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July 31, 1997
- Another great qualifying effort
has put Matt in the 11th starting position for Friday nights
race on the flat .686–mile oval.
- Matt was 8th fastest in morning
practice, lets hope nothing goes wrong and the pit
stops are fast, a top 5 would be nice!
July
30, 1997
- The Busch Grand National cars will
be racing in the Kroger
200 Friday night at the Indianapolis
Raceway Park. First round qualifying starts Thursday at 5:45
Central (positions 1–25) and second round is Friday at 2 PM.
Racing gets underway at 8 PM Central and will be televised
live on ESPN.
July
28, 1997
- Quote from Gateway 300:
MATT KENSETH No. 17 Kraft Singles Chevrolet: “The car was running awesome.
We had some problems in the pits when a jack went bad on our first pit stop,
but they helped me make up some track position. We had a top-five race car for sure, but that’s the breaks.”
July
27, 1997
- Matt was running in the top ten
all day but lost oil pressure on lap 164 and had to retire for
the day. He was keeping pace with the leaders and just
concentrating on staying out of the marbles and saving the
tires. He would have likely came in with the top five finishers
had the motor not failed.
- High heat conditions claimed
many drivers by breaking up the track into marbles, causing many wrecks
and taking out most of the leaders. The 99 degree temperatures were felt
by all, several crew team members and spectators needed medical attention
due to heat exhaustion. The high temperature in St. Louis was 99 degrees
with heat index’s in the 110 degree range. Glen Allen was replaced in
the #99 by Dale Earnhardt Jr, suffering from heat exhaustion.
- Mike Garvey won the 40 lap ARTGO
feature, held right after the Busch race. Jason Schuler, of
Cambridge WI, led most of the race and finished 2nd behind
Garvey.
July
25, 1997
- Matt had another great qualifying
effort today, he will start the race in 11th position.
- Matt’s
practice times on Thursday were 10th fastest, this
morning he was 18th fastest but stayed out on the
track longer then anybody, they were probably working
on a race setup.
- It
is going to be a hot one at Gateway, temperatures will
be in the mid to upper 90’s with lots of sunshine, I
hope the grandstands are covered!
- For
those Cheddarheads watching the race tomorrow, I hope
you have picture in picture, The Packers
kick off at noon.
July
23, 1997
- The Busch cars will be at Madison
IL for the Inaugural
Gateway 300. I will be there!
- Qualifying starts Friday at 2 PM Central
and the Race is Saturday at Noon Central, live on CBS
- The ARTGO cars will race
afterwards, Jason
Schuler from Cambridge WI will be there to race on the flat
1-1/4 mile track.
July
17, 1997
- I just received some pictures
of Matt’s accident at the Milwaukee Mile. (Thanks to Jeff
Thompson) I added them to the Milwaukee
mile picture page.
- The Busch cars have this weekend
off.
July
15, 1997
- Quote from Myrtle Beach
Matt Kenseth, driver, No. 17 Kraft Singles Chevrolet:
“We
really had a good race car all night. At the beginning we were riding
around saving it. We came in for a pit stop and broke the jack. Then we
had to start so far in the back... The car got to pushing the longer we
ran in the back, as I was trying to work through traffic. It’s awful
tough to pass out there. Then they (leaders) kind of surprised us when
they pitted. We decided to stay out. In hindsight we probably should’ve
come in and got a couple tires for track position, but we stayed out
because it was so hard to pass.
“Usually on a new surface new tires don’t make that much difference
but they made a bigger difference tonight than I thought they would. We
were just out of tires there at the end. By inches we’re creeping up on
it but it was awful disappointing tonight. We had a great car in practice.
We weren’t gonna win after we stayed out but I thought we might get a
top-5 out of it. The two leaders got by and the third place car got by. He
ran me way up in the marbles...I moved up and gave him plenty of room and
he ran me so far in the marbles, that it took me about five laps to get
’em (rubber fragments) off my tires and that pretty much wrecked my
race. We’ll just to have to come back and get ’em next time.”
July
13, 1997
- A faulty jack caused the delay
and prevented a probable top five finish in Matt’s race last night.
July
12, 1997
- Matt was having a career best
race tonight, he started 9th and had moved his way up to 3rd when all the
leaders came in for a scheduled yellow flag stop. Unfortunately Matt came
out in 25th place, I don’t know what happened yet. He was able to move
up to 13th place when the leaders pitted again for tires and fuel, The
team elected to stay out for track position and Matt took the green flag
in the lead. He was able to hold the lead for 20 laps or so but his tires
quickly gave out to the pressure of racing with cars having fresh rubber
and he dropped back through the field. A sure top five finish ended with a
disappointing 17th.
July
11, 1997
- How about a 9th place qualifying
effort? This should help him get a top 5. (or better?)
- Matt’s practice times today
were 5th fastest.
- I hear that the racing surface
at Myrtle Beach Speedway is new this year and has been showing signs of
breaking up into marbles. Hope this doesn’t cause a one groove track,
could be a long day.
July
10, 1997
- Matt will be racing this Saturday
night at the Myrtle Beach S.C. Speedway for the Advance
Auto Parts 250.
- Matt has experience at this 1/2
mile track from The All Pro and Hooters series. He should have a
good qualifying run to start up front.
- Qualifying starts Friday at 4 PM
Central, all positions, 2 laps. The race is Saturday night at 7
Central and will be televised live on TNN.
July
9, 1997
- The
article from
Nascar.com about Matt’s homecoming in Milwaukee.
- Matt placed 3rd last night at
round 2 of the Slinger Nationals after starting from the rear of
the field twice.
- The race went 77 laps without a
caution and Matt got up to 7th place within this time. After the
restart, Matt discovered he had a cut tire and lost his track
position. He was able to get the tire changed tire under a
caution and started at the back of the field again. He quickly
moved through the field to finish 3rd after 250 laps.
July
7, 1997
- Matt had a great race Sunday in
the backup car, placing a respectable 12th.
- Although the car was slightly off
pace from the leaders, Matt still ran a good, smart race and
kept out of trouble. They pitted the car a couple of times early
in the race during cautions, trying to loosen the car up but it
remained tight all day.
- This was Steve Parks race to win,
but a speeding penalty in the pits handed the victory to Randy
Lajoie.
- MATT KENSETH
No. 17 Kraft Singles Chevrolet
“We
had a terrible race car but we finished 12th, so the
crew pretty much deserves all the credit. I don’t
think the car (back-up that was pressed into
service when Kenseth crashed his primary car in the
first practice on Saturday) wanted to race here. It
wasn’t really designed to come here and it didn’t
run like it wanted to be here. They did a real good
pit stop at the end.
We got two tires and gained a bunch of track position
there. The crew made me finish 12th with a 25th place
car.”
- Matt will be racing at the Slinger
Speedway this Tuesday night for Round 2 of the Miller
Nationals. Qualifying is tonight.
July
5, 1997
- Matt has qualified 27th for
tomorrows race.
- Matt’s
morning practice session ended in a fiery crash in
turn 1. The throttle stuck wide open in the front
straight sending Matt hard into the turn 1 wall and
destroying the car. They went to the backup car and
were only able to get a few laps in before qualifying.
Matt did not make the top 25 in first round qualifying
but they were able to set the car set up well in the
second practice session. Matt’s very 1st lap in 2nd
round qualifying put him just 6 thousands of a second
from the track record. He went too hard into turn 3 on
his second lap and drifted high but still turned a lap
that would have put him on the pole earlier.
July
2, 1997
- The
Milwaukee Mile
is the next stop for the Busch cars and I
will be there!!
- The
Sears Auto Center 250
qualifying starts Saturday July 5th at
Noon and racing gets underway Sunday at Noon Central. The race
will be televised live on CBS.
- Matt has raced here a few times in
the ARTGO and ASA series, he should have a great run here and
will have the support of many fans from Wisconsin.
July
1, 1997
- An
article about Matt’s transmission
problems at Watkins Glen.
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