Matt Kenseth Wins in Atlanta by .159 Seconds

Matt Kenseth raced his No. 17 Ford to the finish line by a sliver margin of .159 seconds over Kevin Harvick in Saturday's Nicorette 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Kenseth benefitted from Kyle Busch's blown tire in the 170th lap, which knocked Busch out of the lead in the fourth race of the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

A snow storm early in the day led to the cancellation of qualifying. Race officials set starting positions with last year's owners' points, and the race began with chilly temperatures in the low 40s and winds of 20 miles per hour.

For Kenseth, the race victory was his first of the year and 24th of his career in the series. Harvick, the 2006 series champion, now leads the series by 25 points over 2007 champion Carl Edwards, who ran fourth on Saturday. Jeff Burton took third place, and Bobby Labonte took fifth place. Other top 10 finishers were Nationwide Series regulars Brad Keselowski, Mike Bliss, Jason Leffler, and David Reutimann.

Fifteen of the Nicorette 300 racers competed in the next day's Sprint Cup event, also in Atlanta. Redeeming his Saturday mishap, Kyle Busch won that race, followed by his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Tony Stewart.

The next Nationwide Series race is the Sharpie MINI 300 on Saturday, March 15 at Bristol Motor Speedway, a short track in Tennessee. ABC will broadcast the race, which begins at 2:30 p.m. ET.