DAYTONA 500: 'I didn't think the outside was going to get it' - Kenseth

Matt Kenseth was a sitting duck on the final lap of the Daytona 500.

A Toyota power play gave the 2003 Sprint Cup champion the lead with 41 laps to go in the "Great American Race" but the chaos of restrictor plate racing made him largely powerless to stop what would happen next. He led the 40 circuits leading up to the white in front of Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin – all according to the Toyota master plan.

But Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano led a powerful charge on the outside, and Hamlin moved up to halt the progress of the former winners. Kenseth responded by jumping to the outside entering Turn 3. He blocked high and then jumped back low, making contact with Hamlin.

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Kenseth bounced off the wall and was forced to watch as Hamlin beat Truex to the line by 0.01 seconds – the closest finish in Daytona 500 history.

Despite the outcome, Kenseth doesn't feel like he was a sitting duck. He says he was exactly where he wanted to be coming to the checkered flag.

"I wouldn't trade that position for anybody in the whole field," Kenseth said. "I didn't really think the outside was going to muster up enough run to get it, to be honest with you. Somehow (Hamlin) just got a massive run. Like I said, (in) hindsight I probably should have stayed in front of (Truex Jr.) and tried to race him back to the line. But it looked like he was going so fast I could get in front of him and get a little boost and I just couldn't."

Kenseth's crew chief, Jason Ratcliff, said he never thought the outside line would get that much of a run, and that his driver was in an extremely difficult situation.

"It's disappointing," Ratcliff (with Kenseth RIGHT)  said. "Sometimes it's tough to be the leader looking at your mirror, which line is going to work and which one isn't. I thought we had them where we want em but we didn't.

"The fans got a great finish... we came up a little short but we got 35 races to go."

Kenseth said he did what he had to do, in bailing to the top, thinking he had to catch the Hamlin advance.

"He had such a big run, he was going to go right around me in my opinion anyway and turn four was treacherous on the bottom," Kenseth said. "I didn't think we were in a good spot to try to win it with his run, so I was trying to get in front of him. Unfortunately, his run happened pretty late in the straightway and he had the whole width of the corner to make a move and he was able to cross back over and get under me."

Ratcliff said he was proud of the total team effort at Toyota and JGR, but he couldn't immediately bring himself to congratulate the No. 11 crew. Further, he believes he and his driver would have done the same thing.

"We're disappointed we didn't win it, especially after leading that many laps at the end," Ratcliff said. "But you know, I'm not sure I'm going to run over there right now and congratulate him – not because I'm not happy he won, but because I'm disappointed we didn't.

"We'll sleep on it and then in the morning or on the airplane we'll know we're one big team and it's going to be nice to see that trophy sitting there in the shop even if it doesn't have our car number on it."