Kansas Cup recap

No. 17 DEWALT FORD FUSION RECAP
WRONG PLACE, WRONG TIME, DOOMS PROMISING DAY FOR KENSETH AT KANSAS

“If it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have no luck at all.” —1967, Booker T. Jones / William Bell

After starting on the outside of the front row at Kansas Speedway on Sunday, Matt Kenseth proceeded to lead 49 of the race’s first 73 laps. Even after he slid back to the seventh spot around the halfway point, it appeared that Kenseth was only a minor adjustment and a little track position away from competing for the win. However, on lap 145, just past the scheduled halfway point of the race, Mother Nature decided to strike at precisely the wrong time, during a cycle of green-flag pit stops and trap Kenseth, who would’ve been running sixth if the cycle had completed, one lap down in the 32nd position. After a two-hour rain delay, Kenseth restarted at the tail end of the lead lap, just in front of the leaders. But, before the field got to the backstretch on the ensuing restart, two lapped cars got together in front of the field off of turn two and collected nearly 10 cars in the accident including Kenseth’s No. 17 Ford. The No. 17 crew patched it up the best they could without retiring behind the wall, but Kenseth was only able to limp home with a 35th-place finish.

On what will likely become known as one of the wildest and wackiest days in recent NASCAR NEXTEL Cup memory, Kenseth along with Scott Riggs to his inside, led the field to the green flag for Sunday’s LifeLock 400 at Kansas Speedway at 1:17 PM Central. It was a Kansas day taken directly from the Wizard of Oz; started beautiful, sunny, and a little windy, before suddenly changing to ominous skies, torrential downpours and 50 miles-per-hour winds.

Kenseth’s race began as promising as last week’s dominating run in Dover. After qualifying second, Kenseth immediately took the lead and paced the field for the first 12 laps, until rain interrupted the action for the first of two times on the afternoon. The first rain delay lasting only 45 minutes, Kenseth picked up where he left off when the action continued by leading 36 of the next 60 laps.

But, Kenseth began reporting the car’s handling as being a bit too tight in the center of the corners and he began asking for the car to not only turn better, but also to have more front-end grip off the turn. Robbie Reiser and the No. 17 worked throughout the first half of the event to improve the car, but everyone knew the strong likelihood that the race would end soon after halfway due to the impending storms.

As the skies grew darker and darker, the field inched closer and closer to halfway. Kenseth had to pit under green for gas on lap 139, just five laps past halfway. When he entered the pits, Kenseth was running in the seventh position and had the field been able to cycle through pit stops, he would have cycled out in the sixth position. But, many cars attempted to stretch their fuel mileage banking that once the rain arrived, that the racing would be finished for the day.

The rain finally arrived on lap 145, with only about one third of the field having pitted under green, thus trapping that third, including Kenseth, one lap down. But, as NASCAR’s rule have it, if a caution flag flies during a cycle of green-flag stops, the cars trapped a lap down have the option to start in front of the leader on the ensuing restart and attempt to get there lap back.

But first, the rain. The storm that hammered the Kansas Speedway for the next 30-40 minutes was one of the fiercest storms in recent track memory. With winds gusting over 50 miles per hour, teams were force to baton down the hatches in their pit stalls and take cover under tents or on top of covered pit boxes. After the rain subsided, it took clean-up crews another hour and a half to dry the track, but at 6:07 PM Central, drivers fired their respective engines for the second time and prepared to restart the event.

Several drivers, literally running on fumes because they had banked on the race ending once the rain came, benefited from a call by NASCAR to open pit road one lap early under caution, otherwise there very well could have been 10 to 12 cars run out of gas before they could circle the 1.5-mile oval again.

NASCAR also announced a shorter event, whittling the scheduled 267-lap event to 225 laps in order to avoid darkness at the unlighted track. Soon after, NASCAR again shortened the event to 210 laps.

Nevertheless, Kenseth restarted 29th, on the lead lap, but just two cars ahead of the leader. About 14 cars total started in front of the leader along with several lapped machines which still had the option of the inside lane. These restarts always create a lot of excitement and, unfortunately, this one was no different.

As the field barreled into turn two for the first time under green, two lapped machines made contact at the front of the field. One spun, completely blocking the track and Kenseth had to immediately get on the brakes and attempt to avoid the wreck. Slowing the No. 17 DEWALT Ford as much as possible, however, wasn’t enough. The car two cars behind Kenseth failed to slow as quickly as the cars in front of him, slamming into the back of one car, which in turn, slammed into the back of Kenseth. This set off a chain reaction that sent three more cars spinning in front of nearly the entire field and collecting almost 10 cars in the melee.

The damage to Kenseth’s Ford was severe, especially in the rear of the machine. Reiser and the “Killer Bees” worked diligently on pit road and didn’t lose a single lap in the pits while making repairs during eight different pit stops. But, the damage had been done and Kenseth’s car was barely drivable. Now, well off the pace, Kenseth was forced to nurse the wounded No. 17 car, which was once good enough to contend for the win, around the track and finally home in 35th position.

The disappointing finish marks the second week in a row where Kenseth and the No. 17 team, despite having a car capable of winning each week, had something happen to relegate them to a 35th-place finish. The last time Kenseth had consecutive finishes of 35th or worse was at the end of 2004 at Atlanta and Phoenix. While the situation was grim, Kenseth remained positive.

“It’s just disappointing, but we ran real well, and my team did a good job, so that’s about all I can ask for,” Kenseth said immediately following the race. “I couldn’t do anything about that wreck. We just got caught up in someone else’s mess.”

MORE ON THE DAY:

“Well, that goofy deal with the rain. I wish there would’ve been a caution, like, right at halfway, so that everybody could’ve pitted the same. But, anyway, that put a lot of cars a lap down, a lot of cars at the tail end of the lead lap. You knew there probably was going to be some action. Somebody spun out on the bottom. I slowed down for the wreck and just got ran into. So there was really nothing, I don’t think, that I could do about it. The team did a good job today. We pitted the race like we needed to, just got unlucky with that rain and got unlucky being in that wreck.”

RACE SUMMARY
Matt Kenseth • Started 2nd • Finished 35th

POINTS SUMMARY
Race Total: 63 points
Season Total: 5287 points, Ranked 11th, 219 points behind first

NEXT UP:
UAW-Ford 500 • Talladega Superspeedway • Talladega, Ala. • Sunday, October 7

Kansas Busch & Cup Preview
September 26, 2007

Kansas Speedway • Kansas City, Kan.
Yellow Transportation 300 • Sat., Sept. 29 • 3:30 pm/e ESPN2
LifeLock 400 • Sun., Sept. 30 • 1:00 pm/e ABC

Nextel Cup Chassis — #17 DeWALT Ford Fusion
• Primary — RK-323 (Last outing: Michigan, Aug. ’07, finished fourth; also won Michigan, Aug. ’06; won Fontana, Feb. ’06)
• Backup — RK-340 (Last outing: Pocono, August ’07, finished 14th; also served as backup in seven races in 2007)

Busch Chassis — #17 Arby’s Ford Fusion
• Primary — RK-346 (Last ran California, finished 28th)

 
Matt’s Cup Series summary at Kansas:

Date	S	F	Laps	Led	Reason
10/01/06	8	23	266/267	0	Running
10/09/05	1	5	267/267	71	Running
10/10/04	15	17	267/267	0	Running
10/05/03	37	36	220/267	0	Running
09/29/02	27	7	267/267	0	Running
09/30/01	13	32	238/267	14	Accident

  
Matt Kenseth Cup Series totals at Kansas:

	Races	Wins	Top 5s	Top 10s	Poles	Laps Led
Cumulative	6	0	1	2	1	85

Matt Kenseth Busch series summary at Kansas:

Date	S	F	Laps	Status
09/30/06	1	2	200/200	Running
10/08/05	16	7	200/200	Running
10/09/04	33	33	108/204	Accident
09/29/01	11	4	200/200	Running

 
Matt Kenseth Busch Series totals at Kansas:

	Races	Wins	Top 5s	Top 10s	Poles
Cumulative	4	0	2	3	1

   
Matt Kenseth on racing at Kansas:

• Cup: “Dover was a big disappointment for sure, considering we had a car capable of winning and ended up with nothing to show for it. But, I can’t help but look at the positives from that race. That’s the first time all year that we’ve been able to compete for a win in the Car of Tomorrow. We ran really well and just had a problem at the end that we really couldn’t do anything about. So, instead of getting down and thinking about what could’ve been, I feel like we’ve finally got some promise in these COT cars and I think we should be able to compete now. Carl (Edwards) won, Greg (Biffle) finished second, and Jamie (McMurray) finished top 10, so obviously Roush as a team is making a lot of improvement with these cars.

“We’ll be at Kansas this weekend with another shot at an intermediate track with the ‘old’ car. This kind of track has been good for us in the past and Kansas is a lot like Chicago, and we’ve been very competitive there the past two years. We’re taking the same car that’s run at Chicago the last two times there and it’s been a car we’ve ran at a lot of intermediate tracks, so hopefully it will be just as competitive this weekend and we’ll be able to bounce back with a strong finish.”

• Busch: “Drew and the guys did a great job last weekend straightening out my car after we got caught up in that caution. Luckily we were able to keep coming in under caution to put on a fender brace and get everything straightened out without going a lap down. Actually, they got my car to handle even better than it did in both practice sessions. Knowing we can make the best of a situation like that and still pull off a third-place finish gives us a lot of confidence going into Kansas. I like Kansas; it’s definitely a multi-grooved track that is smooth and wide like Chicago. We did pretty well there last year, so hopefully we can pull off something similar this year.”

Crew Chief Robbie Reiser on racing at Kansas:

“We’re back to the ‘old’ car this week and we’re bringing our favorite car to the track. This car has run well the last two times out at Michigan and Chicago and there’s no reason to think it won’t be able to compete this weekend.

“Our results may not have shown it, but our performance has picked up lately. The pit crew was back to form at Dover and they did a great job for us all day on pit road. Even when we lost the lead on the track they put us back in front on the final two stops. Their performance and our car’s performance were both promising signs last week and we can’t afford to get down just because we had something go wrong at the end of the race. It was, without a doubt, our best all around performance in the COT car and it couldn’t have came at a better time. But that race is over and it’s on to Kansas where we’ve had some pretty good cars over the years. We need to build on our performance last weekend, how well we ran during the race, and just keep that going now.”

Busch Series Crew Chief Drew Blickensderfer on racing at Kansas:

“I’m kind of hoping this weekend isn’t quite as eventful as Dover. Matt is really strong at Dover, but we struggled finding the perfect set-up. Luckily we got it handling well for the race and didn’t get hurt too badly in the wreck on lap 10. The team did a great job making repairs and keeping Matt on the lead lap. The third-place finish is a real confidence booster for the team going into Kansas. Kansas is another track that Matt is strong at, so hopefully we can get our Arby’s Ford Fusion handling well in practice, and for the race, and be a strong contender for the win.”

Kansas Fast Facts

n Jack Roush scored his 100th career Cup victory at Dover on Sunday. Matt Kenseth has contributed 15 of those victories, his first coming in May 2000 in the Coca-Cola 600. Kenseth also brought Roush his first Cup Championship in 2003.

n Dover heartbreak: For the second year straight, Dover has been unkind to Kenseth during the Chase. On Sunday, Kenseth dominated, leading 192 laps until a mechanical failure ended his day just 26 laps from the finish. In 2006, Kenseth again dominated, leading 215 laps before running out of fuel with two laps to go.

n Kenseth Chase history at Kansas Speedway:

					Points Position
	Start	Finish	Laps	Led	Entry	Exit
2006	8	23	266/267	0	3rd	4th
2005	1	5	267/267	71	9th	8th
2004	15	7	267/267	0	7th	7th

n Kenseth scored the third pole of his Cup career at Kansas in 2005. It is the only “Chase track” where Kenseth has recorded a pole.

n Kenseth has an average start of 8.0 at Kansas Speedway during the Chase; tops among all tracks during the Chase.

n Kenseth’s average finish during the Chase at Kansas Speedway is 11.6; ranking fifth among tracks during the Chase.

Dover Cup recap

No. 17 DEWALT NANO™ TECHNOLOGY FORD FUSION RECAP
AGONIZING ENDING TO DOMINATING PERFORMANCE; MECHANICAL WOES END KENSETH’S CHANCE A VICTORY

n Photos from Dover

The good news: Matt Kenseth and the No. 17 team, sporting a sharp DEWALT NANO™ Technology paint scheme, were more competitive Sunday’s Car of Tomorrow race at Dover, than they have been all season in the COT. Kenseth, started 10th, but drove directly to the front and dominated the race by leading a race-high 192 laps. In the final 100 laps, even when Kenseth lost the lead on the track, the “Killer Bees” returned to form, knocking out sub-13 second pit stops in order to beat everyone out of the pits and put Kenseth back out in front.

The bad news: A mechanical failure on lap 374 erased everything; placing the No. 17 Ford permanently behind the wall with Kenseth’s third DNF (Did Not Finish) of the season. On a day where a lot of Chase contenders had problems, the 35th-place finish dropped the No. 17 team to 10th in the championship point standings with eight races remaining.

A capacity crowd at Dover Downs enjoyed a clear ,sunny day as they witnessed pole-sitter Jimmie Johnson bring the field to the green flag at 1:45 PM Eastern. Kenseth started 10th, his best qualifying effort since Chicago in July, and knew going in that the No. 17 Ford was going to be a fast on Sunday.

By lap eight, Kenseth had cracked the top 10 as it became obvious that the No. 17 Ford was going to be the class of the field. The inevitable occurred on lap 42 as Kenseth worked his way underneath the No. 11 car and into lead for the first time on the afternoon.

After the second pit stop of the day on lap 76, Kenseth exited the pits in the fifth position, but 13 laps after the restart had regained the lead and began to set sail. Kenseth led the next 168 laps, running out to a three-second lead and setting a blazing pace that put all but nine cars one lap down. It appeared that Sunday was going to be Kenseth’s day.

The first challenge for the lead came on lap 267, when teammate, and eventual winner, Carl Edwards, took the lead from Kenseth while running on fresher tires. Kenseth, who was on a different pit cycle at the time than his nearest pursuers, dropped back to third before the next cycle of green-flag pit stops. But, thanks to an excellent stop by the No. 17 crew, Kenseth regained the lead during the cycle of stops.

It was apparent by lap 355 that it was coming down to a two-man race between Kenseth and Edwards. Edwards was leading when the field came to pit road on lap 357 for what was to be the final stop of the day. Kenseth came to pit road in second, a good five car lengths behind Edwards, but when the pressure was on, the “Killer Bees” answered the bell with a 12.54 second stop that again put Kenseth back in front.

The ensuing restart occurred on lap 361, but on the following lap Kenseth reported over the radio, “It’s blowing up.” Kenseth believed that the car may have dropped a valve, and as a result he lost the lead to Edwards just before the caution flag flew on lap 363.

With only five cars on the lead lap at this point, Kenseth and Robbie Reiser went through their options on what they could possibly do to nurse the car home for a respectable finish. Kenseth dove onto pit road where the crew looked under the hood, but to no avail. Returning to the track in the fifth position, Kenseth’s was now at the mercy of his wounded engine.

The field was stopped on lap 371 under red-flag conditions, while the track was being cleaned. But as soon as the field took the ensuing green flag on lap 374, Kenseth’s No. 17 Ford became engulfed in smoke as the mechanical failure turned fatal. Kenseth coasted into the garage, his dominant day ended prematurely with a 35th-place finish.

NOTES:

• Carl Edwards went on to win the race marking Roush Fenway Racing’s 100th career Cup victory.

• Kenseth has recorded 15 of those 100 wins for Jack Roush.

• On a day when many Chase contenders had problems, (only two finished on the lead lap), Kenseth was leading the point standings when his mechanical failure occurred. The 35th-place finish dropped him to 10th, 116 out of first.

“Some things you just can’t do much about.” Kenseth said. “I don’t have a bad word to say about Roush-Yates engines – they’ve won more races for me than they could ever lose. They do a great job and they gave me a lot more power. We were real competitive toady. I think this is the first one I’ve blown up in probably two years, so I can’t talk bad about the engine, but my team did a great job and we had a great handle on the car, finally.

“Usually we run so terrible and we finish in these cars, and now we got it running good and we didn’t finish. We’ll just go try again next week.”

WHAT HAPPENED? “We just broke something. We broke a valve or something like that. So, that’s disappointing, but we had a great car. My whole DEWALT team did a great job today and put us in contention to win. So, we’ve never been in contention to win with the COT cars and we’re finally getting it running a lot better, so I’ve got to thank my guys for that. So, we’ll just go get them next week.”

DID YOU HAVE ANY WARNING? “I dropped a valve or something when Carl passed me for the lead. We took off and we were pretty good on the short run, and the first lap after that restart it just broke something in the valve train, so we knew our day was numbered, we just didn’t know how many we’d run.”

ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THE CAR THE WAY RAN EARLIER AND DO YOU NOW HAVE MORE CONFIDENCE IN THE REMAINING COT RACES? “I feel good about our performance. It’s kind of a shame. We were in a good spot to win the race and we were in a good spot to gain some points for the championship. It just wasn’t to be today. We all did the best we could, we just came up short.”

RACE SUMMARY
Matt Kenseth • Started 10th • Finished 35th

POINTS SUMMARY
Race Total: 68 points
Season Total: 5224 points, Ranked 10th, 116 points behind first.

NEXT UP:
LifeLock 400 • Kansas Speedway • Kansas City, Kan. • Sunday, September 30

Dover Busch recap

No. 17 iLevel Ford Fusion RECAP
KENSETH STRUGGLES WITH SET-UP, GETS CAUGHT UP IN A CAUTION AND FINISHES THIRD AT DOVER

DOVER, Del. (September 22, 2007) — Matt Kenseth and the No. 17 iLevel team headed to Dover extremely confident in the car they were bringing and in Kenseth’s driving skills at the 1.0-mile concrete track. Things quickly took a turn for the worse during Friday’s practice sessions. The team tried everything, but couldn’t get the car handling well for Kenseth. Luckily, Kenseth’s fellow Roush Fenway teammates had their cars dialed in, so crew chief Drew Blickensderfer could borrow some notes and adjust on Kenseth’s car for the 200-lap event. Kenseth was the first to hit the track for qualifying and with the new set-up no one was sure how it was going to handle. Kenseth didn’t push the handling and qualified 33rd. Just 10 laps into the race Kenseth was involved in an accident. The team adjusted the car under caution and kept Kenseth on the lead lap. Kenseth battled back and earned a third-place finish.

Generally being in the back of the field puts a driver in a position to have to dodge multiple cautions and Dover was no exception. Qualifying 33rd left Kenseth with a lot of cars to go through to get to the front. By the first caution on lap five Kenseth was up to 23rd, but was caught up in the second caution on lap 10. Kenseth slowed down for the caution and was hit from behind and wound up turned sideways with the nose of the 36 at his driver-side door. Kenseth came down pit road twice under caution so his team could straighten out the body of the No. 17 iLevel Ford Fusion and set him up with four tires.

The field went back to green-flag racing on lap 15 with Kenseth 39th, just two laps later the No. 90 blew and engine and leaked oil on the track. NASCAR didn’t throw the caution for the oil until lap 19 when Kenseth’s teammate Jamie McMurray slid through the oil and into the wall. Oil clean-up can be lengthy so Kenseth was able to come down pit road two more times to finish getting his car straightened out while staying on the lead lap. The team fixed his fender brace in the two stops so Kenseth could return to the track and be competitive.

Kenseth restarted the race 35th on lap 27 and kept making up ground on his way to the front. The next caution came on lap 38 with Kenseth in the 23rd position. The car wasn’t handling perfectly and Kenseth couldn’t quite determine if the car was loose or tight. Since Kenseth had just been on pit road multiple times he stayed out under caution while the majority of the field came down pit road for service.

The green flag came out again on lap 42 with Kenseth up in the second position. He slipped back to third on lap 44 and said he was low on grip. From there Kenseth rode around in the top five until his next opportunity to pit came under caution on lap 94. While running fifth Kenseth came in for four tires, fuel and a track bar adjustment. The team had a solid pit stop and sent Kenseth back out on the track in the same position.

Kenseth continued running in the top five with the car now handling a little on the loose side. Kenseth’s final opportunity to pit once again came under caution on lap 129. The team gave him four tires, fuel and another track bar adjustment and sent him back out on the track. Kenseth was now sitting seventh for the green-flag restart on lap 134. Six laps later he moved into sixth, took over the fifth spot on lap 150 and was up to fourth when the caution came out on lap 165. A few cars pitted which left Kenseth sitting second for the restart on lap 169.

In the closing laps the car suddenly turned tight on Kenseth. Kenseth survived multiple cautions and being involved in one of the cautions to earn a third-place finish at Dover International Speedway.

“Well there is a lot to talk about with this race,” said Kenseth. “We started at the back; we didn’t run well at all yesterday. We took it apart this morning and put Carl’s set up in it and we ran a lot better today. We used some pit strategy to gain track position and got it running well enough to earn a solid finish.”

RACE SUMMARY
Matt Kenseth • Started 33rd • Finished 3rd

NEXT UP:
Kansas Speedway • Saturday, September 29

New paint at Dover

DeWALT NANO™ Technology featured on Matt Kenseth’s No. 17 Ford at Dover

Special paint scheme selected among several finalist by Kenseth

CONCORD, N.C. — If you are looking for Matt Kenseth’s familiar yellow and black No. 17 DeWALT Ford Fusion this weekend at Dover International Speedway, it will be a fruitless endeavor, considering during this weekend’s 400-mile NASCAR NEXTEL Cup event at Dover, Kenseth’s No. 17 will be painted black and adorned with DeWALT’s NANO™ Technology logo.

The special paint scheme is a part of DeWALT’s launch of NANO™ Technology, which is a proprietary technology from DeWALT that delivers to the user longer cycle life, lighter weight, greater performance, and an expanded system of tool offerings. These benefits encompass the DeWALT commitment to providing professional contractors with a breadth of tool offerings that deliver the performance they need in an ideal ergonomic package.

Kenseth, the 2003 NASCAR Cup Champion, chose the paint scheme from several renderings that were selected as finalist from a contest among DeWALT employees to design the special scheme. The winning design for this weekend’s No. 17 DeWALT NANO™ Technology Ford Fusion was submitted by Lauren M. Wenchel of Industrial Design, DEWALT’s industrial design department, who designed the car along with Kenseth’s uniform for the weekend.

“They had a paint scheme contest, and I chose between several submitted drawings,” Kenseth said. “The one I picked had the most black, and I’ve always liked black race cars. That’s a pretty cool contest and a great way for DEWALT to get everyone involved with the product launch. I know they’ll have a lot of people out at the race on Sunday, they always do at Dover. So, hopefully we can have a good run in the DeWALT NANO™ Technology paint scheme and give all of them something to cheer about.”

DeWALT will offer three cordless platforms with NANO™ Technology; 18V, 28V and 36V. By offering these voltages with NANO™ Technology, DeWALT is able to provide users with an extensive range of power tools that satisfy a wide scope of user demands on the jobsite.

“As a leading manufacturer of cordless power tools, DEWALT is committed to providing a comprehensive system of tools that meet the jobsite demands of professional contractors,” said Pete Morris, VP of DeWALT Cordless Marketing. “DEWALT continues to deliver on its commitment with the launch of 18V and 28V with NANO™ Technology.

“DEWALT’s NANO™ Technology Cordless Tools deliver professional end users more life, lighter weight, greater performance and the biggest system of cordless tools.”

About DeWALT www.dewalt.com
DeWALT is a leading manufacturer of industrial power tools with more than 300 power tool and equipment products as well as 800 power tool accessories, including corded and cordless drills, saws, hammers, grinders, routers, planers, plate joiners, sanders, lasers, generators, compressors and nailers, as well as saw blades, metal and masonry drill bits, abrasives, screw driving accessories and more. DeWALT tools can be found wherever tools are sold, nationally and internationally. With over 1,000 factory owned and authorized service locations, DeWALT has one of the most extensive repair networks in North America.

Dover Busch & Cup Preview
September 18, 2007

Dover Int’l Speedway • Dover, Del.
Dover 200 • Sat., Sept. 22 • 2:30 pm/e ESPN2
Dover 400 • Sun., Sept. 23 • 12:30 pm/e ABC

Nextel Cup Chassis — #17 DeWALT NANO™ Technology Ford Fusion
• Primary — COT COT RK-473 (Last outing: Bristol, Aug. ’07, finished 39th after lap 452 wreck; also ran Darlington, May ’07, led 29 laps before finishing 7th; Dover, Jun. ’07, finished 5th)
• Backup — COT RK-457 (Last outing: Martinsville, Apr. ’07, finished 10th)

Busch Chassis — #17 iLevel by Weyerhaeuser Ford Fusion
• Primary — RK-360 (Last ran at Chicago, finished 2nd)

 
Matt’s Cup Series summary at Dover:

Date	S	F	Laps	Led	Reason
06/03/07	17	5	400/400	0	Running
09/24/06	3	10	399/400	215	Running
06/04/06	19	1	400/400	83	Running
09/25/05	11	35	367/400	0	Accident
06/05/05	23	7	400/400	0	Running
09/26/04	8	32	319/400	58	Accident
06/06/04	39	22	381/400	0	Accident
09/21/03	1	9	400/400	1	Running
06/01/03	4	7	400/400	0	Running
09/22/02	17	4	400/400	0	Running
06/02/02	1	40	297/400	0	Running
09/23/01	40	29	390/400	0	Running
06/03/01	13	16	399/400	0	Running
09/24/00	31	12	399/400	0	Running
06/04/00	26	2	400/400	0	Running
09/26/99	13	4	400/400	0	Running
09/20/98	16	6	400/400	0	Running

   
Matt Kenseth Cup Series totals at Dover:

	Races	Wins	Top 5s	Top 10s	Poles	Laps Led
Spring	8	1	3	5	1	83
Fall	9	0	2	5	0	274
Cumulative	17	1	5	10	1	357

Matt Kenseth Busch series summary at Dover:

Date	S	F	Laps	Status
06/02/07	19	5	200/200	Running
09/23/06	8	2	202/202	Running
06/03/06	18	26	197/200	Running
09/24/05	14	38	1/200	Accident
06/07/04	22	35	62/200	Accident
05/31/03	3	4	200/200	Running
09/22/01	20	10	199/200	Running
06/02/01	9	2	200/200	Running
09/23/00	14	1	200/200	Running
06/03/00	16	3	200/200	Running
09/25/99	1	38	120/200	Crash
06/05/99	14	32	154/200	Crash
09/19/98	4	1	200/200	Running
05/30/98	2	40	136/200	Crash
09/20/97	15	3	200/200	Running
05/31/97	32	11	199/200	Running

 
Matt Kenseth Busch Series totals at Dover:

	Races	Wins	Top 5s	Top 10s	Poles
Cumulative	16	2	8	9	1

   
Matt Kenseth on racing at Dover:

• Cup: “Dover is probably my favorite track for a lot of different reasons. My first Cup race was there, plus we’ve won a couple times there in the Busch Series, then we got our first Cup win there last year, so we’ve had a lot of good times at Dover. The track is so fast and challenging. It’s unique because of the way you drive up out of the turns. The turns set a bit lower than the straight-a-ways and you can feel it when you’re driving out there.

“It seems every time we go to Dover its feast or famine. We had really good cars both times there last year and nearly swept. This year, we weren’t as good as we had been, but I’m hoping a lot of that was because we were a little behind on the COT setup. I know the last two weeks at Richmond and Loudon, we ran completely different setups than we did the first time we went to those tracks, and as a result we were a good bit more competitive. I’m hoping for the same this weekend and I really don’t see why that can’t be the case.

“Loudon was a good start to the Chase. Sure, we would’ve liked to have finished better, but considering where we started, and just how hard track position was to come by, we did pretty good. Dover is a good place for us. There have been times we’ve had problems there but it usually isn’t with the car. Hopefully, we’re able to compete a little bit better this weekend and make up some ground.”

• Busch: “Dover is one of those tracks that is really fun to race at. We had our car handling pretty well in the spring race, but not well enough to pull off the win. Actually, the last two races at Dover we have run well, but just haven’t pulled it off at the end. We are bringing a good car so hopefully we can get it handling well and can put together some good pit stops and see what kind of finish we can pull off this time around.”

Crew Chief Robbie Reiser on racing at Dover:

“We’ve had some success at Dover in the past, but we’ve also had our share of heartache too. The car we’re taking is the same one that we took to Dover in June and a lot has changed with our approach since then. Hopefully we’ve gone a long ways in the right direction and we’ll have a shot at this thing on Sunday.

“I felt like Sunday at Loudon was a good step for us. It was a solid day on pit road and we were able to make the car better all race. If the race was a little bit longer, then we might could’ve gotten a top five, but there’s nothing we can do about that now. We’ll just take what we learned, move on and hopefully compete for the win at Dover. With this team, it’s always been ‘one race at a time’ and that approach won’t change now.”

Busch Series Crew Chief Drew Blickensderfer on racing at Dover:

“We are heading to Dover this weekend with chassis 360. This is the same car Matt drove to a second-place finish in Chicago and is also the same car we brought to Dover in the spring. This is a really good car and Matt has a great record at Dover. Hopefully we can get it handling well in practice and pull off some good pit stops during the race and earn a good finish for iLevel.”

Dover Fast Facts

n Matt Kenseth is one of two drivers to have made the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup in all four seasons (Jimmie Johnson is the other). Robbie Reiser is one of three crew chiefs to have made the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup in all four seasons (Chad Knaus and Pat Tryson).

n Dover is Kenseth’s best qualifying track in the Chase with an average starting position of 7.3. His combined 273 laps led are the most laps he has led at any track during the Chase.

n Kenseth Chase history at Dover International Speedway:

					Points Position
	Start	Finish	Laps	Led	Entry	Exit
2006	3	10	399/400	215	6th	3rd
2005	11	35	367/400	0	5th	9th
2004	8	32	319/400	58	4th	7th

n Kenseth made his Cup debut at this Dover race in September of 1998 at the age of 26. He substituted for Bill Elliott and drove to a sixth-place finish.

n Kenseth has scored three poles in his Cup career, the first of which came at Dover in June of 2002. The other two were at Kansas and Bristol, both in ’05.

n Kenseth’s first Dover Cup victory came last June in the Neighborhood Excellence 400.

n In addition to his Cup victory, Kenseth also boasts two NASCAR Busch Series wins at Dover. The first was in September of 1998, the day before his first Cup start, and the second was in September 2000.

n Kenseth has led 662 laps in his NBS career at Dover, leading all Busch Series drivers at the track. His eight top-five finishes at Dover are also tops among all NBS drivers past or present.

n This weekend the No. 17 Ford Fusion will sport an all-black paint scheme carrying the gold DEWALT NANO™ Technology logo. NANO™ is a proprietary technology from DEWALT that delivers longer cycle life, lighter weight, greater performance, and an expanded system of tool offerings to the user.

New Hampshire Cup recap

No. 17 DeWALT Ford Fusion RECAP
SOLID START FOR KENSETH IN THE CHASE FOR THE NEXTEL CUP

Perhaps the most promising sign for Matt Kenseth and the No. 17 DEWALT team on Sunday was an improved Car of Tomorrow. Kenseth and company turned in a solid performance on Sunday, improving the handling of the car throughout the race and turning out solid pit stops to methodically work their way through the field, from a 30th starting spot to bring home a seventh-place finish. By race’s end, the No. 17 car was nearly as good as any on the track, but just lacked the track position to get Kenseth the finish he was capable of scoring. Round one of the Chase complete, Kenseth held firm and is 54 points out of first, well within striking distance.

A sunny but crisp September day in New Hampshire greeted over 100,000 fans for Sunday’s Sylvania 300. Clint Bowyer led the field to the green at 2:19 PM Eastern and would finish the day in first as well, scoring his first NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victory. Kenseth started 30th and bided his time in the early going.

Kenseth reported the car early as being tight upon exit of the corner, but overall was happy with the balance and the “rear grip” it was getting off the turns. Under the first caution of the day, a “competition yellow” thrown by NASCAR due to no practice by the Cup cars on account of rain on Saturday, Robbie Reiser elected for a two-tire stop in order to gain track position. It worked as Kenseth entered the pits in the 26th position but returned to the track in 10th. Once in the top 10 on lap 38, Kenseth never fell below 14th the rest of the day, spending most of the afternoon between the sixth and 10th position.

The Sylvania 300 turned out to be one of the quickest races of the season, lasting only two hours and 52 minutes. Of course, the cause of that was a lot of green-flag racing, which the field enjoyed from lap 73 to lap 149. During this span the field cycled through green-flag pit stops and Kenseth who cycled in eighth benefited from a solid pit stop by “The Killer Bees” cycling out in the seventh position.

Kenseth’s DEWALT Ford was solid all afternoon; still the crew needed to make several adjustments to keep up with the changing track positions. Near the halfway point, cloud cover moved in and along with the cool air, made the track much tighter. But, Kenseth and the No. 17 team were up to the challenge making the proper adjustments on lap 165 to keep Kenseth running inside the top 10.

The final caution of the day came on lap 188. After the field took the ensuing green flag on lap 192, there was nothing but green-flag racing for the final 108 laps. This meant another cycle of green-flag pit stops and Kenseth was able to hold his own, cycling in and cycling out in the ninth position.

As spread out as the field was, it seemed as if Kenseth may only be able to finish ninth, but after the final stop on lap 233, the No. 17 Ford took off. Over the final 65 laps, Kenseth was able to make up a straightaway on the two cars in front of him and nearly passed a third in a fevered dash towards the front. Had the race been another 15 to 20 laps, Kenseth could have passed three or four more cars. As it was, Kenseth had to settle for seventh-place finish, but was pleased with his teams overall performance.

“I wish we would have finished a little better, but we ran a lot better today so I’m pretty happy with that,” said Kenseth. “We need to run better than that, obviously, to contend for a championship but we ran pretty good. Our speed was pretty good; it’s just that these cars compared to the old conventional cars are just so much harder to pass. You can run a tenth or two better than the guy in front of you, but you can’t really go anywhere and then once you get to him, it’s just so hard to pass with them. We couldn’t make up any ground.”

ANY SURPRISE THE TOP SEVEN FINISHERS WERE CHASE GUYS? “No, they’re the top 12 in points and probably got there for running good, so that doesn’t surprise me.”

HOW DOES THIS RACE AFFECT NEXT WEEK? “We can all strategize it to death, but the winner got the most points today. The guy who ran second got the second-most and so on and so forth. We go out every week and we try to win and try to run as far up toward the front as we can and finish as high as we can every day and not worry about the points. I couldn’t have finished one spot higher no matter what we did. We did the best we could today and that’s all we can do every week.”

RACE SUMMARY
Matt Kenseth • Started 30th • Finished 7th

POINTS SUMMARY
Race Total: 146 points
Season Total: 5156 points, ranked 7th, 54 points behind first

NEXT UP:
Dover 400 • Dover International Speedway • Dover, Del. • Sunday, September 23

New Hampshire Nextel Cup Preview
September 13, 2007

New Hampshire Int’l Speedway • Loudon, N.H.
Sylvania 300 • Sun., Sept. 16 • 1pm/e ABC

Nextel Cup Chassis — #17 DeWALT Ford Fusion
• Primary — COT RK-451 (Last outing, Loudon, July ’07, finished ninth; also has one top-five (Phoenix) and three top 10’s in four starts)
• Backup — COT RK-458 (Has served as backup in four races in ’07, but has yet to see action)

 
Matt’s Cup Series summary at N.H.:

Date	S	F	Laps	Led	Reason
07/01/07	30	9	300/300	2	Running
09/17/06	25	10	300/300	1	Running
07/16/06	24	14	308/308	0	Running
09/19/05	4	3	300/300	0	Running
07/17/05	16	10	300/300	0	Running
09/19/04	5	2	300/300	0	Running
07/25/04	31	4	300/300	0	Running
09/14/03	19	7	300/300	7	Running
07/20/03	1	3	300/300	1	Running
09/15/02	17	10	207/207	0	Running
07/21/02	6	33	299/300	77	Running
11/23/01	16	4	300/300	0	Running
07/22/01	21	16	300/300	0	Running
09/17/00	38	17	298/300	0	Running
07/09/00	22	19	272/273	0	Running

   
Matt Kenseth Cup Series totals at N.H.:

	Races	Wins	Top 5s	Top 10s	Poles	Laps Led
July	8	0	2	4	0	80
Sept.	7	0	3	6	0	8
Cumulative	15	0	5	10	0	88

  
Matt Kenseth on racing at N.H.:

“New Hampshire is a challenging track and like most everywhere else, you have to get your car to turn well through the center of the corner. The straight-a-ways are long for just a one-mile track and the turns are extremely flat, so having good brakes that will last you to the end is important if you want to run good.

“We usually have pretty good finishes at New Hampshire, but it seems like we’re never that competitive. I don’t really know why that is. It seems like every time we go there, we’ll run around 12th to 15th all day, but we usually do a good job with pit strategy and have good stops, so we’ll come away with a seventh or 10th-place finish. Hopefully, we can do a little better than that this weekend.

“Our COT program has definitely improved and I feel like we’re gaining, but we still aren’t where we need to be to keep up with some of those guys. There are four or five teams running really well right now, and if we’re going to have a shot, then we have to continue to improve.”

Crew Chief Robbie Reiser on racing at N.H.:

“We’ve been preparing this car for awhile now with this race in mind. It hasn’t run since New Hampshire in July and it’s done a lot of testing, probably as much as any of our COT cars. The 99 was pretty fast the last time we went to Loudon and we were able to learn some things from what they did.

“The Chase is here and this is really what it’s all about. The reason that the guys on this team do what they do and work as hard as they do is to win a championship. There really isn’t any other goal on this team, so now’s the time for us to step up and perform and really bring out the ‘A Game.’ I feel like our team is as good as any out there and if we can continue to get these cars better and better then we’ll have a good shot at this.”

New Hampshire Fast Facts

n Matt Kenseth is one of two drivers to have made the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup in all four seasons (Jimmie Johnson is the other).

n Kenseth enters the 2007 Chase for the NEXTEL Cup tied for the sixth position. Last season, Kenseth entered the Chase atop the standings. In 2005, he entered in the ninth spot, and 2004, he started the Chase in fifth.

n Kenseth Chase history at New Hampshire International Speedway:

	Start	Finish	Laps	Led	Entry	Exit
2006	25	10	300/300	1	1st	3rd
2005	4	3	300/300	0	9th	5th
2004	5	2	300/300	0	5th	4th

n NHIS holds Kenseth’s highest average finish in Chase races of 5.0, and his best finish during any of his 30 Chase races of second in 2004. His 10.7 career average finish at NHIS is also tops among the 10 tracks in the Chase.

n Kenseth’s average finish of 10.7 at NHIS is tops among all NASCAR NEXTEL Cup drivers with four or more starts at the track; the fifth-best track for Kenseth’s career.

n Kenseth’s 10 top-10 finishes at NHIS is best among all drivers since 2000, Kenseth’s rookie season.

n Kenseth has completed all but four laps in 15 races at NHIS; 4,384 of 4,388. The second best mark of any driver that has competed in those same 15 events (Jeff Gordon - 4,385).

Richmond Cup recap

No. 17 DeWALT Ford Fusion RECAP
KENSETH FINISHES 14TH AFTER NIGHT OF MISCUES

An uncharacteristically off night on pit road for the No. 17 DEWALT Ford team left them wondering what could have been. After starting 18th, Matt Kenseth methodically worked his way inside the top 10, where he ran for much of the second half of the race. But, on lap 337, when Kenseth came to pit road for what was to be the final stop of the evening, not enough lug nuts were tightened on one of the tires, forcing the No. 17 back down pit road a lap later in order to tighten the remaining lug nuts. Kenseth, who had originally entered in the ninth position, exited 26th with only 58 laps remaining. Though his car was capable of a top 10, Kenseth ran out of time and was only able to claw his way back to a 14th-place finish.

For the 32nd consecutive race, Richmond International Raceway recorded a sellout, and the capacity crowd was treated to perfect evening conditions as Jimmie Johnson led the field to the green flag at 7:47 PM Eastern.

Kenseth, back in the familiar yellow & black DEWALT scheme, started in the 18th position and methodically began working his way to the front. That was until the first pit stop on lap 25, when Kenseth came to pit road in the 14th position. Due to the tight confines of Richmond’s pit road, Kenseth’s Ford was boxed in and unable to pull straight out of the stall. The No. 17 crew had to push the car back so that Kenseth could leave and in the process they fell back to the 28th position.

But, with the handling on Kenseth’s Ford Fusion improved, Kenseth wasted no time marching back inside the top 20; up to the 18th spot by the time the field came to pit road again on lap 64. The No. 17 crew improved the handling on Kenseth’s machine and never at a more opportune time as the field enjoyed the longest green-flag run of the evening over the next 61 laps.

Kenseth restarted 19th on lap 71, but by the time he pitted again under caution on lap 133, he had worked his way up to 12th and with a solid stop by the pit crew, returned to the track in the 11th position.

After holding his own over the next 50 lap segment, Kenseth reported the car’s handling as being loose upon exit of the corner. He returned to pit road in 12th, but a stellar stop by the crew put Kenseth back on the track in the eighth position; the first time all evening, the No. 17 team had cracked the top 10 on lap 184.

Over the next 100 laps Kenseth labored inside the top 10, running as high as fifth at one point. Kenseth was able to hold his track position but unable to make a serious advance inside the top five. Still, it appeared a top 10 was well within the No. 17 team’s grasp.

In an effort to drastically improve the handling of the No. 17 Ford, the crew made some major but timely adjustments on a lap-296 stop, still managing to return Kenseth to the track in the ninth position. Kenseth was able to remain in the top 10 until pitting under caution, for what was intended to be the final time of the evening on lap 337.

Again, the No. 17 team elected to make a major adjustment, but this time failed to tighten all of the lug nuts on one of the tires and was forced to come back to pit road, under caution, to correct the issue. In the process, Kenseth, who came to pit road in the ninth position, restarted 26th with only 58 laps remaining.

Kenseth’s car was handling better and he immediately began passing cars and moving inside the top 20. Kenseth even joked over the radio, “The last 10 laps, I’ve passed more COT cars than we have all year.” But, with only 50 laps remaining, Kenseth ran out of time before he could again crack the top 10, settling for a 14th-place finish.

Kenseth enters his fourth consecutive Chase for the NEXTEL Cup in search of his second Cup Series championship. The Chase, a 10-race shootout for the championship, begins next Sunday at New Hampshire International Speedway, located in Loudon, N.H.

“Our night was all right,” Kenseth said after the race. “We ran a lot better than we’ve been running, we just had a couple of mishaps in the pits but we still overcame it and finished 14th. That’s not a great finish, but, overall, these guys did a good job. The car was handling a lot better than what they usually do here, so I felt like we made some gains at least.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL GOING INTO THE CHASE?

“I feel like it could go either way. I think I’ve got a great team. We’re obviously not performing up to the level of the 24 and the 48. It would take nothing short of a miracle to beat them on performance, but I certainly think I have a championship caliber team that doesn’t make mistakes and does a good job preparing the cars. We still have to get a little better. We’re gaining on them a little bit, but certainly we’re not as good as those guys.”

THE COT PROGRAM SEEMS TO BE GETTING BETTER EVERY RACE.

“I feel like we’re getting a little bit better. David had a good run here tonight and the 99 has been running good, so we’ve been gaining on it. I don’t quite think we’re where we need to be yet, but we’re gaining on it.”

RACE SUMMARY
Matt Kenseth • Started 18th • Finished 14th

POINTS SUMMARY
Race Total: 121 xpoints
Season Total: 5010 points, Ranked tied for 6th, 50 points behind first

NEXT UP:
Sylvania 300 • New Hampshire Int’l Speedway • Loudon, N.H. • Sunday, September 16

Richmond Busch recap

No. 17 Arby’s Ford Fusion RECAP
KENSETH SPINS OUT AND STILL FINISHES FOURTH IN RICHMOND

RICHMOND, Va. (September 7, 2007) — Matt Kenseth has a great record at Richmond International Raceway consisting of 10 top-five finishes in 15 starts at the 0.75-mile track, but he has never been able to pull off a win in the Busch Series. Unfortunately, Friday night’s race did not change his luck. Kenseth qualified second, led two different times for a total of 22 laps and finished fourth.

Right from the start Kenseth had a good car, but it wasn’t handling perfectly. He was loose into the corner, tight in the center and was lacking rear-end grip. Kenseth was still very competitive on the track and held onto his second-place position until he passed Kyle Busch for the lead on lap 27. Kenseth held the top spot until Busch took it back on lap 35. Kenseth was still loose and desperately needed more rear-end grip.

The second caution came out on lap 36 and Kenseth came down pit road under caution for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. The field returned to green-flag racing on lap 40 and everyone hoped the changes would give Kenseth the grip he was looking for. The changes weren’t enough, Kenseth was still very loose and struggling with rear-end grip, but he kept holding strong in the second position.

The team’s next opportunity to pit to adjust the handling came under caution on lap 121. Once again Kenseth took four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. The team turned out a great stop and sent him back out onto the track still in second for the restart on lap 126.

Kenseth regained the lead on lap 143 from Busch and was pulling away from the field, but on lap 159 the No. 15 and No. 66 got together just in front of him. Kenseth was just about to make the pass on the No. 15 and had to cut hard to the left and spun himself out trying to avoid becoming part of the accident unfolding in front of him. As Kenseth spun the No. 5 of Busch went right by him and took the lead. Kenseth did a great job not damaging the No. 17 Arby’s Ford Fusion. He kept it off the wall and got turned around and back on the track in the fourth position.

The spin brought out the caution and Kenseth came down pit road for service. Kenseth was concerned about his valance from the spin, but the team took a look at it and everything was in order. Kenseth took four scuffed tires, fuel and returned to the track sixth for the restart on lap 167.

Kenseth was now a little tight in the middle of each turn, but was still loose off. He kept working his way forward and was up to fourth for the next caution on lap 186. Under caution he asked his team to please give him more traction on the next stop. The field returned to green-flag racing and Kenseth continued his move towards the front with the loose-handling car. Kenseth took over third by lap 209 and held onto the loose car until his final chance to pit came under caution on lap 237. Kenseth took four new tires, fuel and was on his way for the remainder of the 250-lap race. Some cars stayed on the track and some took two tires. The different pit strategies left Kenseth sitting 10th for the green-flag restart on lap 241.

Kenseth had nine laps to see what he had, but the caution would once again fly just a few laps later on lap 245 with Kenseth sitting sixth. The last set of tires made the car the loosest it had been all night and Kenseth was unsure where he would finish. The field was stopped on lap 247 while NASCAR cleaned up the track, which set everyone up for a green-white-checkered finish. Kenseth moved from sixth to fourth in the closing laps. The fourth-place finish once again left Kenseth without a Busch Series win at Richmond.

“A couple of lapped cars got together and spun out and I got on the brakes, but the 15 was just so close to me that I couldn’t stop to keep from hitting him,” said Kenseth. “I had to turn the wheel a little bit and my car was real loose and I just spun out. It was hard to recover from that and we just couldn’t quite get it done. We had a great car. The guys gave me great pit stops tonight and it was a lot of fun. I wish we wouldn’t have spun out and had a chance at Busch because we had a lot of fun up there racing tonight. We’ve had a good car here a lot of times and led a lot of laps, but just could never quite get the win here, so that’s a little disappointing, but yet it was a good run for our Arby’s Ford Fusion.”

RACE SUMMARY
Matt Kenseth • Started 2nd • Finished 4th

NEXT UP:
Chevy Rock & Roll 400 • Richmond Int’l Raceway • Richmond, Va. • Saturday, Sep. 8

Richmond Busch & Cup Preview
September 6, 2007

Richmond Int’l Raceway • Richmond, Va.
Emerson Radio 250 • Fri., Sept. 7 • 7:30pm/e ESPN2
Chevy Rock & Roll 400 • Sat., Sept. 8 • 7pm/e ABC

Nextel Cup Chassis — #17 DeWALT Ford Fusion
• Primary — COT RK-475 (Brand new)
• Backup — COT RK-458 (Has served as backup in three races in ’07, but has yet to see action)

Busch Chassis — #17 Arby’s Ford Fusion
• Primary — RK-395 (Last ran Loudon, finished 3rd)

 
Matt’s Cup Series summary at Richmond:

Date	S	F	Laps	Led	Reason
5/5/07	28	10	400/400	3	Running
9/9/06	10	8	400/400	39	Running
5/6/06	11	38	351/400	0	Running
9/10/05	13	2	400/400	3	Running
5/14/05	26	12	400/400	2	Running
9/11/04	16	28	397/400	5	Running
5/15/04	29	5	400/400	4	Running
9/6/03	18	7	400/400	0	Running
5/3/03	18	7	393/393	0	Running
9/7/02	25	1	400/400	134	Running
5/5/02	7	6	400/400	0	Running
9/8/01	38	35	301/400	0	Running
5/5/01	19	8	400/400	0	Running
9/9/00	20	32	376/400	0	Engine
5/6/00	37	15	400/400	0	Running

   
Matt Kenseth Cup Series totals at Richmond:

	Races	Wins	Top 5s	Top 10s	Poles	Laps Led
Spring	8	0	1	5	0	9
Fall	7	1	2	4	0	181
Cumulative	15	1	3	9	0	190

Matt Kenseth Busch series summary at Richmond:

Date	S	F	Laps	Status
05/04/07	2	2	250/250	Running
09/08/06	3	3	250/250	Running
05/05/06	6	3	250/250	Running
09/09/05	4	3	253/253	Running
05/13/05	11	8	253/253	Running
09/05/03	28	6	250/250	Running
09/07/01	16	2	250/250	Running
05/04/01	1	4	250/250	Running
09/08/00	8	8	250/250	Running
03/05/00	4	2	250/250	Running
09/10/99	30	20	249/250	Running
05/14/99	18	3	250/250	Running
09/11/98	23	4	250/250	Running
06/05/98	14	3	250/250	Running
09/05/97	32	22	248/250	Running

 
Matt Kenseth Busch Series totals at Richmond:

	Races	Wins	Top 5s	Top 10s	Poles
Cumulative	15	0	10	13	1

   
Matt Kenseth on racing at Richmond:

• Cup: “Richmond is a pretty cool racetrack. It’s pretty wide for a short track and that usually allows for side-by-side racing. It used to be the only short track that we went to where we could do that, but now you can race side by side at Bristol too.

“We’ve had some success at Richmond over the years and it’s one of my favorite places to go. We’ve got one last shot at getting some bonus points before the Chase, so we’ll go out and do the best we can and try to pick up a win. But, if we can’t do that, then we’ll do the best we can and get the best finish we can. Hopefully we can continue to learn some things with the COT that might help us during the Chase.”

• Busch: “Richmond is one of my favorite tracks to race at and we’ve been pretty successful here in the past. We just haven’t been able to pull off a win in the Busch car. We came so close in the spring, but a mishap on pit road cost us the win. That was at the beginning of the year so hopefully we can pull it together now and have both a strong car and good pit stops. If we can do that then I think we can be a strong contender for the win.”

Crew Chief Robbie Reiser on racing at Richmond:

“We’re bringing a brand-new car to the track this weekend. We’ve applied some things that we’ve learned with the COT to this car and we believe that we’ve made some improvements with this one.

“It’s been a one-race-at-a-time approach for us this year and that won’t change as we move into the Chase. We haven’t always had a car capable of winning, and that’s something we’re always trying to improve on, but we’ve done a pretty good job of getting the best finish possible with what we bring to the track. That’s our same approach each week and it’s what we have to keep doing as we get into the Chase.”

Busch Series Crew Chief Drew Blickensderfer on racing at Richmond:

“Short tracks are definitely a strong point for Matt and he has the record to prove that at Richmond. He should have earned his first Busch win in the spring here, but a mistake on pit road there at the end cost us more track position than there was time left in the race for him to make up. Hopefully we can make up for that this time around and get a win for Matt and Arby’s.”

Richmond Fast Facts

n Matt Kenseth has scored nine top-10 finishes at Richmond International Raceway in 15 races, which ranks second behind Tony Stewart among all drivers at Richmond since Kenseth’s rookie season in the NEXTEL Cup Series (2000).

n Kenseth has scored 10 straight top-10 finishes in the Busch Series at Richmond and has 13 total top-10 finishes in 14 Busch Series starts at the .75-mile Virginia oval, including four straight top-three finishes.

n Richmond is the only track where Kenseth has scored 10 top-five finishes during his career in the Busch Series.

n With a seventh-place finish at California, Kenseth has now scored at least 16 top-10 finishes in the past six seasons; the most was 25 in the 2003 championship season.

n Richmond International Raceway is one of 10 Nextel Cup tracks (including North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham) where Kenseth has scored a Cup victory.

California Nextel Cup recap

No. 17 R+L CARRIERS/DeWALT FORD FUSION RECAP
Kenseth scores seventh-place finish at California… again

For the third consecutive Labor Day race at the California Speedway, Matt Kenseth scored a seventh-place finish. Kenseth, driving the No. 17 Ford clad in the green and yellow colors of R+L Carriers, started deep in the field but quickly worked his way towards the front; as high as second place. But just as it seemed Kenseth would challenge for the season sweep at California, the car’s handling began to take a turn for the worse. Kenseth slid back rapidly, as far as 22nd, before he started his comeback. The No. 17 team stopped the bleeding, allowing Kenseth to claw his way back towards the front over the second half of the race, to a seventh-place finish. The finish marked the fifth straight top-seven finish for Kenseth at the California Speedway.

In what was one of NASCAR’s hottest weekends in recent memory, Kurt Busch led the field to the green flag at 5:19 PM Pacific. The temperature was in excess of 100 degrees all weekend, meaning drivers faced a cockpit temperature nearing the 130 to 140 degree mark. Kenseth started 36th, and immediately began his assault on the field.

By lap nine, Kenseth had worked his way up to the 19th position and with a two-tire pit stop on lap 10, under yellow, gained excellent track position, restarting in the 10th position. The Robbie Reiser led crew used pit strategy to gain much needed track position early on and by staying out during a caution-flag period on lap 23, Kenseth restarted third and immediately made the pass into the second position.

That’s as high as the No. 17 Ford would climb however, as on lap 56 Kenseth began reporting the car as growing increasingly loose over the course of the run. The “loose in” condition, meaning the car was loose upon entry into the corner, plagued Kenseth for the remainder of the evening.

Kenseth slowly began falling back through the field and into the 10th position by the time the field came to pit road on lap 87. Even after a two-tire stop, which got Kenseth back out onto the track in the third position, the problem only worsened. Kenseth restarted third, but before he could come back into the pits for service on lap 113, the No. 17 Ford fell all the way back to the 19th position.

Kenseth described the car as being good and balanced for the first 10 laps of a run but then would suddenly get so loose going into the turn that the car became increasingly difficult to drive. Over the course of the run, Kenseth reported the condition as getting worse.

Kenseth and company began exploring options to see if something had broken on the car, but instead made some major adjustments on the following pit stop under yellow, but the time-consuming adjustments meant Kenseth would restart 22nd, just 10 laps from the half-way point. The major adjustments worked and Kenseth’s Ford came to life again. Over the next 20 laps, Kenseth gained 11 spots and was running in the 11th position.

Kenseth and the “Killer Bees” used a quick pit stop under green on lap 153 to propel them inside the top 10, up to the eighth position, with just under 100 laps to go. After that stop, Kenseth was a fixture inside the top 10 for the rest of the evening, but never could get the car quite good enough, or get the track position he needed, to compete for the win. Adding to the difficult evening, the alternator on the No. 17 Ford went out with around 100 laps remaining, and Kenseth was forced to shut off all of the fans that were used to cool him during the 100-degree evening.

The final 70 laps of the race were run under green-flag conditions. Kenseth toiled inside the top 10 for the remainder of the event, getting as high as fifth place at one time, but settled in to the seventh position, where he was able to remain for the final 20 laps. Kenseth crossed the finish line in the seventh position for the third time in as many Labor Day races at California Speedway. For the superstitious, this could bode well for Kenseth’s next visit to the track, where he’s followed up his two previous seventh-place finishes in the summer race, with two consecutive victories in last two February races at California.

“No matter where you finish, unless you win, you always hope for better,” said Kenseth. “But it was kind of frustrating. We took off at the beginning of the race and pretty much drove to the front and thought we had a pretty competitive car and as the track changed and the day went on, we just kept getting farther and farther off and couldn’t figure it out.”

HOW DID YOU HANDLE THE HEAT? “It wasn’t really bad until my alternator went out and then I had to shut all my fans and blowers and air conditioners off and then it got pretty toasty.” 

AT WHAT POINT DID YOU HAVE TO DO THAT? “With about 90 to go.”

RACE SUMMARY
Matt Kenseth • Started 36th • Finished 7th

POINTS SUMMARY
Race Total: 146 points
Season Total: 3309 points, Ranked 5th, 370 points behind first

NEXT UP:
Chevy Rock & Roll 400 • Richmond Int’l Raceway • Richmond, Va. • Saturday, Sep. 8

California Busch recap

No. 17 Arby’s Ford Fusion RECAP
LATE RACE ACCIDENT LEAVES KENSETH IN 28TH PLACE

Matt Kenseth won the spring race at California, but things didn’t turn out quite so well this time around. Kenseth qualified 15th and struggled with the handling of his No. 17 Arby’s Ford Fusion throughout most of the race. A mishap on a late-race pit stop put Kenseth in the middle of the field and that track position resulted in him getting caught up in an accident. The No. 17 was heavily damaged and Kenseth was left with a 28th-place finish.

Despite the handling being very tight on his car Kenseth was able to break into the top 10 just a few laps into the 150-lap event. Kenseth held strong in the eighth position for the first 30 laps despite feeling like his front tires were not working at all. The first part of the race was pretty much caution free which left the entire field having to make green-flag pit stops. Kenseth came in for his stop on lap 46 for four tires and fuel.

The field cycled through green-flag stops and the second caution of the evening came out on lap 67 with Kenseth sitting sixth. The car was still not handling anywhere like he needed it to. He was low on grip and struggling to maintain his track position. The incident that caused the caution sent a fellow competitor to the hospital and left a hole in the track wall. The field was red flagged while NASCAR repaired the wall. The California temperatures were so hot that drivers requested to get out of the cars for the red flag. NASCAR granted their request and a crew member was able to come to the car and give each driver some water. The red flag lasted 28 minutes before the field began making some laps under caution.

While under caution Kenseth came in for four tires, fuel and an air-pressure adjustment. The green flag came back out on lap 74 with Kenseth seventh. The car was still not balanced and Kenseth still had no grip. Kenseth slipped back to ninth and came back down pit road on lap 95 under caution for four new tires and fuel, hoping the new set of tires would give him some more grip. Kenseth was now a little loose, but was on his way to the front.

By lap 116 Kenseth was in the fourth position on the track and held onto that spot until he pitted under caution on lap 125. Kenseth came in for four tires and a splash of fuel to get him to the end. A hung lug nut on the last stop cost him valuable time on pit road, setting him up 12th for the restart on lap 130. Just three laps later he was caught up in an accident with three other competitors, including his Roush Fenway Racing teammate Carl Edwards. The car was heavily damaged and he couldn’t drive it back to the garage. The accident left Kenseth with a 28th-place finish.

“Our car was just off all night,” said Kenseth. “We couldn’t get the handling where we needed it to be. We got a little closer there at the end, but lost track position on pit road. It’s never fun to end a race like this, but hopefully we can come back next week and get a good finish at Richmond.”

RACE SUMMARY
Matt Kenseth • Started 15th • Finished 28th

NEXT UP:
Emerson Radio 250 • Richmond Int’l Raceway • Richmond, Va. • Friday, Sep. 7