TALLADEGA, Ala. (September 28, 2003) — At exactly 5:07 p.m. EDT, Matt Kenseth and his No. 17 Smirnoff Ice Triple Black team proved that they’re human after all. In a season full of glittering top-10 finishes, Matt Kenseth finished 33rd in the EA Sports 500 at Talladega Superspeedway after a mechanical failure relegated him to the sideline before the event was over. It is the only DNF for the team so far this year.

Rolling off the starting grid from the first provisional slot of 37th, Kenseth worked his way up through the middle of the pack. By the fifth lap, he was running just outside of the top-10 running order in 11th. On lap 10, the first caution flag of the day waved for a multi-car accident in turns three and four. When the pits opened on lap 14, Kenseth ducked into the pits for left side tires only and the crew sent him back out onto the track.

After a lap 17 restart, Kenseth fell back slightly in the draft before finding the proper line to get to the front. After dropping to 26th on lap 30, he jumped back to 15th by lap 40. Just six laps later and Kenseth powered up to 5th place with teammate Kurt Busch locked tight in the draft behind him. By lap 51 and approaching his second necessary pit stop for fuel, he worked up to second place. One lap later, he led lap 52 as Robbie Reiser kept him on the track for the five extra bonus points. A lap later, he pitted for right side tires and fuel in just 10.57 seconds.

On the ensuing run, Kenseth radioed, “I’m just a little snug [tight] — we need to free the car up a little bit. But just three laps later on lap 66, he radioed the crew again, “I changed my mind, it’s loose enough after all.” And he was on the move again. By lap 68, Kenseth was running 10th and receiving a big push from Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was a lap down at the time due to an earlier pit road accident that damaged several front running cars. Kenseth’s spotter reminded him that the 8 car was a lap down, to which Matt replied, “I know and he’s still bringing us to the front!”

After a daring move on lap 71, Kenseth’s spotter Mike Calinoff remarked for all to hear, “Matt, I don’t know how you do what you do…” Kenseth took over fourth place, then found himself in a six car breakaway draft as they approached another pit sequence. After getting back to second place again, Kenseth pitted on lap 87 for fuel and another set of right side tires. Two laps later, when the caution flag waved again for debris, Reiser kept the No. 17 Smirnoff Ice Triple Black car out on the track.

At the halfway point of the event on lap 94, Matt Kenseth restarted the race in 7th place. Over the next 20 laps, he hovered right around the top-five running order. Though Kenseth had another regularly scheduled pit stop ahead of him, the crew received a shock when he radioed, “I’ve got a left rear tire going down!” He returned to the pits for service ahead of schedule, but the bigger concern was in keeping up with the lead draft pack before going a lap down. It made for some tense moments as he exited the pits and over the next 10 laps. By lap 127, he was running 10th, but had drafting help from the likes of Ken Schrader, Jason Keller, teammate Mark Martin and John Andretti as they furiously tried to catch the lead pack.

Kenseth implored his spotter to get the message to the other cars to line up and run down the lead draft, now over 8 seconds ahead of him on the track. At times, they would make up ground, but then they’d lose ground. Finally, the lead draft pack got to racing each other and allowed the secondary pack to close up right behind them.

On lap 142 the caution flag waved for an accident involving Jimmie Johnson. Kenseth pitted three times over the next three laps, trying to make sure they had enough fuel to stretch their final run for the checkered flag. On the last lap before the restart on lap 147, several of the front-runners ducked down pit road for a splash of fuel, but Kenseth stayed out on the track. In doing so, he inherited 7th place on the restart on lap 148 of the 188-lap event.

He fell back to 10th on lap 150, but then mounted another charge coming up the inside drafting line. He was up to 8th on lap 152, then 4th on lap 153. Kenseth moved up to second place on lap 154 and was knocking on the door of taking the lead from Rusty Wallace when disaster struck the 17 car as he entered the frontstretch tri-oval. A mechanical failure relegated the team to the garage area, where the crew tried in vain to fix the problem and get the car back out onto the track. Unfortunately, the problem was terminal for the car and the team had to retire from the event.

Afterward, an obviously dejected Matt Kenseth spoke with the throng of media who gathered around the team transporter as the crew loaded up the car.

“Something broke in the engine. It’s real disappointing. Up to this point the engine guys have done a really good job this year giving us reliable stuff that runs pretty good, but this restrictor plate stuff has always been our weakness. None of the cars every come here and run. We’ve just got to do more work on this program. We shouldn’t break parts when we run like that. It should be reliable enough to make it, so it’s real frustrating because up to this point we haven’t broken parts. But the guys did a good job. We had ourselves in a good position to get a good finish and we’ll just come back again at Kansas.”

Commenting on the style of racing produced by the two new rule changes for the event, he had this to say:

“We didn’t have a very fast car, you could see that in qualifying. If I had people pushing me and I had myself in the right position, we could run pretty good. But if I had to do anything by myself, we weren’t very good. I was fortunate enough to have a great teammate like Kurt Busch push me all day and Dale Jr. push me all day. Without those guys pushing me, we would have run around the back. The stuff wasn’t real fast and then it broke. It’s real disappointing, but up to this point the motor guys have done a great job giving us reliable stuff. It’s really disappointing we broke today, but up to this point it’s been good. It’s never a relief to break and lose points. Obviously, we have a pretty good point lead and we just need to go race hard the rest of the races and we should be OK, but we can’t have more stuff break. With the lead the way it is, I thought we were plenty conservative on all our stuff but we must not have been because something broke. Hopefully, our stuff will make it to the end for the rest of the year and I think we’ll be OK.”

As for the points, Matt still leads the 2003 Winston Cup point standings by 354 over second place Kevin Harvick with seven events left this season.

• Kenseth not sure he likes all aspects of newest rule
• Storming into Dover by Matt Kenseth
• Kenseth back at Dover, site of his 1st Cup start
• Cup race a one-man show heading into Dover
• Matt-ematically, points race is over
• DW: Kenseth must stay consistent course
• Consistency key to the Winston Cup points title
• Kenseth in control
• Matt Kenseth: Mr. Excitement
• Kenseth gets ‘A+’ for effort
• Chasing history: Despite his success, Kenseth in uphill struggle to unseat Yarborough

EA Sports 500 • Sunday, September 28
Talladega SuperSpeedway • 2.66 miles • Talladega, Ala.

Matt Kenseth at Talladega:

DATE	START	FINISH	LAPS	WINNINGS	STATUS
4/16/00	42	18	187/188	$50,260	Running
10/15/00	36	10	188/188	$65,100	Running
4/22/01	40	19	188/188	$58,395	Running
10/21/01	24	4	188/188	$77,550	Running
04/21/02	37	30	180/188	$80,905	Running
10/06/02	8	14	188/188	$67,295	Running
4/06/03	28	9	188/188	$104,730	Running

Kenseth on racing at Talladega:

“Our approach this weekend won’t be any different than any other week just because this is a restrictor plate track. You never want to get caught up in someone else’s mess, but hanging back and trying to be too careful doesn’t work either. We’ve had some good runs this year on the plate tracks, save for the Daytona 500, but that was my call to pit before it rained. The other two races were both top-10’s and that’s what we’ll be looking for this time around.”

Crew Chief Robbie Reiser on racing at Talladega:

“We’re bringing chassis 17, which we’ve used in every plate race this year. It’s a good car for us, even though it’s not a good qualifier. It qualifies terrible, but it can sure race in the draft well.”

Notes:

Matt will be driving chassis number MMR-17, which has run all three restrictor-plate races this year

DOVER, DE. (September 21, 2003) — Matt Kenseth made the most of an awful day at the racetrack, coming home in ninth place during the running of the MBNA America 400 at Dover International Raceway. It was an improbable finish, considering that the No. 17 DEWALT Tools Ford ran outside of the top-15 for the majority of the day.

Rolling off the starting grid from the pole after qualifying was cancelled due to Hurricane Isabel, Kenseth could not stand on the gas and quickly fell back with a really loose race car. The first caution flag waved on lap 4 for an incident involving Mike Skinner and Ken Schrader. Nobody pitted and the field took the green on the restart on lap 8. “Too loose,” was the refrain coming from the car radio, over and over again.

Kenseth fell steadily backward as the car continued to get looser and looser. He fell out of the top-10 on lap 35 and had dropped to 14th by the time the next caution flag waved on lap 81. Kenseth pitted for four tires with air pressure adjustments. The team also removed a rubber in the right rear spring and added wedge to tighten the car up.

There was an unusually long caution as NASCAR was called out onto the track surface to re-weld the boilerplate in turn one. In fact, the caution lasted 30 minutes. NASCAR finally turned the field loose on lap 106, and Kenseth restarted in 16th position. Not only was the car still loose after the restart, it was borderline un-driveable. After falling even further to 19th place, Kenseth radioed the crew, “…this is unbelievable.”

Kenseth fought hard as the laps wound on. The leaders were setting a furious pace and when the “saving grace” caution showed up on lap 165, the leader was only two cars away from putting Matt a lap down — something that has only happened twice this whole year. Two laps later, Kenseth brought the No. 17 DEWALT Tools Ford down pit road for service. They put the rubber back in the right rear spring, guessing that their problems might be tire related after all.

After restarting in 15th on lap 173, Kenseth fell backwards again — this time to 17th place before radioing: “tight, tight, tight…” The car had now gone completely opposite on the crew. By the halfway point, the race was shaping up to be a forgettable event for the point leader as they chased the setup on the car.

By lap 224, the car began to settle out a little and Matt Kenseth was able to make a little progress up to 16th place. As the caution waved for debris on lap 235, crew chief Robbie Reiser wisely kept Kenseth on the track to lead a lap, as he was the last car on the lead lap anyway. A lap later, he pitted for four tires and they took a rubber out of the left rear spring. Kenseth restarted in 17th and stayed there throughout the next caution period and subsequent restart. By the lap 325 caution for a wreck involving Kenny Wallace, almost every team was sure they could make it to the end of the race on fuel.

Kenseth restarted in 14th on lap 331, fell back a position, then gained the position back by lap 343. Kenseth was starting to move forward in the field for the first time all day when his closest points race pursuer, Dale Earnhardt Jr. made severe contact with the turn two wall. With just less than 50 laps to go in the event, Matt came down pit road for the final time of the day. Of the 18 cars on the lead lap, Matt was one of nine who pitted. It was a smart choice.

On lap 373 of the 400-lap event, NASCAR turned the teams loose and Kenseth started to move up steadily with his four new tires. With 25 to go, he was sitting in 11th place. Three laps later, he was in ninth. With just 20 laps to go, Kenseth had snuck into eighth place. With less than 10 laps to go, Kenseth lost one more position to teammate Greg Biffle, but brought the No. 17 DEWALT Tools Ford home in ninth place.

It was his 22nd top-10 finish in 28 starts on the year. And it happened on the most improbable of days, considering how the team ran during the event. Afterward, Matt was amazed as he double-checked the leader board, pondering his day.

“We ran terrible. I’m really ashamed of the way we ran. We were just way off. We weren’t very good the whole time we’ve been here. We came in to make changes off the first set of tires and the car was totally different all day. We really struggled, but mainly I’m just worried about Dale, Jr. Hopefully, he’s OK.”

Commenting on his past success at Dover and his love of the one-mile track, he had this to say:

“Yeah, I mean if I had to pick one track on the circuit to come to this would be it. This is my favorite track, but we just haven’t run well lately. When we unloaded this car it was really a last-place car, but we worked on it all the time. We got it a little bit better at times, but it was in no way ever going to be a contender. I don’t know why we’re so far off. It was really a pile all day long, so it was frustrating.”

When reminded that his day could have been a lot worse, he smiled and stated:

“Yeah, we finished up OK but it was a terrible run. We’re really far off and I’m just lucky I’ve got such a great team that does a good job on pit road. Everybody at Roush is doing a good job building reliable engines and everything else. We need to make it to the end of these things because we ran pitiful today. We got lucky and got cautions so we could work on it a lot. We had a top-10 car at the end when we needed it, but at the beginning of the race we had a last-place car, so it wasn’t much fun to drive today.”

The real fun began when the points were tallied following the event. With less than 10 races left in the 2003 season, Matt Kenseth now holds a 436-point advantage over new second place contender Kevin Harvick. Dale Earnhardt Jr. dropped to fourth place in the standings after a 39th place finish following his accident.

• Kenseth driving to win
• Time to give Kenseth his due
• Kenseth about to lap competition
• Crew Spotlight: Jeremy West
• Kenseth keeps going … and going … and going
• Matt’s magic number is 7
• Kenseth’s championship quest
• Kenseth humbly heads toward championship
• Winston Cup is Kenseth's for the taking
• Race Rewind: Looking back at last year’s Richmond Victory
• Tech Q&A: Robbie Reiser

MBNA America 400 • Sunday, September 21
Dover International Speedway • 1.0 miles • Dover, Del.

Matt Kenseth at Dover:

DATE	START	FINISH	LAPS	WINNINGS	STATUS
09/20/98*	16	6	400/400	$42,340	Running
09/26/99	13	4	400/400	$51,160	Running
06/04/00	26	2	400/400	$119,755	Running
09/23/00	31	12	399/400	$64,440	Running
06/03/01	13	16	399/400	$58,435	Running
09/23/01	40	29	390/400	$50,815	Running
06/02/02	1	40	297/400	$72,845	Running
09/22/02	17	4	400/400	$91,680	Running
06/01/03	4	7	400/400	$87,985	Running

* Matt’s first Winston Cup start

“Dover has always been my favorite race track on the tour. I got my first start here and the DEWALT team always seems to run really well here. We qualified fourth back here in June and that’s been our best starting spot all year and I’m not really a good qualifier. I’d like to win one here Sunday, but right now I think most people are wondering if we’re going to have a race this weekend.”

“Matt really likes the place and he got his first career start here in 1998 and I think it’s always been special to him. It makes it easy when you’ve got a driver that’s as smooth as Matt is. We’re bringing the same car, so no worries there. I want to get back to victory lane just as bad as Matt and this whole team does, so maybe this will be the week.”

• If Kenseth wins the Dover 400 event, his Winston-leader bonus payout would be a record $280,000.
• Chassis Number: MMR-27 * finished seventh at Dover in June

LOUDON, NH. (September 14, 2003) — Matt Kenseth finished in seventh position for the second week in a row, this time at the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway. The repeat result from last week boosted Matt’s statistics of a league-leading 21st top-10 finish in 27 starts in 2003.

Rolling off the starting grid in 19th place, Kenseth set off on a commanding pace, breaking into the top-10 for the first time of the day on lap 36. He reported that the car was free in the middle of the corner, but tight off of it. He also radioed that the car seemed to get better as the run went on.

Crew Chief Robbie Reiser had a strategy for Matt Kenseth to lead a lap before their first scheduled stop of the day and it worked to perfection on lap 87 of the 300-lap event. After collecting his five bonus points, Kenseth came down pit road one lap later for four tires and air pressure adjustments on his No. 17 DEWALT Tools Ford. The pit crew set the tone for the day with a blistering 13.88-second stop. By the time the pit stops cycled through the field, Kenseth was shown in 8th place.

On lap 123, Kenseth radioed that the car seemed to be getting tighter and tighter, making it harder for him to turn the car in the corner. Just two laps later, the team would get a chance to make the necessary changes as the caution flag flew for the first time of the day for debris. Making his way down pit road, Kenseth drove past a frightening looking accident as the teammate cars of Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson entered the pits out of control. Gordon’s car slid through his stall, upending two crewmen from the 48 team. Luckily, both of the crewmembers quickly jumped back up and finished their pit stop. The incident allowed Kenseth to move up to seventh place on the leader board on the subsequent restart on lap 138.

Three laps later and Kenseth was back on the radio, relaying that the car was somehow very loose after the changes. “I’m not sure why the car changed this much,” he echoed to Reiser. Just four laps later, he radioed back to announce that he felt like he had a handle on the car and that it would come around for him as the laps wore on.

The second caution of the day flew on lap 146 as the 22 car of Ward Burton received a tap, sending him into the new SAFER barrier walls in turn one. Reiser kept Kenseth out on the racetrack with all of the lead cars, who also refused to pit. After the restart on lap 151, it was just another four laps when the caution flag waved again. Another restart on lap 159 and only one lap later, another caution flag. The lapped cars on the inside groove were making things extra painful for the lead lap cars on the outside and the yellow flags kept waving for contact.

There would be two more cautions before lap 200 of the event and Kenseth used the one on lap 184 for a pit stop to change four tires with no adjustments in 16.13 seconds. After the second caution flag stop on lap 196, the team thought to bring Kenseth down pit road to top off the fuel tank, in hopes of making it the rest of the way with one simple splash and go pit stop at the end of the event. The move cost Kenseth and Co. some track position and he restarted the event from the 19th spot.

Kenseth worked his way back up into the top-15 on lap 220 of the 300-lap event. Robbie Reiser’s strategy began to look brilliant as one by one, the cars in front of Kenseth made their way down pit road for fuel stops. By lap 277, Kenseth had made it up to second place and some heavy debate was taking place as to whether or not Kenseth could stretch the fuel mileage game into his second win of the season. “I’ve still got 10 pounds of [fuel] pressure, but I don’t want to run out,” radioed Kenseth. By lap 286, Kenseth took the lead as the 29 car of Kevin Harvick ran his car out of gas trying to keep the No. 17 DEWALT Tools Ford behind him.

On lap 290, Reiser called Kenseth down pit road for a final “be-sure” gas and go pit stop. It lasted just 2.5 seconds and Kenseth came out of the pits in ninth with just 10 laps to go. Before it was over, two cars running in front of Kenseth ran out of fuel, handing him his second seventh place finish in a row.

Afterward, Kenseth talked with reporters regarding his day:

“We had a better car than where we finished, I think. We tried to play the fuel mileage game the same as the guys that won it with last time and it would have worked well if there were cautions, but there weren’t any cautions. We had a good car. We stayed up front all day and then at the end we got ourselves buried too far in the back and couldn’t overcome that. So it was good to finish seventh again. That seems to be our magic number lately, but I would have liked to have done better than that. I think we had a little better car than that, but, all in all, it was a good day.”

Regarding his streak of top-10’s in 2003, he commented the following:

“Yeah, I mean as far as the points it was a great day. The 48 won the race and gained a couple and Junior gained a couple and I think the 29 finished behind us, so, as far as the points go, it’s a great day whenever we can finish in the top 10 with the position we’re in right now and the amount of races left. That makes me feel real good, but, on the other hand, you just want everything to go right one time and put our DEWALT car up in victory lane or at least have a shot at the win.”

CONCORD, NC (September 10, 2003) — During the season-ending event at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2002, Matt Kenseth suffered a blown engine and finished 40th. It was a disappointing end to a spectacular 5-win season for Matt Kenseth, who finished 8th in the final standings. The next week, the team got another dose of bad news.

Rear tire changer Phil Drye and rear tire carrier Dave Smith notified crew chief Robbie Reiser that they were leaving the 17 team, one for Jeff Gordon’s outfit and one for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Budweiser team. The two-time defending World Pit Crew Champions had now lost two of the original seven over the wall members.

Time to panic? Not a chance. Roush Racing pit crew coach Andy Ward makes it a habit to continuously scout other team members for just such occasions. And he already had his eye on a young upstart with a fast air gun — Jeremy West.

The 25-year old West was completing the fourth year of a stint with Jim Smith’s Ultra Motorsports outfit, which fields entries in the Craftsman Truck Series and the Winston Cup car of Casey Atwood. West was a veteran tire changer for both teams at one time or another. Hungry for more and more experience going over the wall under pressure, West many times pulled double duty changing tires for both teams. That all changed when he got the call from Andy Ward to come try out for a position at Roush Racing.

Jeremy was told that he would be trying out for a position with either the 16 team of rookie Greg Biffle, or the “Killer Bees” of the legendary 17 team of Matt Kenseth. Robbie Reiser himself showed up to view the tryouts when Jeremy West auditioned.

After a few simulated stops, he hired Jeremy on the spot for the 17 team.

“Yeah, you could say that the tryout must have gone good,” said West. “I didn’t expect to hear anything the day I tried out. I figured they’d get together and talk things over and find a place for me in a week or so,” he added.

Over the past year, Jeremy has participated in the daily regimen of the Union 76 World Pit Crew Champions, whose two back-to-back banners hang proudly in the shop. Their routine consists of pit crew practice every day at 11 a.m., followed by a 30-minute workout in the upstairs gym. They don’t go up there to pump iron, either. The team focuses on other off-the-wall training techniques like working out with the heavy medicine ball and teamwork drills.

“It’s the competition that’s the main difference from the truck series to Winston Cup,” says West. “Being a part of this team is having to live up to the reputation they’ve built over the last two years. I’m looking forward to the pit crew championship this year at Rockingham, but I haven’t quite started focusing on that just yet — we’re still working on being the first off of pit road every week for right now,” he added.

One thing is for sure — West has stepped into a major role on the Killer Bees pit crew… and he’s fitting in just fine.

Sylvania 300 • Sunday, September 14
New Hampshire International Speedway • 1.058 miles • Loudon, N.H.

Matt Kenseth at New Hampshire:

DATE	START	FINISH	LAPS	WINNINGS	STATUS
07/09/00	22	19	272/273	$54,400	Running
09/17/00	38	17	298/300	$51,625	Running
07/22/01	21	16	300/300	$54,550	Running
11/23/01	16	4	300/300	$82,525	Running
07/21/02	6	33	299/300	$71,225	Running
09/15/02	17	10	207/207	$73,875	Running
7/03/03	1	3	300/300	$124,030	Running

Kenseth on racing at New Hampshire:

“I’m looking forward to going back to New Hampshire. We had a great run here in July and I think we’ll be able to back that up. We’ve had a good amount of consistent races, but it would be good to put an exclamation on things by getting back into Victory Lane.”

Crew Chief Robbie Reiser on racing at New Hampshire:

“We’re bringing the same car we ran last week at Richmond and save for one set of bad tires, it performed great for us. We’ve got to be a little more consistent with our stops on pit road… and we have to pay attention to the fuel mileage aspect.”

Note

• Matt will run Chassis MMR-23, which ran at Richmond last week

RICHMOND, VA. (September 6, 2003) — Matt Kenseth finished seventh in the Chevy Rock n’ Roll 400 at Richmond International Raceway for his 20th top-10 finish of the 2003 season — a league leading statistic. Driving the No. 17 Smirnoff Ice Triple Black Ford, Kenseth overcame a sluggish start and, along with some brilliant pit calls by crew chief Robbie Reiser, pulled off a typical race finish under the lights.

Rolling off the starting grid in 18th place, Kenseth had trouble making up ground early as he reported that the car was loose — too loose, to be exact. After pitting during the first caution period on lap 31, the crew pulled a rubber out of the left rear and put a round of wedge in the car to tighten it up. After restarting in 29th, Kenseth began to make up a little ground on the track. Before long, however, the progress seesawed and Kenseth began to float backwards on the leader board. After the team’s second pit stop on lap 65, the team changed four tires, went back up on the wedge adjustment and utilized air pressure adjustments.

But now the car was even looser than before. “It’s loose everywhere,” reported Kenseth. “Even in the middle of the corner in case you were wondering,” he added, jokingly. The joking ended just eight laps later as Kenseth slid up the track coming off turn four and got into the front stretch wall. For a split second, he got off the gas and was turned around, spinning down to the apron without hitting anything.

Without panicking, the crew jumped into action and changed two tires at a time on two subsequent pit stops so that Kenseth would not lose a lap to the leaders. Spotter Mike Calinoff kept the crew informed on the pace car’s position at all times. “I don’t know what happened,” Kenseth radioed to the crew. “The car was loose, loose, loose, then it got so tight on me all of the sudden that I washed up the track.” On lap 88 of the 400-lap event, Kenseth restarted all the way back in 39th place and it looked like the team might be headed for an extra long evening at the three-quarter-mile track.

The first of two big incidents occurred on the backstretch on lap 94, collecting eight cars. Under the long caution period Kenseth was able to pit two more times to fix the damage and change tires. Finally on lap 112, the race restarted with Kenseth in 28th position. Just seven laps later, another caution flag waved — but this time, Kenseth was ordered to stay out on the track while the others pitted. This was the turning point of the race for the Smirnoff Ice Triple Black team. In a bid for track position, Kenseth gained 22 positions all the way up to 6th on the restart on lap 126. Under the caution laps, Kenseth radioed an ominous message to his crew. “You know, we’re not as bad as we look out here,” he stated. It would turn out to be a prophetic message.

Kenseth was easily able to keep pace with the leaders over the next 100 laps, even moving as high as third place by staying out under yellow again on lap 143. Towards the end of a long run, Kenseth complained that the car would end up tight — which was a good thing, meaning that the adjustments were working correctly for the track conditions.

Kenseth again reached a high point of third place on lap 244 as he passed teammate Jeff Burton going into turn one. He radioed that the car was a little bit loose off the corners, but a little bit tight in the middle. Following two more cautions, Kenseth never fell out of the top-five running order.

With less than 100 laps to go, the 11th caution flag of the night flew on lap 318 for debris. Kenseth pitted on lap 320, but restarted in ninth place as several front runners decided against coming in for new tires. Right away, Kenseth complained that the set of tires was too loose for the car. Robbie Reiser urged Kenseth to dig in and fight and he did just that, moving up to sixth place on lap 371.

Two controversial caution flags flew with less than twenty laps to go in the event, but neither concerned the No. 17 Smirnoff Ice Triple Black Ford. Luckily for all of the front-runners, two final restarts came in the final ten laps; meaning single file restarts were the norm. Kenseth fought off a challenge from Terry Labonte, but pulled away with two laps to go to finish in seventh place.

Afterward, Kenseth spoke at length with reporters about yet another amazingly good points night. In the end, he finished ahead of his closest three challengers.

“We didn’t have the night we wanted. We were way off in the beginning and I spun out there, and the guys did a good job. We got back on sequence with the leaders. At times, we had a real good car, just the last set of tires and last adjustment we made just didn’t agree with the car. We were just barely tight and put on the last set of tires, and I was just way, way too loose. We were two-tenths slower than we were the runs before. So, we had our worst set last, and that isn’t what you wan to do, but overall it was a good day’s work.”

When asked about his rivals in the points chase, he stated:

“You never like to see anybody else’s misfortune, but I definitely feel better with the lead we have now than what we had when we came in. The 29’s been awful, awful strong and has had a lot of momentum, and he kind of broke that momentum tonight. I feel good about that, but we still quite didn’t have the day we wanted to, we still really want to get our car back to victory lane, but overall it was decent for us.”

And finally, he addressed his now 418-point lead over second place Dale Earnhardt Jr. with just 10 races to go in the 2003 season:

“Yeah, we’ll just stay after it. To me it’s still too early to count races. I’ll sleep a little bit better than I did last week, but I still won’t sleep totally sound yet.”

• Kenseth is rocking, others roll behind
• Kenseth likely on top to stay
• Kenseth has championship all but locked up
• Some valid points about the Points
• Kenseth driving on rails
• Kenseth has qualities of past champ Pearson
• Kenseth piles up points
• Kenseth note likely to lose lead
• Kenseth leaves Bristol with bigger points lead
• Q&A with Matt Kenseth
• Wife in the fast lane: Katie Kenseth plays key role in Matt's success
• MIS ready for big night
• Cup scoring system just fine with Kenseth

Chevy Rock & Roll 400 • Saturday, September 6
Richmond International Raceway • .75 miles • Richmond, Virginia

Matt Kenseth at Richmond International Raceway:

DATE	START	FINISH	LAPS	WINNINGS	STATUS
05/06/00	37	15	400/400	$41,660	Running
09/09/00	20	32	376/400	$35,305	Engine
05/05/01	19	8	400/400	$52,475	Running
09/08/01	38	35	301/400	$42,425	Running
05/04/02	7	6	400/400	$68,000	Running
09/07/02	25	1	400/400	$163,595	Running
05/03/03	18	7	400/400	$73,675	Running

Kenseth on racing at Richmond:

“I had such a good car here at this event last year that we came back from being a lap down twice to win the race. Richmond is a place I really like to run, and I know a lot of drivers will tell you the same thing. It’s just a great racetrack.”

Crew Chief Robbie Reiser on racing at Richmond:

“There’s no question we have to have a good handling car. We’ve got to be close when we unload the car so we can get the car comfortable for Matt. You have to work well on the long runs, because even though there are cautions, you do run a lot of green flag laps in a row. It’s important to get set up for the long runs so you don’t wear the tires out too fast.”

Notes

• If Kenseth wins the Chevrolet Rock & Roll 400 event, his Winston-leader bonus payout would be a record $260,000.
• Matt will run chassis MMR-23, which ran Richmond in the spring.

CONCORD, NC (September 2, 2003) — Any race car driver will tell you that all of their victories are special-whether they’ve won one race or 200 races. In fact, any of them could probably tell you about their first ever victory, be it in a go-kart or a Saturday night street stocker. But, some victories do stand out more than others. Perhaps, victories in which the driver had to overcome an inordinate amount of uncertainty throughout the night.

Welcome back to Richmond, Virginia … September 8, 2002. One year ago this weekend…

The record books show that Matt Kenseth won his fourth race of 2002 in his No. 17 DEWALT Tools Ford. But boy did he have to earn it.

Kenseth qualified in 25th position for the Chevrolet Monte Carlo 400. During Kenseth’s first long green flag run of the night, his right front tire blew out on lap 66 of the 400-lap event. Kenseth lost a lap and restarted 37th and the night was shaping up to be a dismal exercise in staying out of the leader’s way. Yet, Kenseth fought back in the brand new car that the team had built specifically for this race. He regained his lap back on lap 104 and had climbed to 30th place by lap 113. Over the next 50 laps, Kenseth put on a clinic, moving all the way up to eighth place.

Then it happened again.

On lap 169, the right front tire blew out again. Once again, Kenseth went a lap down to the field and was shown in 32nd overall place. This time, utilizing pit strategy from crew chief Robbie Reiser, Kenseth got back on the lead lap. By lap 208 and after a 13.65-second stop from his pit crew, Kenseth restarted the race from the fifth position.

On lap 258, he actually took the lead for the first time in the event. After a caution on lap 274, he got beat off pit road and restarted in fourth. Twenty laps later and Kenseth was right back up front — this time for good. He never relinquished the lead from that point on and went on to win the race after twice coming back from being a lapped car.

In Victory Lane, Kenseth praised the team and specifically, his brand new car.

“All these guys built this car brand new a few weeks ago for a short track car and it was just really fast the whole time we’ve been here. It would work in the high groove and down low. It’s just a lot of fun to have a short track car that is that fast.”

He went on to make a statement about his organization in general afterward.

“It’s awesome that we have four wins with 10 races to go. That’s hard to do anymore with the level of competition out there. This is a championship caliber team and I’m proud of what we’ve done this season.”

Hopefully, history will repeat itself this weekend and Kenseth can once again utter the same sentiments.