• Matt and the Lycos #17 racing team will be making their first ever appearance this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. Qualifying for the Coca-Cola 300 starts Friday at 3 Eastern and the race is Saturday at 2pm, televised live on CBS. Matt says he has a good feeling about this race even though it is new to him because their super speedway program has been working very well.

• Bristol lives up to it’s well known reputation of multiple wrecks and hot tempers. The good news is that Matt was usually ahead of these wrecks and proved that he is a contender for the championship by placing 3rd. Matt was as high as second when Earnhardt Jr. bumped him out the way with 3 laps to go. I would like to congratulate the Reiser Enterprises crew for some awesome pit work, giving Matt the track position to stay in the front. Good job all!!!

• Matt is presently in 3rd place for Busch series points, just 13 points off the leader Mike Mclaughlin.

• Matt is actually starting 13th, the scoring system was messed up.

• Matt pulled off a great qualifying run today, he will be starting 5th at Bristol tomorrow. His practice times were 7th and 5th fastest.

• Looks like Matt had a fantastic day at Darlington last Saturday. Matt brought the Lycos #17 Chevy into a 4th place finish, being the highest placing Busch series regular. This puts Matt 4th in Busch series points. Congrats Matt and the Reiser Enterprises team on another excellent race.

• Are you ready for some classic short track racing?? The Moore’s Snacks 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway starts Saturday at 1pm Eastern, televised live on ESPN. Qualifying starts Friday at 2pm. Matt was having a great race last August at Bristol, his first time at the track, when he blew a tire with 4 laps to go. He was running 8th at the time. Look for a great finish if he can stay away from the wrecks.

• Darlington is the next stop for Nascar, qualifying for the Diamond Hill Plywood 200 is Friday at 2pm Eastern and the race is Saturday at Noon televised on ESPN. The race will be tape delayed, check your local listings...

• Matt placed 12th last year at Darlington, the first time he had been at the track.

• Matt had some trouble today early in the race at Nashville by getting caught up in a wreck that occurred in front of him. A car drove into the left side of him trying to avoid a collision and Matt’s car suffered some minor sheet metal and front suspension damage. The time in the pits and damage to the steering caused Matt to go down several laps and he had to just ride out the race with an ill handling car. Matt finished 33rd after a 24th starting position.

• Matt and Mark Martin are tied for 7th place in Busch series points.

• The Busch cars take center stage this Sunday for the running of the BellSouth Mobility/Opryland 320 at Nashville Speedway. Qualifying starts Saturday at 1pm Eastern and the race is Sunday at 2pm Eastern, televised live on TNN.

• The first time Matt raced the #17 Busch car was at Nashville where he qualified 3rd and finished 11th.

• Joe Shear passed away Monday at the age of 54 after a long duel with cancer. Joe will forever be remembered as one of Wisconsin’s finest short track racers, having won more than 350 races. My condolences to Joe’s family, friends and fans.

• As you all probably know already, the Stihl Power Tools 300 has been postponed until a later date, to be announced.

• Lycos announced their sponsorship of the #17 Reiser Enterprises Busch car today at Atlanta Motor Speedway. See the article from the Stihl Power Tools 300 Saturday Notebook. Thank you Lycos!!!

• Continuous rain and the threat of severe weather has postponed the running of the Stihl Power Tools 300 to Monday, March 9th. The race is scheduled to start at 11am Eastern. Matt was 4th fastest in practice on Friday.

• Matt had a chat session on http://chat.lycos.com Friday night. Many fans stopped by to congratulate him on his recent win and ask many questions. Matt will be doing weekly chats on Monday nights, look for a schedule in the near future.

• A very nice article about Matt Kenseth and his relation with Reiser Enterprises and Roush Racing, from Nascar.com (Thanks again Mike)

• Qualifying was rained out today and has been re-scheduled to tomorrow morning.

• Next up, Atlanta! The #17 Busch car sat on the pole here last year, driven by Tim Bender. The track has undergone some changes in the corners and is now faster and smoother. This will be Matt’s first time at Atlanta.

• First round qualifying starts today at Noon Central for the Stihl Power Tools 300. The race is Saturday at Noon, live on ESPN2.

• Wondering if Lycos will be the sponsor? Head on over to Nascar.com for the official announcement!! (Thanks mike)

This just in from Lycos...
  
Just a quick note to say thanks for all the e-mails about our sponsorship of Matt Kenseth, Reiser Enterprises and the #17 Lycos Chevrolet. We have big plans to provide the racing fans a great experience on Lycos around the team. This starts Friday when we conduct our first chat session with Matt at 7:00 EST. Please point your browser to http://chat.lycos.com/ to join in on the chat. If you have not been on Lycos chat, you will need to create an account before you can join in and ask Matt your questions.

Please forward this e-mail to other racing fans so they can chat with Matt and welcome Lycos to racing.

Thanks Again.

Team Lycos Racing

• Lycos jumped onto the Reiser Enterprises car driven by Matt Kenseth for the Sam’s Town Las Vegas 300 on Friday, for another one-race deal. The sponsor came on Reiser’s car for the NAPA Auto Parts 300 at Daytona International Speedway at the start of the season. At North Carolina Speedway, Reiser, whose team is unsponsored, placed Lycos decals on his car as a way of saying ’thanks’ for the Daytona deal. Kenseth rewarded them doubly by winning the GM Goodwrench Service Plus 200. At Las Vegas, however, he was involved in a multi-car accident and finished the 300-miler on pit road, in 24th place.  (Nascar.com Las Vegas 300 notes)

• Looks like they missed the setup on the #17 Lycos Chevrolet. After starting 15th, Matt kept slipping back through the field and never had anything for the leaders. A late race accident involving several cars, damaged Matt’s right front, causing him to restart at the tail end of the lead lap with 7 to go. Matt was able to limp around the track to finish 2 laps down in 24th place.

• After 3 races, Matt is in 4th place in Busch series points. He is 2nd in points for the Busch regulars, just 4 points behind Buckshot Jones.