DeWALT Racing Notes - Kenseth grabs 12th at Bristol

Matt Kenseth and the DEWALT Racing Team grabbed their second consecutive top fifteen finish in the last two weeks, leaving Bristol Motor Speedway with a 12th place finish.

Kenseth qualified for the 500 mile event during first round qualifying, capturing a 22nd spot starting position. Bristol Motor Speedway is the only track that has two pits rows, 21 spots on the frontstretch and 22 on the backstretch. With the teams 22nd starting spot, it relegated the team to the back stretch pits, a slight disadvantage.

Despite pitting on the backstretch, Matt Kenseth was able to make big strides on the track. Kenseth maintained his position on the lead lap the entire race, while often battling a very tight race car. The DEWALT crew had fantastic pit stops the entire race, keeping Matt on the lead lap all day long. Kenseth ran as high as 5th position during the 266 mile race before taking the checkered flag in 12th position. Matt continued his 18th spot in the driver points battle and solidified his lead in the Raybestos Rookie Battle.
  
“We had a pretty decent car all day, but we were pitting on the backstretch,” stated Kenseth. “I had a hard time passing and getting up there and got in a couple of incidents here and there. It all ended up alright. Rob (Reiser) made some good decisions. We put on two tires that one time and got us in the top five and then there at the end I thought we probably needed new tires, but we kind of had to hang out where we were to try and keep some track position. This is the first time we’ve had two consecutive runs in a row. We’re usually every other week, so a top fifteen is still our goal right now — to have top fifteen finishes every week until we can get better.”

Honorary Race Day Crew Member

Brad Durham of Asheville, NC, was DEWALT’s Honorary Crew Member at the Bristol Motor Speedway, representing The Home Depot.

NASCAR Winston Cup Series Raybestos Rookie of the Year Standings

1. Matt Kenseth	64
2. Dale Earnhardt Jr.	56
3. Stacy Compton	53
4. Dave Blaney	47
5. Jeff Fuller	41

Kenseth Keeps Points Lead Despite Accident at Bristol

BRISTOL, Tenn. (March 27)— An accident on lap 228 of the NASCAR Busch Series Cheez-It 250 ended the stellar streak of top-five finishes for Matt Kenseth and the Visine Racing Team. Despite a 27th-place finish, he is
still in first place in the standings with 910 points, 62 points ahead of Todd Bodine.

“Track position is key here,” Kenseth said. “The guys did their job in the pits today but things just happen on the track that they can’t control. We had a good car and we were trying to catch the leader. We definitely had another top five in us today.”

Kenseth started the 250-lap event in seventh place, and the Visine Racing Team serviced the No. 17 Chevrolet for the first time at lap 60, during the third caution period of the event. The team made an air pressure adjustment after Kenseth told his crew the car was too tight in the middle of the turns. An outstanding pit stop by the crew allowed the Visine Chevrolet to return to the track in second place, a gain of two positions.

Kenseth led 14 laps and rarely stepped out of the top-five group of cars. The Visine Chevrolet took its final pit stop on lap 176. Kenseth was en route to taking over third position at the time of the accident at the exit of turn two.

Kenseth described the accident: “Well, we were kind of racing along there and on that restart, you know those last cars would get in there, and really race you hard even if you weren’t the leader, and the No. 5 (Dick Trickle) was in front of me.

“And then I got hit on the inside and got run up the track. I fell back behind Bodine there and thought I was clear. But coming down I ran into the No. 57 (Jason Keller), and that was it. We stayed out of trouble for most of the day until then.”

The Visine Racing Team moves from the short track to the wide-open spaces of Texas Motor Speedway. Matt Kenseth will compete in the Albertson’s 300 on Saturday but will turn the wheel over to teammate Jason Schuler the following weekend for the BellSouth Mobility 320 at Nashville Speedway USA on April 8.

DeWALT Race Report • Second top ten of season at Darlington

Matt Kenseth and the DEWALT Racing Team had their second top ten of the season at Darlington Raceway, moving them to the top of the Rookie 2000 battle and up to 18th in the championship points race.

It didn’t take long for Matt to crack into the top ten from his 16th stating position. Kenseth moved into 10th spot on lap 42 and then into the top five on lap 63. Kenseth cruised in the top ten almost the entire day, even leading for a few laps prior to coming in for his final pit stop of the day on lap 255. Matt walked away from the Mall.com 400 in 6th position, his best finish of the 2000 season.

“We had a rough week last week. We’ve had two fair runs and a couple of bad runs so far, but this is a first year team and we expect that. We’re all happy we ran up front and it was a real strong car all day,” commented Kenseth.

“We just had a real nice handling race car. It was pretty good yesterday in happy hour and we made a few adjustments on it and it got better here for the race. It was just a fast car. It keeps the tires on it. It was fairly fast at the end of the runs and that’s what you need here at Darlington, you need something that’s gonna be easy on the tires.”

Honorary Race Day Crew Member

James Dozier of Murrells Inlet, SC, was DeWALT’s Honorary Crew Member at the Darlington Raceway, representing Thomas Supply in Murrells Inlet.

NASCAR Winston Cup Series Raybestos Rookie of the Year Standings

1. Matt Kenseth	54
2. Dale Earnhardt Jr.	49
3. Stacy Compton	43
4. Dave Blaney	38
5. Jeff Fuller	33

DeWALT Racing Darlington Notes 

Kenseth had his best qualifying effort of his Winston Cup career at Atlanta Motor Speedway as well as led his first laps last Sunday. Matt led laps 6 & 7 before letting teammate Kevin Lepage take over the front spot.

Matt Kenseth’s Thoughts on Darlington

“I always look forward to racing at Darlington. It’s one of my better tracks. I won the Busch race there last spring and ran Bobby Labonte’s car during the Winston Cup race. I learned a lot running Bobby’s car and was running well in last years fall race in the DEWALT car until I became involved in an accident. We have a good set up for the car this weekend, so I hope we can qualify well and run up front on Sunday.”

DeWALT Atlanta Race Report - A day of tough luck

Matt Kenseth and the DEWALT Racing Team had a disappointing race at AMS after having their best qualifying effort of the season and leading for the first time. Kenseth qualified for the 400 race in 4th spot, his best career Winston Cup starting position to date. Matt took the green flag and it didn’t take him long to get to the top spot. Kenseth lead for the first time on lap 6 before letting teammate Kevin Lepage take over the front position the very next lap.

Although Kenseth led early on, from the very beginning of the race Kenseth was experiencing a handling problem. Several adjustments were made during the early caution flags to correct the handling problem. The car seemed to be handling better and Kenseth was cruising in 9th position when he realized the water temperature was dangerously high. A green flag pit stop on lap 133 was required to add more water to the motor and Matt fell back to 30th spot. The water temperature lowered and Kenseth attempted to make up some ground on the speedway. Matt was riding in 29th position on lap 201 when the motor let go and ended the team’s day suddenly. Kenseth finished in 40th spot and moved to 24th in the points standings.

“The DEWALT Ford Taurus was good all day, I was real happy with it,” commented Kenseth. “We were up in the top 10 there and I noticed the water temperature was a little bit too hot, so we came back around again under the green and that’s how we lost our couple of laps just putting water in it. After that it was OK, everything was back to normal, the temperatures were fine and everything and it didn’t give any indication at all. In the middle of the frontstrech there it just blew up.”

Honorary Race Day Crew Member

Bob Paul of Atlanta, Ga., was DeWALT’s Honorary Crew Member at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, representing DEWALT’S I/C Division.

Matt Kenseth Notches Second Straight Top Five in Visine Chevrolet

HAMPTON, Ga. (March 13)— Top-five finishes are nothing new to Matt Kenseth and the Visine Racing Team, but Kenseth added some drama to his second-place finish in Saturday’s Aaron’s 312.

Kenseth’s last trip down pit road on lap 152 of 203 took longer than usual because the Visine Chevrolet ran out of fuel before Kenseth reached the pit stall. Despite restarting 15th, Kenseth’s surge enabled the team to collect its second consecutive top-five finish and fourth top-10 finish of the young season.

“I don’t think we’ve ever run out of gas before,” Kenseth said. “I was just hoping I’d make it all the way down to our pit box. We took four tires and fuel, and then the car stalled; but we got it going again with some ether. We were fortunate to get back up to second position. I was hoping to be closer to Mark (Martin) so we could give him a run for his money.”

Kenseth started the Aaron’s Rent 312 from the pole position, his first pole this season and fourth of his career. He led 11 laps event before the red flag came out to stop the race on lap 92 for rain, and the race did not start again for six more hours.

When the drivers finally returned to their cars at approximately 8 p.m. ET, Kenseth continued to chase Martin for the lead. Kenseth led five more laps just before the final pit stop of the night on lap 152. Kenseth restarted in the 15th position, and by lap 170 Kenseth had cracked the top five once again. On lap 185 of 203, Kenseth reclaimed the second spot and never gave it up.

Kenseth, the defending champion at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina, will return this week for the Suncom 200. Qualifying for the Suncom 200 begins on Friday, March 17, at 2 p.m. ET, and Saturday’s race will be covered live at 1 p.m. ET by ESPN television and MRN radio.

DeWALT Racing Notes

Matt Kenseth and the DEWALT Racing Team tested at Atlanta Motor Speedway on January 26 & 27 in preparation for the Cracker Barrel 500.

The race on Sunday will be Kenseth’s 10th career Winston Cup start. In his first nine WC races, Matt has captured three top ten finishes and five top fifteen finishes.

Matt will be signing autographs at The Buckhead Home Depot in Atlanta on Friday, March 10th from 7:00– 8:00 PM.

Matt Kenseth celebrates his 28th birthday on Friday, March 10th. Happy Birthday Matt !!

Rain shortened race at Las Vegas

Matt Kenseth and the DEWALT Racing Team had a great run going at Las Vegas but rain put a damper on the event and the checkered flag came just over the half way point on lap 148. Kenseth started the race out in the middle of the pack, qualifying the #17 DEWALT Ford Taurus in 21st position.

The race began with Kenseth quickly moving up the pack. When the first caution fell on lap 19 , Matt was running in 17th position. Kenseth, as well as most of the field, came in for a pit stop. A two tire pit stop was decided for the #17 car, which proved to be a great move by the DEWALT team. Kenseth gained valuable track position and was in second position at the restart with rain pending the speedway. A red flag was thrown for rain on lap 41 and Kenseth was still riding in 2nd place. Green flag racing resumed a short while later with Matt falling slightly back in the field, running in 14th spot.

The red flag was thrown again for rain on lap 148 and this time the rain would not relinquish. The race was called with Kenseth grabbing a 14th place finish.

Matt moved to 20th in the Winston Cup point standings. 

“We started out really good and we got up to 11th or something and I thought I was handling good,” stated Kenseth. “Then we came in for two tires and got track position. We kept up with the lap leaders pretty good and didn’t back up really that much until about 10 laps before we were going to pit. We started out a little loose and I just thought it was the tires so we didn’t make any adjustments. We probably should have because we were real loose on that last set of tires. I felt like we could run in the top ten for sure, if we could have made one or two more adjustments. I’m never real pumped up about a 14th, but on the other had, after last weekend and the way that went, I’m happy. A finish in the top fifteen here gains us a few points. Now we can go to Atlanta and race again.”

Honorary Race Day Crew Member

Mike Brackin of Flagstaff, AZ, was DEWALT’s Honorary Crew Member at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Mike works for Ace Hardware in Flagstaff.

Visine Racing Update
Kenseth Picks Off 5th Just Before Caution

LAS VEGAS (March 6)— Matt Kenseth and the Visine Racing Team finally overcame their frustration of mediocre finishes at Las Vegas Motor Speedway by notching their second top-five of the season. Kenseth and company finished fifth in Saturday’s NASCAR Busch Series event.

“I’m really proud of that finish,” Kenseth said. “We had a good car to start the race, but as the clouds continued to roll in, it kept getting tighter. I think I could’ve been a little more aggressive with the adjustments, but the guys picked up the spots in the pits for us. This is our best finish here, by far, and I’m very happy with the outcome.”

While the Visine Racing Team calculated fuel mileage from its pit stall, Kenseth charged the field, finally cracking the top 10 at lap 82 after starting 29th. During the first caution of the event, the Visine Chevrolet needed four fresh tires and fuel. To maintain valuable track position before the restart at lap 121 after the caution, Kenseth opted not to top off on fuel. Fortunately, the next caution fell just one lap later, and Kenseth was able refuel his Visine Chevrolet to go the duration of the race.

With 50 laps remaining, Kenseth picked off sixth place. Then, on a hard charge at lap 195, he overtook fifth position. The final caution flag fell at lap 197, ending the 300-mile event under yellow.

It was the third straight top-10 finish of the season for Kenseth and a nice present for crew chief Gary Cogswell, who celebrated his birthday on race day.

Kenseth will try to keep his top-10 streak alive this Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Aaron’s Rent 320. He continues to lead point standings by 59 points.

New Decal Design for Vegas

The #17 DEWALT Ford Taurus is sporting a new decal design for the CARSDIRECT.com 400. DEWALT launched a new line of 24 Volt cordless power tools in December of 1999 and decided to carry the promotion over into the racing program. The #17’s hood and quarter panels feature the new 24 Volt reciprocating saw and the AC/DC converter pack.

The DEWALT Race team tested at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on January 31 and February 1 in preparation for the CARSDIREST.com 400.

This will be Kenseth’s fourth race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Kenseth has run in two Busch races at LVMS in 1998 and 1999 and competed in a Southwest touring series event in 1997.

Rugged day at the “Rock”

Matt Kenseth and the DEWALT Racing Team had a rugged day at the famed North Carolina Speedway, claiming a few rookie mistakes and learning a great deal during the 400 mile race.

Kenseth started out the weekend on a high note, qualifying the #17 DEWALT Ford Taurus in 6th position. Unfortunately, even a solid starting spot doesn’t guarantee a great race. Caution flew on the speedway on lap 18 while Kenseth was running in 7th spot. The back half of the field pitted for fresh tires while the front runners stayed out, including Matt. This would prove to be an ill fated move. Kenseth was already struggling with the handling of the car and was no match to the cars with fresh rubber.

“We should have known better to get tires,” stated Kenseth. “Half the field pitted for tires and half of us stayed out. Even though we were right up front, we weren’t running that great. I was struggling to keep up with the guys on new tires and I got into the wall a little bit and bent the lower A-frame, so it was downhill from there.”

After brushing the wall on lap 53, Matt needed several pit stops to repair the damage. Sadly, this relegated Kenseth to the rear of the pack for the remainder of the day. Matt finished in 37th position and fell to 23rd in the Winston Cup points standings.

Honorary Race Day Crew Member

Eugene Griffith of Cornelius, NC, was DEWALT’s Honorary Crew Member at the North Carolina Speedway. Gene is the most valued weekly customer at the Lowe’s Home Improvement Store in Huntersville, NC.

NASCAR Winston Cup Series Raybestos Rookie of the Year Standings

1. Dale Earnhardt Jr.	21
2. Matt Kenseth	20
3. Ed Berrier	15
4. Stacy Compton	10
3. Scott Pruett	9

NASCAR Winston Cup Drivers Points Standings

1. Dale Jarrett	340
2. Bobby Labonte	335
3. Ward Burton	312
4. Mark Martin	307
5. Rusty Wallace	295
6. Jeremy Mayfield	276
7. Dale Earnhardt	275
8. Ricky Rudd	273
9. Tony Stewart	272
10. Ken Schrader	262
15. Dale Earnhardt Jr.	230
23. Matt Kenseth	186