Kenseth a celebrity after Daytona win

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. " Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth sampled the champagne in Victory Lane, posed for a few photos, then got on a plane and went home.

It wasn't that he couldn't be bothered to celebrate; Kenseth needed a winning wardrobe.

The winner of NASCAR's biggest race is obligated to a whirlwind of promotional activities leading up to the next Sunday's race at Auto Club Speedway in California.

"I wasn't prepared, kind of on purpose," a weary but smiling Kenseth said Monday. "One year, I was kind of thinking, 'Well, you win at this place and they don't let you go home afterward. You're gone all week. I'll bring some clothes down here.' That was, I think, the worst 500 I've ever had.

"So I told (wife) Katie, 'If that happens, I'll worry about it then.' So I had to worry about it last night."

When he arrived back in Charlotte, N.C., he did some quick packing, grabbed a little " very little " shuteye in his own bed and was back on his plane at 5 a.m. to return to Daytona for the traditional early morning induction of the winner's car into the Daytona 500 Experience, just outside the track.

Team owner Jack Roush, whose Roush Fenway Racing team fields five Cup cars, said he was particularly happy for Kenseth, who gave the owner his first 500 victory.

"Hopefully, Matt will get all the credit he deserves for driving the car," Roush said. "He's an incredible driver, as good in this business as I've ever seen, as I believe there's ever been.

When fans debate the top drivers in Cup, Kenseth is often left out. He was, at best, picked as a dark horse to win this year's 500.