victory was important, as it vaulted him up to the third position in points, just seven markers behind leader and team-mate Carl Edwards, which could definitely make things interesting with Talladega Superspeedway next on the agenda.

As for now, Kenseth was stoic and focused on his job--not so much about being Mr. Congeniality.

"If somebody wants to say I'm boring or whatever, I was hired to try to go win races and try to run good and that's what I try to do every week," Kenseth said per AP sports writer Jenna Fryer's article republished on Yahoo! Sports.

After a disappointing 21st at the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship opener at Chicagoland, he's been taking care of business, finishing sixth at Loudon, fifth at Dover, fourth at Kansas and now, he's nabbed a win at Charlotte.

Interestingly enough, it was only Kenseth's second win at this speedway, having last grabbed the checkered flag accolades in May of 2000 during his rookie campaign.

Since then, he's become a Cup champion, a Daytona 500 winner, and perhaps one of the most steadiest and prolific racers who speaks with his lead foot, not his mouth.

Despite leading the most laps, Kyle Busch left Charlotte as a bridesmaid again, losing the lead within the last ten laps. He then had an interesting and somewhat aggressive position battle with Carl Edwards, who had a calm discussion with him following the race.

"There was no malicious intent involved to cause anything or to hurt his chances at finishing second or anything," Busch said.

Initially, third-place finisher Edwards wasn't too happy with Busch's explanation during their talk after the 500-miler, as he said, "We should definitely be racing each other hard. It’s just that there’s a difference between racing hard and then cutting across the guy’s nose."

Having time to think about it during the post-race press conference, Edwards added, "He told me that he didn’t mean to do it, and so I got to believe that."

Rounding out the top-five were Kasey Kahne and Marcos Ambrose, who are continuing their strong second half performances with another solid result at the tough 1.5-mile track.

Finishing 34th and dropping five spots in the points standings was five-time Cup champ Jimmie Johnson, who wrecked savagely, nose-first into the turn two wall. All battered and destroyed in the front clip, Johnson and his No. 48 Lowe's Chevy team know they have their work cut out for them.

"This is not going to help us win a sixth championship," Johnson simply said.

However, there's still plenty of time for Johnson and his crew to rally another string of strong performances for their title defense, with Talladega, Martinsville, Texas, Phoenix, and Homestead-Miami on the docket.

Finishing sixth through 10th were Kevin Harvick, AJ Allmendinger, Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, and Ryan Newman.