CONCORD, NC (October 29, 2003) — DEWALT announced today that they plan to donate several of their tool lines to California Speedway’s “Race For Relief” fund today. The wildfires that have plagued the area of Southern California recently necessitated the gift to the men and women on the frontlines of the fires.

“DEWALT is more than happy to provide tools for California Speedway’s “Race to Relief” Fund,” said Dan Gregory, Vice-President of Marketing for DEWALT. “It is the least we can do for the people of Southern California. The fires in California are a tragedy, and we are honored to have our tools used for such a worthy cause as this. The work these fire fighters provide and the selflessness they exhibit during these difficult times is more than heroic, and certainly appreciated,” he added.

Roush Racing driver Matt Kenseth, who is scheduled to make a media stop through Los Angeles on Monday, echoed their sentiments.

“From what we’ve all seen on television lately, it’s been a tragedy for the homeowners out in the area,” stated Kenseth. “I hope that the donation will be well received. DEWALT has been a wonderful sponsor for me throughout my career and gestures like this one remind me that they are a class organization,” he added.

Kenseth also had some words of encouragement for the front line firefighters currently battling the blazes.

“I think the job they do is remarkable considering the circumstances and we wish them safety and success during this tough time,” he stated.

The DEWALT tools will be sent to the firefighters via California Speedway and their fund as of Wednesday, October 29th.

Based in Baltimore, Md., DEWALT manufactures and markets over 200 high performance industrial power tools and over 800 power tool accessories, as well as pneumatic tools, laser levels and generators. DEWALT is committed to developing innovative products designed to meet the needs of residential and industrial contractors as well as professional woodworkers. For more information on DEWALT products, call toll free 1-800-4DEWALT or visit www.DEWALT.com.

Roush Racing is a subsidiary of Livonia, Michigan, based Roush Industries that operates nine motorsports teams; five in NASCAR Winston Cup with drivers Mark Martin, Jeff Burton, Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch and Greg Biffle; one in the Busch Series with Burton; and two in the Craftsman Truck Series with drivers Jon Wood and Carl Edwards.

Checker Auto Parts 500 • Sunday, November 2
Phoenix Int’l Raceway • 1.0 miles

Matt Kenseth’s History at Phoenix:

DATE	START	FINISH	LAPS	WINNINGS	STATUS
11/05/00	12	42	53/312	$45,700	Accident
10/28/01	38	4	312/312	$97,960	Running
11/10/02	28	1	312/312	$211,895	Running

Matt Kenseth on racing at Phoenix:

“Last year was a big win for us in the DEWALT Ford. We’ve always run pretty well here in the past and I’ve been looking forward to going back. This is a big weekend for our sponsor DEWALT. Their Million Dollar Challenge event is just prior to the green flag and last year, they gave away a million dollars to the grand prize winner and we won the race.”

Crew Chief Robbie Reiser on racing at Phoenix:

“We’re bringing chassis 23, which we’ve used everywhere it seems. It’s a great car. We’re looking to defend our title and get us another win before the year is out.”

Notes:

• The team is using chassis MMR-23, the same car that Kenseth used at both Richmond races and both Loudon races. It has four top-10 finishes in those four events.

• Matt Kenseth now has 23 top-10 finishes in 33 starts, a league-leading statistic. Kenseth’s 2003 Winston Cup point lead is now 258 points over second place Dale Earnhardt, Jr. with just three events remaining.

• If Kenseth wins the Checker Auto Parts 500 event, his Winston-leader bonus payout would be a record $340,000.

• DEWALT’s Million Dollar Challenge wraps up this weekend just prior to the green flag. Last year, Jon Smith of Delaware, Ohio won the grand prize by drilling five screws into a block of wood in less than seven seconds to claim the $1 million payout. His time was 6.77 seconds.

• Kenseth likes his chances
• Kenseth happy to survive Martinsville Must register to view
• Slumping Kenseth holds tight grip on points title
• Kenseth the big cheese: NASCAR driver has a Packers-like following in Wisconsin Must register to view
• Points leader Kenseth carries high hopes at remaining races
• Kenseth heads to AMS with 240-point lead
• Kenseth clears Martinsville hurdle
• Math is on Kenseth’s side
• Kenseth knows there’s still work to be done
• Stewart calls Kenseth with free advice
• Kenseth next on cusp to win Winston Cup
• Kenseth looking to cruise to title
• Martinsville test puts Kenseth on target for top-10 finish
• Kenseth plays game of averages for title
• Eighth-place finish holds off Harvick
• How Kenseth ‘Came Out of Nowhere’

ATLANTA, GA. (October 27, 2003) — Heading into the Bass Pro Shops 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Matt Kenseth only needed to finish 12th or better in this race and the remaining ones in order to lock up the grand prize at the end of the season. He finished 11th, and mission accomplished. In a weekend of many twists and turns, Kenseth came through it all with a sound performance when he needed it the most. In doing so, he narrowly missed capturing his 24th top-ten finish of the season.

After taking a provisional to make the field, Kenseth rolled off the starting grid in 37th place. The car had been good in the final practice sessions and it didn’t disappoint once the race got underway with threatening skies looming. By lap 30 of the event, he had worked his way all the way up to 18th place before rain set in on the Atlanta area, dooming the event for a Sunday finish. The teams were sent home that evening and told that the race would resume at 11:00 a.m. Monday.

The skies cleared just enough to get things rolling right on time Monday morning. The cars took the official restart on lap 44 of the event. On lap 45, things took a grave turn for the No. 17 Smirnoff Ice Triple Black Ford. Up ahead of Kenseth, two cars touched off a wreck coming off of turn two. Though Kenseth saw it in plenty of time, Sterling Marlin did not and struck a hard, glancing blow off the left rear quarter panel of the car. The pit crew swung into action as Kenseth relayed the damage to the crew. It wasn’t too severe, but it needed attention before the restart. Kenseth came down pit road for service and the crew went to work taping up the crush panel area near the fuel cell and pushing out the back bumper. The team missed going a lap down by the narrowest of margins as the pace car was bringing the field down the front stretch. Kenseth sped off of pit road and took the penalty rather than risk being a lapped car. His penalty was to line up at the tail end of the longest line — which was pretty much where he was anyway.

The TNT booth were quick to point out that with closest rival Kevin Harvick leading the race and Matt Kenseth mired back in 39th place, the points as they run differential was slashed to a mere 95 points. Fortunately for Kenseth, there were still more than 275 laps to run in the race.

After restarting in 39th place, Kenseth put on a show in getting himself back in contention. It took him 40 laps to make up 20 positions. As the pit cycle began, crew chief Robbie Reiser plotted to have Kenseth lead a lap and kept him out since he had the fuel to make it happen. Then, the team caught an unbelievable break that would change the complexion of the race for half of the field. Kenseth was running in third place and looking to lead a lap before pitting. On lap 102, the caution flag flew, trapping over 25 cars a lap down. Since Kenseth hadn’t yet pitted, he was in the money.

He brought the car down for service on lap 104. He took four tires and no changes. “This car is almost perfect,” Kenseth radioed to the crew. What began as perfect unraveled a bit on the restart, as the car got very loose on the subsequent run. A lap 151 caution allowed the crew to attend to the car and Kenseth restarted in 15th place. After another quick caution, Robbie Reiser began planning for a possible fuel mileage game by having Kenseth pit three times in three laps. He restarted the race in 20th position on lap 168 — the first car one lap down. Over the next 100 laps, Kenseth floated between 15th and 13th position. Kenseth reported that the car was driving great, but some speed was missing somewhere. They would find the culprit as they inspected the car following the race. Though Kenseth didn’t know it, his hunch was correct. A broken header pipe was robbing the engine of horsepower.

The final three pit stops by the No. 17 Smirnoff Ice Triple Black crewmembers were scorchers according to the stopwatch. First, a 13.02 second stop on a lap 201 caution period, then a 13.25 second stop on a lap 224 caution. The final pit stop of the day on lap 287 was a 13.05 second stop. These three stops are among the fastest of the entire year under competition circumstances.

As the laps wound down, Kenseth ran a cautious, yet unrelenting pace. His only complaint was that the car was a little tight down the stretch. During the final run, Kenseth was as far back as 17th on lap 246 of the 325-lap event, but he steadily moved up the leader board to 11th as the checkered flag flew.

Closest rival Kevin Harvick’s progress was stunted after a lap 198 accident with Dave Blaney. Suffering front-end damage, he went a lap down late in the going. Closest to Matt at this point is once again Dale Earnhardt Jr., 258 points behind with just three races to go. And in two of the remaining events, Kenseth was a winner in 2002.

After the race, a relieved Matt Kenseth spoke with a glut of reporters about his day.

“It ended up being a good day in the points, I guess, a little breathing room on second place, at least. So, it ended up being a good day, but we ran real badly. We just had some problems. We had something break and that hurt our performance a lot. And, just struggled with it all day. The big picture looks good, but wish we could’ve run better.”

“It’s good that we gained some points on them guys because we only got three races to go. We’re going to some good tracks for us, so I feel good about that.”

“We certainly didn’t run very good today, but overall, looking at the points thing, everything was a great day for that. We’ve got three races to go and going to some real good race tracks, so I’m looking forward to that.”

Bass Pro Shops 500 • Sunday, October 26
Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hampton, Ga.
1.54 miles • 500 miles/325 laps

Matt Kenseth’s History at Atlanta:

DATE	START	FINISH	LAPS	WINNINGS	STATUS
03/12/00	4	40	199/325	$32,700	Engine
11/10/00	23	9	324/325	$54,750	Running
03/11/01	38	37	273/325	$42,080	Engine
11/18/01	23	17	325/325	$63,275	Running
03/10/02	32	4	325/325	$91,700	Running
10/27/02	9	9	248/248	$82,275	Running
9/09/03	24	4	325/325	$91,850	Running

Matt Kenseth on racing at Atlanta:

“I think Atlanta is a great track and I really like racing there. Qualifying is a lot different there than the racing is because you have to be right on the edge to cut a good lap, but when we shift into the race setup, it’s usually a comfortable ride when you get a great handling car. I’m looking forward to it and think we have a shot at the win.”

Crew Chief Robbie Reiser on racing at Atlanta:

“We’re bringing chassis 29, which has been a pretty good little car for us this year. We handled really well in the spring and finished top-five, so that’s what we’re looking for this time around.”

Notes:

• Matt Kenseth now has 23 top-10 finishes in 32 starts, a league-leading statistic. He also has 10 top-five finishes.

• Kenseth’s 2003 Winston Cup point lead is now 240 points over second place Kevin Harvick with just four races to go.

• If Kenseth wins the Aaron’s 500 event, his Winston-leader bonus payout would be a record $330,000.

• Kenseth took the point lead on his last trip to Atlanta Motor Speedway. He has held it ever since.

• The team is bringing chassis number MMR-29, which competed earlier this year at The Winston and Darlington in September.

MARTINSVILLE, VA. (October 19, 2003) — Matt Kenseth drove the No. 17 DEWALT Tools Ford to a lead lap 13th place finish in the running of the Subway 500 at Martinsville Speedway. It was a vast improvement over his one lap down, 22nd place finish in the Spring Virginia 500 event. For those wondering if Kenseth would stumble at one of his admittedly difficult tracks, he most certainly disappointed them.

Rolling off the starting grid in 14th place, Kenseth cautiously kept his car on the outside groove until he was able to get a feel for the car. The first 52 laps were caution-free, but when the first yellow flag flew on lap 53, Kenseth radioed that the car was loose in the corners and loose off the corners. He added that he could use some additional traction coming off the turns as well. Coming down pit road for service, Robbie Reiser dropped the track bar a full turn and added a pound of air in the left side tires.

Kenseth restarted the event in 16th place on lap 62. Two laps later, a minor dust up in front of him caused several cars to check up in front of him. However, Kenseth was able to drive through cleanly. The next restart, he had moved up to 13th. Reporting that the car was a little bit tighter in the corners, he added that the car was still loose off. Following another caution, Kenseth restarted in 12th place, and then moved up to 11th. “I passed somebody at speed at Martinsville!” he radioed jubilantly to the crew. Apparently, their test session at the track two weeks ago was beginning to pay some dividends.

After the first 100 laps in the 500-lap event, Kenseth radioed that the car was coming in decently on the long runs. After a couple of quick cautions and subsequent pit stops, Kenseth was running in 17th on lap 129. It was the next caution flag on lap 135 that would change the complexion of a large part of the race for the DEWALT team. Guessing that the cars would all pit behind him, Kenseth ducked into the pits on lap 138 for four tires and a quick once over for the fenders. Unfortunately, almost nobody else pitted and Kenseth fell all the way back to 30th on the following restart on lap 143.

Undeterred, Kenseth patiently clawed his way back into contention, always conscious of the leader’s position behind him so as not to go a lap down. But adding to his troubles on the run were the tires. “This set is making the car so tight,” radioed Kenseth. Even still, he moved up to 22nd place by lap 169. At the next opportunity to pit on lap 179, Kenseth changed the bad set of tires and rejoined the race in 25th on lap 187.

Kenseth picked up four more positions to 21st before radioing that he thought he had a left rear tire going down after contact with Jason Leffler. A lucky break for the team occurred as the caution flag flew just two laps later for an incident involving Kenny Wallace.

Over the next 100 laps and several cautions, Kenseth was unable to make up much track position. However, he was never in danger of going a lap down either. A near record number of caution flags flew on the day with a grand total of 15 in all-just three short of the record. Kenseth avoided each and every one and brought back a very clean car. Several competitors in front of Kenseth experienced trouble and soon he was back in 18th place for a restart on lap 353.

“The car feels pretty good,” radioed Kenseth on lap 373. “I’m just trying to save my equipment,” he added. Martinsville is famous for destroying braking systems on the 3,400-pound stock cars. On lap 380, Kenseth restarted in 15th place, but lost some ground before the car got back under him. Robbie Reiser used the next caution period on lap 405 for a two-tire stop. Kenseth shuffled between 14th and 16th place over the next 20 laps. It was an attempt at gaining valuable track position and Kenseth had this to say: “Yeah, we needed to try something and we both thought more of the leaders were going come in and we’d get a lot more track position. We did gain some track position and it was a good call if the car would have handled OK. On two tires my car didn’t run very good and that was the first time we tried it.”

Kenseth was able to pass both Ricky Rudd and teammate Mark Martin with under 10 laps to go to take over 13th position. They crossed under the checkered flag in that same order. All in all, although it wasn’t his customary top-10 finish, Kenseth made great strides over his previous Martinsville run in the No. 17 DEWALT Tools Ford.

Afterward, he gladly spoke with the assembled reporters with a smile of relief on his face.

“I feel great. I feel like I just won the race because this was a big hurdle for us. We really struggle here and to finish 13th here is a great job by these guys. I’m usually never happy finishing 13th, but overall it was great day for all of the DEWALT guys. It was really a great finish. You’re usually not too excited about 13th, but we didn’t lose a whole bunch of points and we finished here and got one more race out of the way. All of the rest of the tracks that we’re coming to are tracks that we can race at and that we run really good at. This was the biggest one I was worried about and I’ll take 13th and run. I’m happy with that. The track doesn’t bother me. It’s just really small and tight and with the way they give all of the laps back now, at any time there can be thirty-something cars on the lead lap. If you make the wrong strategy call or pit at the wrong time or anything happens, you can go from the top 10 to 35th so that makes it tough to figure out what to do.”

HOW WILD WAS IT OUT THERE TODAY? “When I was way in the back — when I pitted that one time kind of by accident and got mixed up — it was really bad. It was hard racing back there, but once I got up to about 15th and could find a spot to kind of ride until we got more towards the end of the race it wasn’t too bad. This place is fun when you’ve got a really good handling car. When you’re off a little bit, it’s a handful.”

WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF THE SEASON? “We knew this was our weakest point coming up the rest of the year. Two out of the last four tracks we have coming up we’ve won at before. Homestead is new for everyone and Atlanta is probably one of my favorite tracks to go to, so I’m feeling good and I’m ready to go. We’ve only got four to go and I think we’ll be real competitive at Atlanta and, hopefully, get back up front and run in the top five and hope we have a shot to win.”

Subway 500 • Sunday, October 19, 2003
Martinsville Speedway • Martinsville, Virginia

Matt Kenseth at Martinsville Speedway (0.526-miles):

DATE	START	FINISH	LAPS	WINNINGS	STATUS
04/09/00	31	21	498/500	$38,625	Running
10/01/00	37	34	447/500	$32,700	Running
04/08/01	25	6	500/500	$57,750	Running
10/14/01	22	36	459/500	$37,725	Rear End
04/14/02	26	2	500/500	$97,165	Running
10/20/02	17	19	499/500	$55,875	Running
4/13/03	34	22	499/500	$66,725	Running

Matt Kenseth on racing at Martinsville:

“Martinsville has never been my greatest track, especially since they reground the surface last year. That’s one of the reasons we chose to burn a test here last week. I think we figured out some great things regarding how the car turns in the middle and I’m anxious to see if it will be enough to pick up our average finish here.”

Crew Chief Robbie Reiser on racing at Martinsville:

“We’re bringing the same chassis we used here in the spring, but it’ll have a much different setup underneath it this time around. I think [Engineer] Chip [Bolin] and I found some areas where we can improve this car in the turns that should drastically help us out.”

Notes:

• If Kenseth wins the Subway 500 event, his Winston-leader bonus payout would be a record $320,000.

CONCORD, NC (October 11, 2003) — Matt Kenseth went a long way towards silencing his critics of the past couple of weeks by bringing home another top-10 finish as he grabbed eighth place in the running of the UAW-GM Teamwork 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Driving the special paint schemed No. 17 Carhartt Ford, Kenseth bested both of his closest rivals in the 2003 point race and increased his point lead to 267 over second place Kevin Harvick.

Rolling off the starting grid in 29th place, Kenseth made a bold statement with his Ford. Slicing up through the field, he made up 23 positions in the first 58 laps of the event before pitting on lap 60 for four tires and a slight track bar adjustment. Earlier, he had reported that the car was a little bit free in the corners, but the setup was right on. After the 13.85-second pit stop, Kenseth returned to the track and grabbed 5th place on lap 82 by passing Rusty Wallace.

The first caution flag of the day flew on lap 85 as teammate Kurt Busch spun his car coming off of turn two. Kenseth and the other lead lap cars again pitted on lap 86 for four tires. This time, the team reversed the track bar adjustment. On the subsequent restart on lap 94, Kenseth was running fifth. Unable to run wide open on the outside, Kenseth fell back four spots before finding his way to the bottom of the racetrack, where his No. 17 Carhartt Ford liked to run the most.

On lap 117, Kenseth became involved with a spirited duel with his closest points rival, Kevin Harvick. Trying to pass on the inside coming off of turn two, Harvick refused to give an inch and Kenseth’s car got very loose and he had to back out of the gas. Kenseth gathered it up and over the next ten laps, hunted Harvick down again, this time passing him clean on lap 132 in order to grab eighth place. Kenseth had some words for Harvick following the event.

“Yeah, I wasn’t really frustrated with Harvick. It’s just that he was holding up both of us. I understand what he’s trying to do. He’s just playing mind games and trying to get as close as he can to me to get the air off of me without hitting me. He was hoping I’d mess up or make a mistake or crash. I don’t necessarily blame him for doing it, but he cost us both a lot of time. Both of us would have finished up farther if he hadn’t done that because we could have gotten single file and made better time than messing around side by side for 20 laps.”

Three laps later, Kenseth radioed with disgust that his power steering was starting to fail in the car. Almost on cue, Harvick again showed up on Kenseth’s back bumper. The power steering would come and go, making it very difficult to drive flat out in the corners. On the team’s regularly scheduled pit stop on lap 153, Kenseth got another four tires and made a track bar adjustment. Six laps later, the caution flag came out and crew chief Robbie Reiser ordered Kenseth back down pit road to fix the power steering problem. “Let’s work on it — let’s get it right while we have plenty of racing left,” said Reiser.

Kenseth brought the No. 17 Carhartt Ford down pit road and up went the hood of the car. To onlookers in the stands, it may have looked like the team was going to stumble for the third week in a row with a tough finish. However, the over the wall crew quickly spotted the problem — the power steering pump cap had broken and come off the reservoir. They quickly screwed a replacement cap on the pump and the car was away once again with the problem solved. The team did have to give up quite a bit of track position for the extra pit stop and Kenseth restarted in 16th on lap 164 of the 334-lap race.

The power steering problem disappeared, but Kenseth now reported that the car was too loose and not tightening up as they expected. The team tried pulling a spring rubber on a pit stop on lap 206. It seemed to fix the problem after Kenseth restarted in 14th on lap 220.

As the laps wound down, Kenseth ran a smooth race. With closest rivals Harvick and Earnhardt, Jr. ahead of him, he had his work cut out for him. However, in a style made famous by Kenseth, he quietly cruised by the 29 car of Harvick in the next 20 laps. By lap 283, Kenseth was running just outside the top-10 in 11th place. Six laps later, he found himself in familiar territory.

You could see it in the faces of the crew members as the laps wound down that the season long magic of the 17 team hadn’t faded over the last two weeks. In fact, it was back with a vengeance. In the last ten laps of the event, Kenseth also cruised by Earnhardt, Jr. for eighth place. He crossed the line for his 23rd top-10 finish of the year.

Afterward, Kenseth delighted reporters with his “never let ’em see you sweat” answers:

“I don’t know. I’ve been pretty relaxed all week. You’re bound to have trouble. I mean, nobody is going to have a perfect year and finish all the races without having anything break or making a mistake. The last two weeks we made some mistakes, but we put it behind us because that’s already over. There’s nothing you can do about the points we lost or the cars we crashed because it’s already done. We just looked forward to this week and I’m real happy with where we finished. I feel like we’re sort of back on track, but, on the other hand, I was looking forward to coming here because I actually thought we had a chance to win the race. We got ourselves behind and then I couldn’t go on restarts and that hurt me.

“That was all right. We had a good car. We didn’t have a good enough car to win it, but on real long runs we had a top five car at least. We drove to fifth the first run and then the cap came off the power steering. We had to come in and fix that and lost all of our track position. From there it was an uphill battle, but we got the long green at the end we needed to pick up some positions and get a decent finish out of it.”

Kenseth increased his point lead to 267 points over second place Kevin Harvick with five events remaining in 2003.

CONCORD, NC (October 12, 2003) — Roush Racing driver and current Winston Cup point leader Matt Kenseth has made a decision to withdraw from today’s running of the Little Trees 300 Busch Grand National event at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

Citing his position in the Winston Cup point standings and the length of running two events in one day, he had the following to say: “I talked it over with Robbie [Reiser] and Mark [Martin] and just decided that it’s best to concentrate on the DEWALT team right now with where we are in the points,” said Kenseth. “800 miles in one day is a lot and I want to make sure I’m fresh at the end of the Cup race if I need to be,” he added.

He went on to address the possibility of running the Busch race if it gets postponed Saturday morning. “If the weather turns out to be a problem today and they run the race tomorrow, I’ll still run the car,” he stated.

• DeWALT’s finest hour at Kansas
• Kenseth isn't taking anything for granted, is keeping focus
• Consistent Kenseth closes in on Winston Cup championship site registration required to view 
• Ford may have some ammunition
• Mark Martin eyes one title he never expected
• No one’s catching Kenseth
• Kenseth has disappointing day but still holds commanding lead
• Kenseth knows he can play it safe from here
• ‘White Lightening’ by Matt Kenseth
• ‘Terrible’ Kenseth pads points lead
• ‘Terrible’ Kenseth still ninth

CONCORD, NC (October 8, 2003) — When Winston Cup point leader Matt Kenseth takes to the track this weekend, expect an unfamiliar look for the Roush Racing No. 17 team. Primary sponsorship for this race has been shifted to associate sponsor Carhartt. Carhartt is a 110-year old industrial clothing manufacturer, specializing in the most rugged, high quality work wear on the market today.

Carhartt formed a close alliance with primary sponsor DEWALT Tools through their common marketing channel of the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) events. At the time, DEWALT was the “Official Power Tool” of the PBR, while Carhartt underwrote the events as a series sponsor.

Carhartt then moved on to sponsor DEWALT’s Million Dollar Challenge events in 2002. The Million Dollar Challenge consists of a nationwide contest to see who can drive five screws flush into a pine 2 x 4 with the fastest time. Regional winners get to make the trip to Phoenix International Raceway at the end of the year and compete to have the opportunity to be the last man standing and go for the $1 million grand prize. Last year, a contractor from Delaware, Ohio named Jon Smith won the grand prize after sinking five screws in less than seven seconds. His time was 6.77.

The Carhartt sponsorship then escalated to an associate on Matt Kenseth’s No. 17 DEWALT Tools Ford in 2003. The currently own the C-Post and lower B-Post on all cars. But this week, they’re taking over the entire car with their trademark barbed wire design and dark copper/black paint combination.

“We value our relationship with Carhartt both on and off the track and feel as though the relationship between the two brands strengthens one another,” said Jon Howland, Motorsports Marketing Manager of DEWALT. “Two products you’re guaranteed to find on any job site are Carhartt clothing and DEWALT Tools, both of which are preferred by those making a living using power tools,” he added.

And if you’re Matt Kenseth and you make your living driving a race car, this weekend, the Carhartt Ford Taurus will be his job site.

UAW-GM Quality 500 • Saturday, October 11
Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Concord, N.C. • 1.5 miles

Matt Kenseth at Charlotte:

DATE	START	FINISH	LAPS	WINNINGS	STATUS
10/11/99	27	40	231/334	$19,680	Accident
05/28/00	21	1	400/400	$200,950	Running
10/08/00	26	9	400/400	$50,100	Running
05/19/01*	13	14	70/70	$28,900	Running
05/24/01	40	18	399/400	$65,630	Running
10/07/01	32	12	334/334	$52,440	Running
05/18/02*	1	3	90/90	$122,500	Running
05/26/02	21	2	400/400	$170,600	Running
10/13/02	7	34	254/334	$62,680	Engine
5/25/03	18	2	276/276	$206,500	Running

Kenseth on racing at Charlotte:

“I really like the intermediate tracks over all the rest and especially Charlotte. Running there with a great handling car is one of the best feelings in the world. We’ve got a great car here that did a really nice job for us earlier this year. I think we would have challenged for the victory if it hadn’t rained us out.”

“We’ve got a good car here and although we’ve had some trouble the last two weeks, we’re going to regroup nicely and come back here [to Charlotte] stronger than ever.”

• Matt will run a special Carhartt paint scheme

• The team us using chassis #19. This car competed earlier this year in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte (2nd place finish) and later at Chicagoland Speedway (12th place finish).

• If Matt wins the UAW-GM Quality 500 event, his Winston-leader bonus payout would be a record $310,000.

KANSAS CITY, KS. (October 5, 2003) — For the second week in a row, troubles plagued the No. 17 DEWALT Tools Ford team as they finished 36th in the running of the Banquet 400 at Kansas Speedway. An early race accident sidelined the team and sent them to the garage for repairs that lasted for 45 laps. Returning to the event in 43rd, Kenseth worked his way back to 36th place by staying out on the track, logging laps at the required speed and passing several competitors who fell out of the race as the day wore on.

The weekend started off ominously for the team as Matt Kenseth wiped out his primary car for the weekend on his third practice lap during Friday’s session. The car had been a great finisher for the team this year, owning the lone victory at Las Vegas. The crew feverishly worked to prepare the backup car, which was no slouch itself, and got several practice laps in before qualifying. However, the team still had to take the first provisional starting spot for the race.

Rolling off the starting grid in 37th, Kenseth carefully moved up through the field, passing cautiously on the way through. On lap 10, after he had moved up two positions, he radioed Robbie Reiser to report: “We’re better than we were yesterday in practice, but we’re just a little tight off the corners.” By lap 17, he had reached 32nd.

The first run of the day was a long green flag sequence. Soon, then leader Bill Elliott was just a few cars behind Kenseth and closing in. By lap 53, Kenseth moved into the top-25 in the running order and things were looking up. Just five laps later, the team pitted and Kenseth took four tires and adjusted the car with a track bar change and air pressure. The pit crew knocked out the stop in 13.96 seconds and kept Kenseth on the lead lap as the pit cycle ended.

“It’s pretty loose, but it’ll be good in 10-15 laps or later in the run,” Kenseth reported. By lap 64, Kenseth had moved up to 23rd position, but it wouldn’t be but four laps later when the day dramatically changed for the DEWALT crew.

On lap 68, Michael Waltrip lost control on his car just in front of Matt Kenseth. Kenseth slammed on the brakes coming off of turn two and spun to the inside retaining wall. He sustained heavy damage to the front of the car. “Guys, it needs a radiator at least,” Kenseth said over the radio.

The team retired to the garage for repairs. In just a little over 30 minutes, the team changed the radiator and all of the reinforcing bars on the front end of the car. Kenseth returned to competition on lap 113 — in 43rd place.

It’s not easy to log laps as fast as the field, but have no progress to make up. Kenseth found himself in this situation for the remainder of the event, but doggedly refused to give up and park the car early. The point situation is still important and Matt Kenseth and his crew showed how they refuse to take any of them for granted.

As the laps wound down, Kenseth worked his way back up to 36th place, but avoided a costly DNF for the day.

Afterward, Kenseth was understandably disappointed as he spoke to the media. (Questions shown in all caps).

“It’s been a tough week really. It started last week breaking an engine and then this week I wrecked the first lap on the track. Ultimately, this weekend was 80 or 90 percent my fault. We didn’t really have our backup car prepared properly. We kind of took some time off the track (during practice) and got us in the back, but when we did wreck I still don’t really know what happened. I saw Michael wrecking and I went a little lower to miss him and instead of just staying on the gas and going by him, I thought I’d slow up a little bit more in case he came down the track. The next thing I knew the thing just spun out on me. I wasn’t even going fast, so I’m kind of puzzled with what happened.”

EVERYBODY SAID YOU HADN’T HAD ANY BAD LUCK ALL YEAR, BUT THE LAST COUPLE WEEKS YOU HAVE. “Yeah, we’ve had a couple tough weeks, that’s for sure. A lot of times you create your own luck. Last week, breaking an engine wasn’t bad luck, it was poor decisions. This week, it wasn’t really bad luck it was poor driving by me and poor decisions with the car, so I can’t really blame it on luck. We’re doing it to ourselves.”

IT COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE. “Yeah, it can always be worse. We’re walking out of here and we get to go to Charlotte next week. I’m looking forward to going there and, hopefully, do a better job there.”

WAS THE BACKUP CAR NOT AS GOOD AS THE PRIMARY? “There was nothing wrong with the car, we just didn’t get much time with it. We weren’t prepared properly. We haven’t ever been in this position before to have to use the backup and this car wasn’t ready for this track, it was ready for a short track. That took about an hour-and-a-half of track time away from us that we really could have used to get this car figured out.”

WAS THIS BOUND TO HAPPEN BEFORE THE YEAR ENDED? “I don’t know if you ever think it’s bound to happen, but I’ve been saying all along that the thing is not over and you could have bad luck at anytime and things could go wrong at anytime. I realize how fast everything can change on you in this sport and we just have to keep our chin up and do the best we can. We still are in pretty good position for the rest of the year, we just have to go and run hard.”

WHAT ABOUT CHARLOTTE? “It’s water over the dam. Next week is a different week. You’ve just got to go there and concentrate on one week at a time.”

THE TEAM GOT THE CAR BACK OUT THERE. “Yeah, they did a great job of fixing everything. It’s too bad I got them in that position, but they did a good job of getting us back out there.”

SO YOU JUST KEEP YOUR CHIN UP? “We’ve just got to go and take it one week at a time and run the best we can. As a group we’ve made some mistakes, especially me as the driver this week and we just need to go correct that and be smarter and do a better job and get back to running up front.”

Matt Kenseth’s point lead is still 259 points over second place Kevin Harvick.

Roush Racing driver Matt Kenseth is admittedly not a sports fan at all. Ask him to identify any of the eight teams competing in the Major League Baseball playoffs, it’s doubtful he could come up with one of them. In fact, when he took batting practice with the New York Mets earlier this summer, he didn’t know a single one of the players. Matt also attended a media event at the Fleet Center in Boston for the Boston Celtics summer training camp. Guess who else he hadn’t heard of before? A camp attendee by the name of LeBron James.

It’s all completely understandable when you consider how much time and effort he places upon being the best he can be week in and week out in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. Matt Kenseth is all business in the garage area and his results are well known so far in 2003: 22 top-10 finishes in 29 starts, 10 top-five finishes and one victory. Oh, and a 354-point margin from his point lead to second place Kevin Harvick in the Winston Cup point standings.

So, everyone gets the picture of Matt Kenseth the fiercely competitive stock car racer who has owned a stranglehold on the points since the fourth week of the season. Single minded in his focus, he has no time for following other sports… or does he?

If you said no, then you don’t know Matt Kenseth. He is a dyed-in-the-wool Green Bay Packers fan. And to hear him tell it, what native Wisconsinite isn’t? “I’ve followed the Packers ever since I was a kid-through good times and bad,” says Kenseth. “That’s what makes Wisconsin fans so special. They stick by their teams no matter what,” he added.

Earlier this week, Matt Kenseth and his wife attended the ABC Monday Night Football game between the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field. He’s been to many Packers games, both home and away. He also has plans to attend the next Monday night football game for the Packers. A home game between Green Bay and the Philadelphia Eagles, set for November 10th.

Some in the media have suggested that Wisconsin has two heroes at the current moment, Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre, and Matt Kenseth. “I don’t know about that,” says Kenseth with his trademark modesty. “But it is pretty cool,” he added.

Banquet 400 • Sunday, October 5
Kansas Speedway • 1.5 miles

Matt Kenseth at Kansas:

DATE	START	FINISH	LAPS	WINNINGS	STATUS
09/30/01	13	32	238/267	$53,900	Accident
09/29/02	27	7	267/267	$89,400	Running

Kenseth on racing at Kansas:

“Though this is still a relatively new place on the circuit, it has a lot of similarities to Chicago and Las Vegas. I’m kind of relieved to get back to an intermediate track where more of the outcome is in the driver’s hands this week. We’re not down on ourselves at all over what happened last week, we just need to regroup and go out and get the kind of finishes we’ve had all year long by doing the same things week in and week out that have gotten us where we are.”

Crew Chief Robbie Reiser on racing at Kansas:

“We’re bringing our Vegas and Indy chassis, which has done very well if you look at the finishes. We really like how it responds to changes and I think it’ll make a great showing for us at Kansas.”

Note

The team will run chassis number MMR-20, which won at Las Vegas, placed second at Indy, and ran ninth at California