FONTANA, Calif. - In a span of seven days, Matt Kenseth has seen the very best and the very worst of a late-race restart of a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race.

Sunday's Auto Club 500 was the best.

A week after crashing a quarter-mile short of the finish line at the Daytona 500, Kenseth got the jump during a restart with four laps to go at California Speedway. And unlike a week ago, there were no dramatic final-lap challenges.

At Daytona, Kevin Harvick shot from seventh to a three-foot victory over Mark Martin on the final lap. At the same time, Kenseth crashed with Kyle Busch while racing for second place.

This time around, Kenseth was out front and Harvick was second for a final restart with four laps to go. Instead of making a move on Kenseth, however, Harvick surprisingly went to pit road to replace a flat left-front tire.

"It has been one of those weeks," Harvick said. "This is what we consider one of our worst racetracks, and running with the leader and having a chance to win is what it's all about."

Said Jeff Gordon, "It's amazing how everything fell into place for (Harvick) last week at Daytona and it changed this week."

Harvick wound up 17th.

With Harvick gone and third-place Jeff Burton spinning his tires on the restart, Kenseth's Ford Fusion was never challenged during the four-lap sprint.

"I really thought we were going to lose when (Harvick) was running us down," Kenseth said after winning $342,316 "When he had his trouble, we were able to pull away at the end."

Kenseth was at California without his crew chief, Robbie Reiser. He was suspended for four races at Daytona for having an illegal hole in the right wheel well during pole qualifying.

"The car was good all day," Kenseth said. "We didn't have to make a lot of changes. I'm lucky to be driving this stuff. This victory is not without Robbie Reiser. It's an emotional win. We love Robbie. This team was built by Robbie Reiser. It's really about the cars. These guys have figured out what to do so I can do my business out there."

A caution for debris with 25 laps to go allowed all the lead-lap cars to make a final stop under caution. Kenseth won the race off pit road, while Jimmie Johnson dropped from first to fifth.

Kenseth shot out to a 25-yard lead on the first lap after the restart, 50 yards after two laps and 100 yards after three. Harvick was third on the restart and he moved to second with 15 to go. He got as close as 50 yards when there was a caution for David Reutimann's crash in the fourth turn on the 243rd lap. Bobby Labonte and Ricky Rudd both were damaged trying to avoid Reutimann's spinning car.

NASCAR red-flagged the race for 15 minutes, 18 seconds to clean up Reutimann's accident.

As the time the race got ready to resume under green with four laps to go, Harvick had to give up second place - and a chance to back up last week's victory at Daytona - to stop on pit road to change a flat left-front tire.

Kenseth, who led seven times for a race-best 133 of 250 laps, got another big jump to easily pull away to a 50-yard win over Jeff Gordon.

Cool temperatures and overcast skies caught many of the teams by surprise, especially since 70-degree weather was in the forecast. Gordon started on the pole, but the cool weather made his Chevrolet difficult to drive.

Martin's finish gave him the points lead. It's the first time his team, Ginn Racing, has ever led in the standings, but it may not last long.

Reach Don Coble at don.coble@morris.com.