Robbie Reiser on racing at Homestead-Miami Raceway

“I have a feeling we’re going to have a good weekend and make up for some of the finishes we haven’t had lately. The pit crew is on their ‘A’ game right now and I think we have a great car and we had a great test. We’d like to go out on top this year.”

Fast Facts:

• Kenseth finished 20th at Darlington Raceway one week ago. He has 16 top-10 finishes in 35 starts in 2004. Kenseth has now been inside the NASCAR Top-10 for 70 straight weeks — the longest active streak.

• Kenseth moved up one spot in the point chase rankings to eighth place heading into this final week.

• This week, the team will bring chassis No. 36 to Homestead-Miami Speedway — this is a brand new car and was tested at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 2–3rd.

• Kenseth’s best finish at Homestead is a 21st place effort, coming in his rookie season.

• Matt Kenseth will also be running in the Busch Grand National race Saturday in the No. 17 Bayer Ford Taurus

	Position	Points	Behind	Starts	Wins	Top-5’s	Top-10’s	Winnings
Matt Kenseth	8th	5963	-383	35	2	8	16	$6,119,690

DARLINGTON, SC (November 14, 2004) — Matt Kenseth and the No. 17 DEWALT Tools team finished 20th in the final running of the Mountain Dew Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. The Labor Day Classic was moved to this date earlier last year and it was decided it would finish under the lights for the first time in history. Kenseth’s day was both up and down — he ran as high as fifth and as low as 31st throughout the 367-laps in a race, which lasted almost five hours.

Rolling off the starting grid from the ninth position by virtue of the qualifying session being rained out, the car seemed to be hesitant to get off to a good start. Kenseth reported by lap 10 that the car was too loose and this fact became very evident seven laps later as he had to make a miraculous save coming off of turn four as the car kicked out sideways underneath him. He moved up to eighth by lap 32, but gave a few positions back as his tires wore down. When it came time to pit, the team had to come in about five laps earlier than planned for four new tires on lap 52. The team made a track bar adjustment and Kenseth returned to the race in 31st position.

When the pit cycle had completed, he was back up to fifteenth place with a better handling race car. By lap 63, he was eighth and a couple of laps later, he was running just outside the top-five in sixth place. “I’m still loose off of two but I can get off four really good,” he radioed to crew chief Robbie Reiser. At the end of this run, his tires began to fade again and he slipped back to ninth place before his second pit stop of the day — which the crew completed in 13.20-seconds for four tires. He took the lap 87 restart from the seventh position. He held serve and only fell back one spot on this run until the next caution flag waved on lap 119.

Telling the crew that the car needed to turn better, Kenseth brought the No. 17 DEWALT Tools Ford down pit road and the crew performed another lightning 13.52 second stop — this time earning him two spots on the track as he restarted in 5th on lap 124. It would be the bright spot of the day.

As this particular run wore on, the No. 17 DEWALT Tools Ford seemed to wear out. At least the tires were wearing because Kenseth began to backslide. He lost a total of 13 positions before the crew would get a chance to get the car right again. On a lap 194 caution, they got their chance. “It won’t turn in a 40-acre field,” said a frustrated Kenseth. Robbie Reiser elected to keep Matt Kenseth out on the race track in an effort to have him lead a lap and get five valuable bonus points — which he achieved on lap 197. Because they were now the last car on the lead lap, the team took their time on the pit stop and checked all of the right side of the car — which had made some minor contact with the wall at some point.

Kenseth restarted from the 17th position on lap 203 and the team elevator seemed to go back up again. Kenseth was moving underneath cars and out-horse powering them down the front straights. He moved as high as 12th by lap 240, but something about the chassis seemed to be just out of tune for most of the day as his progress was halted.

On lap 250, the team stopped after a caution flag and made a chassis adjustment along with four tires, sending Kenseth out to restart 12th on lap 253. Kenseth could not do much as the chassis continued to be too loose and he backslid on this particular run…ending up 22nd by lap 298 of the event. Following the quick succession of a “short pit” strategy on lap 295 coupled with an untimely caution just six laps later, Kenseth dropped a lap down to the field.

Despite starting up front twice, he was unable to be in position to capitalize on getting his lap back for the remainder of the race — via the “Lucky Dog” rule. The day ended quietly for Kenseth as he brought the No. 17 DEWALT Tools Ford home in 20th place overall. Afterward, Kenseth didn’t have much to say to reporters, but both he and Robbie thanked the crew for their hard work all day long on pit road.

Matt Kenseth jumped a spot to eighth in the 2004 NASCAR NEXTEL Chase for the Championship, now 383 points out of first — but tied with ninth place Elliott Sadler. The points have now been updated and the current standings are as follows:

1. Kurt Busch	6346
2. Jimmie Johnson	6328
3. Jeff Gordon	6325
4. Dale Earnhardt Jr.	6274
5. Mark Martin	6264
6. Tony Stewart	6161
7. Ryan Newman	6102
8. Matt Kenseth	5963
9. Elliott Sadler	5963
10. Jeremy Mayfield	5942

Next week, the tenth and final event for the Chase Contenders gets underway at Homestead-Miami Speedway — where Kenseth was crowned the 2003 Champion last year. This year, Kenseth has two teammates within striking distance of the sport’s ultimate prize. Hopefully, he will pass his crown onto one of them next Sunday.

DARLINGTON, SC (November 13th, 2004) — After qualifying was rained out on Friday, the No. 9 Pennzoil Ford was forced to start 32nd on the field for the running of the Bi-Lo 200 at Darlington Raceway. Crew Chief Tony Liberati had a premonition to share with driver Matt Kenseth prior to the race. In the pre-race driver’s meeting, NASCAR officials stated that they would throw a competition yellow flag period on lap 40 of the 147-lap event so that teams could check tire wear and adjust on their cars, having forfeited their practice sessions on Friday as well. “I bet we’re in the top-ten by that caution,” said Liberati.

Rolling off the starting grid from 32nd, Kenseth clearly had his work cut out for him. But forget about any mandatory cautions. There were no less than four of them prior to the scheduled one! The first occurred on lap 2 of the event as three cars got together in turn one. Darlington’s tight corners made for some serious mistakes early on by many competitors. Caution periods also followed on lap 13, a lap 16 restart and lap 26 of the event. “Boy, we sure are getting a lot of racing done out here,” mused Kenseth from behind the wheel. Nonetheless, he was edging forward on the leader board. He cracked the top-20 running order on lap 17 and moved into 15th place on lap 29. The car was a little loose off the corners, but in much better shape than the other teams.

The NASCAR Busch officials moved the mandatory caution flag back to lap 50, but Kenseth wouldn’t have needed the extra assistance anyway. Just as Liberati predicted, the No. 9 Pennzoil car made it into the top-10 on lap 45 — five laps sooner than needed.

When the mandatory caution waved on lap 50, Kenseth made his first pit stop of the day for desperately needed tires. They completed a four-tire stop with air pressure adjustments and pulled the left rear rubber from the car to tighten up the car in the turns. Kenseth restarted in 11th, as four cars at the front of the field did not pit. After two quick caution periods, the teams finally got going in a mistake-free manner on lap 63, where Kenseth had moved into ninth overall.

From there, he began to make some serious movement towards the front, inching past competitors as their tires wore out. He moved into eighth on lap 66, seventh on lap 71, and then sixth on lap 73 of the event. “I’m still a little too loose,” radioed Kenseth. “I need more side bite in the corners,” he added. A lap 99 caution would give them the chance to make the changes for the final 50-lap shootout.

On lap 101, Kenseth brought the No. 9 Pennzoil Ford down pit lane for a four-tire change. The crew had their best stop of the day (a 14.33-second stop) and Kenseth was able to line up fourth on the restart on lap 104.

He was third by lap 105 and moved into a race-high second place on lap 106. He held the spot for several laps, stalking then leader Jamie McMurray — who held a three second advantage on the field at the time.

By lap 116, the tires began to wear out and the other cars began to catch Kenseth. He fell to third on lap 117 and fourth on lap 119 and it became clear that he wouldn’t’ challenge for the win after all. Kenseth still remained hard at it behind the wheel, hoping to coax some life out of the No. 9 Pennzoil Ford. “It’s almost like there’s no downforce on worn tires,” he reported. “It’s just sliding around out here,” he added.

Kenseth did fall back two more spots in the closing laps, but his valiant effort gained him his first top-five finish in the No. 9 Pennzoil Ford. As the race ended, Kenseth spoke with reporters about his day.

“I think we had a great day as a team on this Pennzoil car,” said Kenseth. “The guys on pit road did their job and I wish our car had just been a little bit better, but we’ve had some great runs in this car and I’m proud of this whole team,” he added.

CONCORD, NC (November 3rd, 2004) — Matt Kenseth will make his final of three starts in the No. 9 Pennzoil Ford this Saturday afternoon at Darlington Raceway. Kenseth has been in contention for the win in two of his three starts this year — at Las Vegas and Kansas.

During the Las Vegas event, Kenseth at one point held a nine-second advantage over the second place car with under 20 laps to go. A quick caution and a jumbled restart led to damage on the car and Kenseth finished sixth.

At Kansas, Kenseth had another good run going, reaching as high as third place before being spun out coming off of turn two at the massive two-mile track. The car was too damaged to return to the event.

The No. 9 Pennzoil team, led by crew chief Tony “Rambo” Liberati, will be looking for redemption come Saturday at Darlington — one of the toughest tracks on the circuit. “This is a track they say is too tough to tame and that may be true, but I’ve seen Kenseth come pretty close,” says Liberati. “Hopefully this weekend, we’ll get our win together. Everyone has said we do a pretty good job in these races … I always ask them where my trophies are,” he added.

Hopefully, Matt Kenseth and the No. 9 Pennzoil Team will capture one this weekend.

Date	S	F	Laps	Status	Money
03/21/04	15	31	289/293	Running	$102,358
08/31/03	6	14	367/367	Running	$75,720
03/16/03	12	8	293/293	Running	$69,440
09/01/02	9	37	325/367	Running	$61,000
03/17/02	34	8	293/293	Running	$70,365
09/02/01	28	23	365/367	Accident	$50,025
03/18/01	30	17	292/293	Running	$43,640
09/03/00	24	33	286/328	Running	$41,465
03/19/00	16	6	293/293	Running	$47,575
09/05/99	31	37	145/270	Accident	$25,531

  

Totals	Races	Wins	Top 5s	Top 10s	Poles
Spring Race	5	0	0	3	0
Fall Race	5	0	0	0	0
Cumulative	10	0	0	3	0