Homestead race recap

No. 17 DeWALT NANO TECHNOLOGY FORD FUSION RECAP
“One for the Gipper”
KENSETH DOMINATES FORD 400, SENDING CREW CHIEF ROBBIE REISER OFF A WINNER

After 291 races as crew chief of the No. 17 team, crew chief Robbie Reiser will retire from the top of the No. 17 pit box a winner, as the team he built dominated Sunday evening in the Ford 400; leading 214 of 267 laps and cruising to their second win of the season. Kenseth took the lead for the first time on lap four and thoroughly dominated the event. At one point the black No. 17 DEWALT NANO Technology Ford Fusion opened up a whopping 10-second lead. The “Killer Bees” were at their finest for Reiser’s swan song, turning out five stops in the 12-second range and keeping Kenseth in front of the pack all evening. Kenseth’s win was the 16th of his NEXTEL Cup career, but first in the Chase. As a result of the win, Kenseth jumped from sixth to fourth in the final championship point standings; his third best finish during his career.

In front of a capacity crowd of 80,000 eventual Champion, Jimmie Johnson, led the field to the green flag at 4:03 PM Eastern. Kenseth rolled off fourth, his second best qualifying effort of the year, and felt confident that his car could compete for the win.

It didn’t take long for Kenseth to take his spot at the front of the field. By lap four Kenseth drove his black No. 17 Ford around Ryan Newman for the top spot and immediately set sail.

The early portion of the race remained clean and green and Kenseth began to stretch his lead. Kenseth first came to pit road on lap 48 for four tires and fuel; 12.52 seconds later, Kenseth was back on his way, but the caution flag fell on lap 51. Due to the caution flag occurring during green-flag pit stops, the cars that were trapped a lap down due to the inopportune caution were allowed to start in front of the leader, who by this time was Kenseth.

With the opportunity to lap 20 cars directly in front of him on the restart, Kenseth was salivating at the chance. But another caution immediately occurred on the restart and denied Kenseth that chance, ultimately allowing 20 cars back onto the lead lap.

On the ensuing restart Kenseth had something happen to him that didn’t happen much on Sunday, another car passed him. From lap 64 to lap 85, Kenseth fell all the way back to, well… second. After a pit stop on lap 78, Kenseth emerged fourth, but first among cars with four tires. With fresh tires Kenseth immediately charged back to the front on lap 86 and again set sail.

After another round of green-flag pit stops, Kenseth had stretched his lead to over 10 seconds. Despite the huge lead, all wasn’t well with the No. 17 machine. Kenseth reported that the car’s primary battery was dying due to alternator issues, and that he was low on brake fluid. But, the issues were manageable and Kenseth continued to stretch his lead.

A caution on lap 149 bunched the field again and Kenseth came to pit road the leader. Thanks to a 12.29-second stop by the “Killer Bees”, Kenseth returned the leader and again began to pull away from the field.

The Reiser-led No. 17 crew made very few adjustments throughout the evening, mainly because Kenseth was happy with the balance of the car. Kenseth reported the car as being “pretty neutral, but a little loose in turns three and four.” Kenseth noted the track wasn’t tightening up as the sun set like they had originally anticipated

After another great pit stop, 12.12 seconds, on lap 194, Kenseth again returned to the track the leader. While the No. 17 Ford was especially dominant on long runs, on fresh tires he wasn’t able to break away. As a result, Kenseth found himself in a spirited duel for the lead on the ensuing restart with Martin Truex Jr. Kenseth prevailed and again began to pull away.

Kenseth came to pit road for the final time on lap 244, just 23 laps from the finish. Under green, it was necessary for the crew to have another solid stop as several pursuers had already elected to take on two tires in order to gain track position. Reiser made his final call atop the pit box — four tires and a wedge adjustment. The “Killer Bees” responded with a 12.54-second stop that returned Kenseth to the track just behind Truex, who had elected to take two tires. It wasn’t even a contest. Kenseth blew past Truex to take the lead and never looked back.

One final caution on lap 254 added drama to the waning laps; again grouping the field to the back of Kenseth’s bumper. But, Kenseth suddenly reported he felt he had a flat right-front tire as he prepared to lead the field to the green on lap 259. The No. 17 team jumped to the top of pit wall in preparation for Kenseth to dive onto pit road, but instead he radioed to the crew, “Too late to pit. I’m going to go into (turn) one and hope it’s my imagination.”

Thankfully, it was Kenseth’s imagination, and once he realized that, he pulled away and onto victory, crossing the finish line yelling, “I love you guys!” over the radio.

“I have a great race team,” said Kenseth from Victory Lane. “I really feel like I let these guys down. We lost a lot of close races this year, so it feels great to win one and win a close one. Congratulations to Jimmie and Rick Hendrick and those guys. I want to thank DEWALT, USG, R&L Carriers, Carhartt and all of our sponsors that make this happen. It was an awesome run today.”

WHAT ABOUT THAT LAST RESTART. DID YOU THINK SOMETHING WAS WRONG WITH THE CAR? “I used to pull that one on Robbie all the time. They say I’ve got a big imagination, but I really did think it and whenever you’re leading you always think that, but I must have got a big piece of debris on the right-front tire. It started shaking a little bit, but as soon as I got to one it rubbed off. So it was a pretty good day today. It was a lot of fun.”

WHAT WILL YOU MISS ABOUT ROBBIE? “It’s cool to go out with a win. I’m going to miss working with him on Sundays, but he’s not going far. He’s going to manage the shop and I really think that his presence is really going to be a big plus for everybody at Roush Fenway Racing. I think it’ll make everybody stronger. I’m going to miss him doing it, but I’m looking forward to the challenge and looking forward to making the company stronger.”

ARE YOU TAKING THIS CAR HOME NOW? “I don’t know. I blew the quarter-panel off it, so at least we don’t have to race it again.”

As much as Reiser tried to downplay the fact it was his last race as crew chief of the No. 17 team, a team in which he basically started from scratch at Roush Fenway Racing in 1999, he couldn’t hide the pride in his voice as the team he built ended the season a winner.

“First of all, I’d like to congratulate Jimmie Johnson and that whole race team,” Reiser said from Victory Lane. “Man, did we come on at the end of the season. What a performance by our team. We got so far behind in this chase and it looked like we weren’t going to get out of 12th there for a while, but the way we came on at the end of the year it’s just a privilege to be a part of this 17 bunch. The DEWALT guys have been on the money on pit road all season long. This is the end of my DEWALT segment if you want to say that, but I’ll be back to work tomorrow morning working on race cars and trying to help them win another championship and help Roush Fenway win a championship. What an honor and a privilege to work with Matt Kenseth and that whole group and I’m really looking forward to Chip Bolin taking this team over and doing a lot better job than I did.”

WHAT EMOTIONS DO YOU HAVE NOW? “I’m not a real emotional guy. I enjoy racing. I love to race. My dad brought me up that way. That’s who I am, I’m a racer.”

WINNING NOTES:

• The win was Kenseth’s 16th of his Cup career, moving him into sole possession of 43rd on the career win list.

• With Kenseth’s second win in 2007, it marks the fourth year in which he has recorded multiple Cup victories.

• For only the second time in his Cup career, Kenseth has won in a paint scheme other than DEWALT’s primary paint scheme.

• Homestead-Miami Speedway becomes the 11th track at which Kenseth has recorded a win in his Cup career.

• The win was Kenseth’s first during the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup.

• Kenseth’s 22 top-10 finishes in 2007 is the second most in a single season in his career behind only 25 in his championship season, 2003.

 
ROBBIE REISER STATS AS CREW CHIEF ON THE NO. 17 TEAM

Starts: 291
Wins: 16
Top-five finishes: 79
Top-10 finishes: 141
 

RACE SUMMARY
Matt Kenseth • Started 4th • Finished 1st

POINTS SUMMARY
Race Total: 195 points
Season Total: 6298 points, Ranked 4th, 425 points behind first.

NEXT UP:
The Gatorade Duel • Daytona International Speedway • Daytona Beach, Fla. • Thursday, Feb. 14, 2008

Kenseth, Reiser, & Roush post-race press conference
November 18, 2007

KENSETH MAKES IT FOUR STRAIGHT FORD 400’s FOR FORD

• Matt Kenseth won his second race of the season and took the checkered flag for the 16th time in his NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series career with today’s victory.

• Today’s win was the seventh of the year for Ford, which is one more than last season.

• Today also marks the fourth straight win for Ford in the Ford 400 with Kenseth following up on Greg Biffle’s three straight triumphs.

• Ford has won five of the six Ford 400’s since the race took that name in 2002, and all five have been courtesy of Roush Fenway Racing.

• Kurt Busch won the first Ford 400 in 2002 while driving the No. 97 Ford before Biffle won each of the last three. The only non-Ford to win the event was Bobby Labonte in 2003.

• Ford has now won 583 all-time NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series races.

• The win was Fusion’s 13th all-time NNC triumph after debuting at Daytona last year.

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ROBBIE REISER, Crew Chief — No. 17 DeWALT Ford Fusion

VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW — “First of all, I’d like to congratulate Jimmie Johnson and that whole race team. Man, did we come on at the end of the season. What a performance by our team. We got so far behind in this chase and it looked like we weren’t gonna get out of 12th there for a while, but the way we came on at the end of the year it’s just a privilege to be a part of this 17 bunch. The DeWalt guys have been on the money on pit road all season long. This is the end of my DeWalt segment if you want to say that, but I’ll be back to work tomorrow morning working on race cars and trying to help them win another championship and help Roush Fenway win a championship. What an honor and a privilege to work with Matt Kenseth and that whole group and I’m really looking forward to Chip Bolin taking this team over and doing a lot better job than I did.”

WHAT EMOTIONS DO YOU HAVE NOW? “I’m not a real emotional guy. I enjoy racing. I love to race. My dad brought me up that way. That’s who I am, I’m a racer.”

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MATT KENSETH — No. 17 DeWALT Ford Fusion

VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW — “I have a great race team. I really feel like I let these guys down. We lost a lot of close races this year, so it feels great to win one and win a close one. Congratulations to Jimmie and Rick Hendrick and those guys. I want to thank DeWALT, USG, R&L Truck Carriers and all of our sponsors that make this happen. It was an awesome run today.”

WHAT ABOUT THAT LAST RESTART. DID YOU THINK SOMETHING WAS WRONG WITH THE CAR? “I used to pull that one on Robbie all the time. They say I’ve got a big imagination, but I really did think it and whenever you’re leading you always think that, but I must have got a big piece of debris on the right-front tire. It started shaking a little bit, but as soon as I got to one it rubbed off. So it was a pretty good day today. It was a lot of fun.”

WHAT WILL YOU MISS ABOUT ROBBIE? “It’s cool to go out with a win. I’m gonna miss working with him on Sundays, but he’s not going far. He’s going to manage the shop and I really think that his presence is really gonna be a big plus for everybody at Roush Fenway Racing. I think it’ll make everybody stronger. I’m gonna miss him doing it, but I’m looking forward to the challenge and looking forward to making the company stronger.”

ARE YOU TAKING THIS CAR HOME NOW? “I don’t know. I blew the quarter-panel off it, so at least we don’t have to race it

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MATT KENSETH WINNING PRESS CONFERENCE

JACK ROUSH, Car Owner – “We of course enjoyed winning here in front of the home crowd for Ford Motor Company. I went to work for Ford in ’64 and I’ve been around Ford Motor Company as an employee or as a racer for 50 years. I really expected that Greg would be the man of the hour for us as he’d won the last three races and we were off just a little bit. The car that he won two of those three races was the same car and we damaged that car in a tire test earlier this year at Charlotte, so we didn’t have that car and I think that’s played a little bit of a mind game on Greg. But Robbie Reiser and Chip Bolin and the Ford Motor Company staff – Scott Almond and all the guys that stand behind the technologies that have gone into that DeWalt Ford really came to the front today.

“There’s a revolution occurring. Time was when I started 20 years ago at this, engineering was something that was kept on the back burner and if you absolutely got cornered and couldn’t figure out what to do you would ask the engineer what he thought and the crew chief would make a decision to either laugh or to try it. But today this thing has gotten so complex and there are so many great engineers doing so much predicative and analysis work that you have to have that going for you. The best application that we’ve got of the technologies that Ford has given us is with the 17 car and that really showed bright today.

“We got behind. I listened to Jeff Gordon there talking about how he’d missed his championship here by one spot. I guess Matt moved up to fourth. That certainly wasn’t what we hoped for and what we expected as we started the year. We got blindsided and didn’t do as much testing with the car of tomorrow. We had four or five really bad races with that early on just because we didn’t have as much information as some of the other teams did – the Hendrick bunch being at the front of that – but, anyway, I misjudged that. That was my fault. We didn’t take advantage of the laxity NASCAR had of not enforcing the testing policy that they had indicated they were gonna impose on us, so I got behind there.

“As far as the championship is concerned, we just got beat this year. We did not run as good as the 24 or the 48 did throughout the balance of the year and the chase. They’ve raised the bar for us and we see what we need to do. We’ve been there before and we know what we need to do. The 17 on the race tonight had great pit stops. We had an alternator failure. We had a backup battery system that allowed us to finish the race without changing the alternator or changing the battery, so that worked out good. Matt thought he had a flat tire. He announced that he had a flat tire just as the green came out after the last caution there, and, of course, everybody’s heart sank as we thought about coming down pit road and taking a tire and what that was gonna mean to the result after he had been as good as he had been all day. But they’ve run good more than reflecting on the number of races they’ve won this year, but the best preparation and the best application of the tools that Ford has given us has manifested itself with the 17 and that’s the reason that they rose to the top tonight.”

HAVE YOU EVER HAD A TEAM THAT WENT OUT ON TOP WITH ROBBIE MOVING ON? “That’s the stuff of editorials. You hear that comment a lot. I don’t think that we’re going out and Robbie is going up, the team certainly isn’t disassembling, but Robbie has been vertically mobile recognized by me within the organization. He’s ambitious. He’s at a point in his life when he wants to do more things and be as productive as he can and he can impact not only the 17 team, but the policy and the structure and the efficiency and the effectiveness of all of our five teams and that’s what’s gonna happen next year. He will bring tools to the general managership position that I haven’t had in my prior general managers. He comes from a strong industrial background. His dad had a trailer-building business. He worked with his dad in the business. He ran his own race team. He drove the race cars for himself before he ran his own race team. Matt, of course, was a driver of his for awhile in the Busch Series before he came to us. Robbie will be able to focus on all the ins-and-outs of the things that happen on the shop floor and on the things that go wrong with pit crews and the things that they might do. He’s been critical and supportive at the same time of what we’ve been doing with the other teams. He didn’t have the prerogative and the opportunity to go fix them because of the way we were organized, but he’s gonna be able to use all of his experience to benefit all the teams. Chip Bolin is one of our senior engineers. He’s one of the best guys we’ve got on the seven-poster. He’s certainly been at the basis of any kinematics changes for front suspension throughout the year and for the last several years, so he’s in a position now to not only know what to do and what needs to be done technically with the car, but also to benefit the team and to set an example for his kind of technical leadership at the top what the benchmark for all of the other Roush teams should be.”

CAN HENDRICK BE CAUGHT AND HOW FAR BEHIND ARE YOU GUYS WITH THE COT? “We think that with the progress we made on the car of tomorrow challenge that over the winter we’ll be able to close any gap. As I listened to what Jeff said, how loose you set up the car and how much risk you’re willing to take with the way you drive the car from the point of view of loose has always been fast, and whether you achieve loose today by having more air-pressure in a tire or less air-pressure is one of those things that we’re going through a revolution with with the engineering and with all the tire data that we have available. The things that used to be universally true aren’t universally true today and you have to take the chance to believe the data to go take advantage of it. The 48 did and tonight the 17 did and I think we’ll be able to incorporate that into our thinking more universally going forward. This is a momentum sport. You have things going for you for a while. I know when the 17 won in 2003, won the championship, he didn’t mean to win a race that year. He had enough points that it didn’t matter if he won a race. They finished top five more than anybody ever had in history and, of course, won their share of laps led and that sort of thing throughout the race. But, at the same time, they had all those great finishes. We didn’t have a flat tire. We didn’t run over some debris. Somebody didn’t put oil on the race track in front of us. We didn’t crash. Matt didn’t run into the pit wall, which he did at Dover one year, so all those self-induced things we didn’t do and the things that you’re hapless and vulnerable for, those things didn’t happen. I wouldn’t say that that’s what happened to the Hendrick organization this year. They executed brilliantly, but they also missed more wrecks than my guys did that weren’t anybody’s fault, and they’ll have to give some of those back going forward and hopefully we’ll be able to reap the benefits of some more Cinderella years where nothing will go wrong.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE 17 FOR 2008? “They certainly have a lot of momentum going forward. They’re going to go into winter well. There won’t be a great deal of anxiety about the fact that, ‘Gee, we missed it. We don’t know how to make these cars go fast.’ I think the thing Robbie would tell you and the thing Matt would tell you and certainly the thing I believe is the application of the technical side is the single thing that made the biggest difference in how the 17 was able to progress through the year. They were eventually able to get data on the car of tomorrow and use it well. Matt even got a pole. He’s not been a guy to run up front. He’s qualified very well and that just wouldn’t happen unless you had really great stuff. We’re looking forward to carrying the energy and the momentum of the 17 forward with Chip still being – the difference between what’s gonna happen as far as the cars are concerned, Chip would make a recommendation to Robbie on what he thought needed to be done and Robbie would generally bless it. If he was wise, he would bless it and now going forward Chip will be able to make those decisions without asking permission.”

WERE THERE ANY CHANGES THAT KEYED THIS RUN? “On the car of tomorrow thing, I hired either five or seven people, I forgot how many. But we put together a test team that was organized specifically to test these cars in Iowa and out in Arizona and Texas and Tennessee and Kentucky and other places that didn’t have NASCAR tracks, we went and followed the path of the other teams that had gotten ahead of us on the car of tomorrow and tested our cars outside the NASCAR-defined box. That was the big thing that helped that.”

WHAT HELPED THIS RUN? “One of the things we had to balance was we had really good mile-and-a-half cars and had good superspeedway cars, so we had to actually turn our back on those a little bit and disadvantage ourselves a little bit through the middle of the year and toward the end of the year by not having done as much with that car as we tried to catch up for where we were behind. So the load that I put on everybody by not authorizing and funding the testing really hurt us a little bit everywhere in the middle of the year, but this obviously wasn’t a car of tomorrow race car and it was a favorite car that Robbie can comment on, but I’m sure it was a favorite car that they saved for this realizing it was the last race. But as it turned out, I would say we were a little short on the really special cars in the car of today variety as the year wore on as a result of some wrecks that we weren’t able to get back to where they were and the lack of testing and emphasis we put on those, but going to next year we’re only gonna have the car of tomorrow and as much as I wasn’t in support of that car as it came on, I do look forward to carrying the energy and the momentum that we’ve had through the testing and the simulated predictive things we’ve done in the shop. I look forward to having that at every race, where we can not go from one car to the other car and kind of lose track of what we had going for us the last time we run one program or the other.”

WHO GETS THIS CAR? “Robbie was lamenting the fact that Lumpy will probably get it as an ARCA car. So we’ll have to think about that. That quarter-panel is seriously damaged. I think we’ll probably take that out of Matt’s pay, but, on the other hand, we didn’t own the tire anyway. They just leased us the tire and we got the whole use of the tire as it worked out, but, no, that car will wind up staying in the livery somewhere. We’ve got an ARCA program organized for Ricky Stenhouse for next year and we’re still working on sponsorship for that, but we have made a commitment with Ford to run him in the ARCA Series and that will almost certainly be one of the cars that will appear there.”

MATT KENSETH – “I guess we had five really good runs to finish the year off and that feels good. We really ran strong throughout the chase. I think our performance obviously wasn’t quite as good as the 48 and maybe the 24, but I think our performance was as good or better than any other chase closing the season out, so it’s pretty awesome to get up to fourth from where we were five weeks ago. Tonight we just had a dominant car. It felt that good yesterday in practice and Robbie and Chip were telling me that was four-tenths off. I told them I didn’t know how to make it any better, so I think we just left it and ran it today. We made very few adjustments. It was just a pretty dominant car on the long run all day. They could really make a run at me for about 20 laps and then after that we could start making some distance. It was a really fun race, even though we were out front a lot. The track and the way my car was loose, especially kind of getting into the corner, you really had to stay on top of it every lap and try to hit your marks just right and kind of sliding around, so it was a lot of fun.”

ROBBIE REISER – “I’m glad it’s over (laughing). No, not really. I want to thank all the DeWalt people that have been with us the whole time. When this is all said and done I didn’t get fired. We’re all friends. I get to go back to work tomorrow, basically getting to do the same job just from a five-team aspect instead of a one. Chip Bolin is gonna be able to take our team and make it a lot better than I have it right now, so I’m looking forward to all that stuff. It was an honor and a privilege to work with Matt. Matt has been great to me, great to my family, just a great friend and to be able to do this at the top level and do it the way he wanted me to do it, and do it for so many years, it was a real privilege. Working for Jack and all the people at Roush Fenway is a lot of fun and I enjoy it. I’m looking forward to the next step and that’s all I can really say. I like to race and I’m not gonna miss this part of it at all.”

WAS THERE A BATTERY PROBLEM EARLIER? “We’ll be working on that right away. In my new job, I’m gonna be on that. I’ve had enough of that.”

MATT KENSETH CONTINUED – WAS THERE A BATTERY PROBLEM EARLIER? “For some reason this year we’ve had some alternator issues, some alternator wires, leads, what-have-you, and about halfway through the race we lost our alternator and with Jack’s instruction and then looking into it, we had two batteries. So through all the ones we’ve had fail this year, I think we figured it out, how many minutes does one battery last?”

REISER: “One hundred and 70 minutes.”

KENSETH: “One hundred and 70 minutes, so when the first one went out, we were right at halfway so I thought we were gonna be OK. The only thing that kind of hurt was we couldn’t run our brake fans and bead blowers and radiator and air-conditioner. That was probably the worst part. We couldn’t run that, but, other than that, it was gonna be OK so I just kind of switched it back and forth. The flat tire think, I used to do that to Robbie all the time (laughing). But I’m always kind of paranoid, especially when we’re leading, and I must have had a big chunk of rubber on it or something. It was kind of shaking and it just didn’t feel right before I came to the green, so when I got to turn one I was glad there was air in it.”

ROBBIE REISER CONTINUED – “Let me tell you, over the years we’ve had flat tires and blown motors and all kinds of stuff going on in the last 20 laps when we were running well, so it doesn’t surprise me.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR RELATIONSHIP THROUGH THE YEARS? “First of all, a lot of the fighting was blown out of proportion. Our fathers didn’t get along (laughter). Matt and I just raced against each other. In Wisconsin, you could run five nights a week if you wanted, and there was a couple of drivers that towed to all the different race tracks, and Matt and myself were one of them. We just raced against each other all the time and I was a couple of years older, so I had a little more experience and I didn’t like it that he was coming in and trying to beat me all the time, so we didn’t get along. I guess through the years I’ve probably been the tougher side of our relationship, so that’s kind of the way I was on the race track and Matt didn’t appreciate it at times, so we went back and forth. But it was never to the point where we didn’t talk to each other, we just didn’t hang out. When I had the opportunity to keep the Busch team going and I needed a driver, in my mind there was only one guy to put in that car that could go out and win and that was him.”

MATT KENSETH CONTINUED – “I really liked it when I started working with him, I tell you that. He’s a lot of fun to work with and it’s way better being on his side. He’s settled down a little bit through the years. Well, I guess I can’t say that, but if you’re a NASCAR official, you can ask any NASCAR official that’s been in his pit when things haven’t gone right – or maybe some other drivers. It’s great having him on your side that’s for sure.”

HOW IMPORTANT WAS IT TO WIN THIS RACE WITH THE CHANGE COMING? “Yeah, they’re all big races. There’s not a Nextel Cup race that’s not a big race to win. They’re hard to win. We haven’t won since February and, honestly, when I get into a month or two that we haven’t won, I mean you kind of wonder if you’re ever gonna win again or if that last one was your last win, so you have to enjoy every one because you just don’t know what’s gonna happen in the future. So it feels good to pull it off. If some people would have just got better and we couldn’t get our car better and they beat us in the middle of the race, then that’s the way it was gonna be, but if I would have got beat in that last 10 or 12 laps, I’d probably be semi-suicidal tonight because we’ve lost a lot of close ones. We had a good car and Jimmie snuck up and beat us at Texas and Phoenix and Atlanta (laughter). Anyway, you guys get the picture, but we’ve lost some close ones this year. There have been times when we won some close ones through the years, but we’ve lost a lot of close ones and when that happens on the track, me as a driver, I always feel bad because I feel I let those guys down. If we had a bad pit stop or something broke, you feel bad for losing but not as bad as when you’re on the track and you get passed and beat for the win. You feel extra bad about that, so it definitely feels good to close it out with a win.”

MATT KENSETH CONTINUED – HOW DOES THIS CARRYOVER TO 2008? “I hope it carries over. I think that, especially the last five weeks, obviously there were a couple bad weeks in there, but I think our performance this year in the chase without our problems was good enough to win any other chase besides this one. Obviously Jimmie and Jeff set a new standard. It was just unbelievable how good their average finish was and the things they were able to do. I don’t know how you can beat that. You’ve got to be pretty darn good to beat that, but, overall, I thought our performance was great throughout the chase. We had a period kind of during the year where maybe we were a little off, but we started off pretty strong. The thing I’m most fired up about is I see the direction of the company going in the right way and I feel like we’re gaining momentum. This year we had a new head engineer come in and we had some new driver-crew chief combinations and all that stuff has kind of worked for a year and we’ve been adding people, so just the momentum of the whole company feels like we’re gaining on it. Greg won a few weeks ago and Jamie won his race this year and Carl’s won a couple times and David has been really strong, so I just feel as a group that we’re really gaining on it, so that really makes me excited for next year.”

WAS IT STRANGE DOING A BURNOUT AND HAVING ANOTHER CAR DOING A BURNOUT NEXT TO YOU? “I couldn’t see him because I thought I was on fire, and I couldn’t breathe. That’s the only reason I got out. I honestly thought about that. After we took the checkered flag I was like, ‘I should just go to Victory Lane because Jimmie won the championship.’ It’s about the race winner today, but it’s really Ford Championship Weekend and it’s about the champion and I didn’t really want to go out there and share the stage or take away attention from him and then I started thinking, ‘He’s won 10 races this year and he’s burned up 12 sets of tires in the last four weeks and he won the championship last year,’ so I figured it wasn’t a big deal for me to go out there and do a burnout and then take off. But I did hear him. Right when I was getting done I saw him over there, so I feel good for Jimmie and Chad. They’ve been the dominant force here lately, so it was a great win by those guys.”

ROBBIE REISER CONTINUED – WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE AVERAGE FINISH FOR JEFF AND JIMMIE IN THE CHASE? “I knew that one of these years somebody was gonna put it all together and have 10 perfect races and that’s basically what the 48 did. Hopefully they don’t keep that trend up and we can turn it around and do something like that.”

DO YOU HATE SEEING THIS CAR GO? “No doubt. For anybody that works on these cars and puts their heart and soul in going stock car racing, the current car allows us to work on it. We can put bodies on the way we want and the rules are a little more wide open than what we’ve been dealing with and it lets you be a part of the car basically. The COT car takes a lot of that away, so for guys like me that like to work on the cars, I’m sad to see it go.”

Matt & Robbie speak to the press
November 17, 2007

Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 DEWALT Ford Fusion, will have a new crew chief in 2008 when Robbie Reiser assumes the general manager duties at Roush Fenway Racing. Kenseth spoke about the loss of Reiser and what it will mean to his team on Friday morning at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

MATT KENSETH — No. 17 DEWALT Ford Fusion

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON ROBBIE BEING PROMOTED? “I feel good about him being promoted. I think from an organizational standpoint it’s going to be really good for Roush Fenway Racing, which I think will also be good for the 17 team in the long haul. I know it’s something he’s kind of been interested in doing the last few years, but we’ve enjoyed working together and doing this for a long time too, so I think overall it’ll make the company stronger.”

MARK MARTIN SAID ROBBIE IS A REAL RACER AND IF HE THINKS IT’S GOING TO WORK, HE’LL JUST DO IT. “This is something I think everybody besides me and the 17 guys, I think it’s something that company-wide that everybody has wanted for a long time. I think they know Robbie has great organizational skills and the things he can bring to the table from a global standpoint at Roush Fenway Racing to make everything better, so I think everybody in the organization has been looking forward to this day for a while, except maybe me and the 17 guys because we’ve worked together for so long, but I think overall it’ll make the company stronger.”

IS HE GETTING EMOTIONAL AT ALL THIS WEEK? “Not yet. I’m sure you guys will talk to him. He’s been good. He’s been in a good mood like he usually is and he’s been working hard like he always does, so everything has been pretty much normal.”

IT HELPS YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN RUNNING WELL THE LAST FIVE OR SIX RACES. “Yeah, we’ve been running really great. My cars have been really good the whole chase and we’ve actually had the finishes to show for them the last four weeks. Of course, everything Jimmie has been doing has been overshadowing everybody else as good as they’ve been running. It doesn’t seem like we’ve run that good, but we’ve run pretty good lately so that feels pretty good.”

ROBBIE IS THE ONLY CUP CREW CHIEF YOU’VE KNOWN. WHAT ABOUT BUILDING A RAPPORT WITH A NEW GUY? “I’m not really worried about it at all. Actually, right now at this point we have a lot of depth in the 17 team. I feel really good about that. We’re planning on moving Chip Bolin up to be our crew chief and he’s been with us for 10 or 11 years. He’s been there the whole time that me and Robbie have been there. He was the original engineer when we started that five-race deal in ‘99 with Roush and he’s more than ready and more than capable, so I’m not actually worried about it at all. I don’t think we’re really going to have a different cast.”

DO YOU THINK ROBBIE WILL GET THINGS DONE? “Yeah, for sure. I think he’ll make the whole organization stronger. With the way they’re going to structure the different positions and him being general manager and adding that building, I think will help all the teams a lot. He’s very strong from an organizational standpoint and he’ll make everything better.”

DID YOU TALK TO ROBBIE ABOUT THE DECISION? “This has come up for a few years in a row. I don’t know if it’s ever been real serious, but it would come up several years in a row. Robbie and I have been really good friends for a long time. We’ve worked together for 11 or 12 years and he knows and what I’ve told him every year is that I’ll support whatever decision he makes. No matter what we’ll be friends, and I’ll support whatever he does. He’s done a lot for my career and we’ve had a lot of fun racing together and we’re still going to work closely together, so he knows he’s got my support no matter what he wants to do. He’s got to do whatever is best for him and his family and what he feels most comfortable doing.”

DID YOU TELL HIM TO DO IT? “He didn’t ask me, really, whether he should do it or not. He just knew he’d have my support no matter what he did.”

HOW WOULD YOU GRADE YOUR TEAM THIS YEAR? “It’s hard to give you a letter grade. It depends what you’re scoring it against. If you’re scoring it against the 48 and what they’ve been able to do, we’d probably be a B+, but I think my team has done really great. For what we have to work with we’ve been really competitive. We’ve been leading some races and been in contention to win, but just haven’t quite been able to finish them off, so I think they’ve been doing great.”

---

Robbie Reiser, who has been the crew chief of the No. 17 DEWALT Ford Fusion since the team originated in 1999, earlier this week was named General Manager of Roush Fenway Racing’s NASCAR NEXTEL Cup team operations. Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 17, was the series’ rookie of the year in 2000 and series champion in 2003. Reiser met with the media following Saturday’s first practice session.

ROBBIE REISER — crew chief, No. 17 DEWALT Ford Fusion

ON HIS NEW JOB. “It’s really not that different than what I’ve been doing. The office is only going to be about 40 feet from where I’ve been the last few years, so I really don’t look at as that big of a change for what we’re doing. Obviously, I’ll be involved with the five teams, but what I do on a daily basis, it’ll change a little bit because the guys on the 17 will be off on their own, but it’s really not that big of a thing.”

MARK MARTIN WAS VERY COMPLIMENTARY OF YOU, AND THAT YOU WILL GO GET IT DONE, EVEN IF YOU THINK YOU WON’T GET PERMISSION. “I’m sure Jack’s a little bit nervous because I do go out on a limb once in a while with some of the stuff I do, but it’s all about racing and doing the best we can so we can come out here and compete and win races and championships and whatever we have to do. So, this is the next step, and I’ve been doing the crew-chief job for a lot of years so this is what he’s got in line for me.”

WAS IT TIME FOR A CHANGE FOR YOU? “I don’t know. The contract I have at Roush Racing was to get 2009 in, and I was really committed to do that. And every year for the last couple of years, this has always come up — and it just seems like the right time, I guess, if you look at it. I’m concerned at the direction we’re going with the COT and how that’s going to change the way we build cars and what we’re doing. Also, the direction our company with, you know, selling cars to other teams and other team owners is going to change some of our direction, so to be a part of that — I don’t want to be a part of that two years down the road when we’re already committed to go a direction, I’d like to get in front of that and help our teams as we build on that.”

HOW WILL THE CAR OF TOMORROW CHANGE THINGS FOR AN ORGANIZATION LIKE THIS ONE? “I think, probably, in all the organizations that you’ve got the engineering direction that most of these teams are going, and then the Car of Tomorrow builds a manufacturing type of car now, where you have to kind of production-build the thing in a lot of ways. So, I don’t want to lose what that is. I want to be able to bring the engineering side of our company to that car and also be able to manufacture at the point where we can get cars built for everybody.”

WERE YOU WORRIED ABOUT HOW THIS MIGHT AFFECT MATT KENSETH? “This ain’t affecting the 17 team. What’s the difference if you’re a GM or a crew chief on the 17? You’re still involved in the 17, you’re still working with it on a day-to-day basis. Maybe if you’re doing the daily decisions on everything they’ve got going on, but it’s driven by Roush Fenway, and what they do there is really no different. I don’t really know what to say. The 17 has been together so long that all the guys are pretty much at the point where they’re full-grown, they can go do what they want to do on this team. So by me coming out of the mold and allowing everybody else to step up a little bit — they’ve all been doing the same job for a long time, too — so it’s their opportunity to do a little something different that will make it exciting for them. But, like I say, I’m just in front of the building right now, so you can come up and talk to me or do whatever you want. So that’s why I don’t really think it’s all that different than what we’ve been doing.”

WILL YOU MISS THE INTERACTION WITH JUST THE ONE TEAM? “There’s a lot of things I’m going to miss. There’s also a lot of things that I’ll have a little more control over than what I’ve had in this role. So, anytime you’ve done something for so long, you’re going to miss a little something — I’m going to miss being here every weekend, paying attention to what he’s doing and having a good time with it. But, this is part of racing, it’s part of getting older, it’s part of growth of the company, it’s part of growth in the organization, it’s change in NASCAR — all of that stuff makes a difference.”

WILL PEOPLE BE ABLE TO SEE ANY CHANGES IN ROUSH FENWAY RACING NEXT YEAR? “Well, I’m sure there will be some things that are different, otherwise they wouldn’t ask me to do it. What that’s going to be — I haven’t even taken the job yet so you’re asking me a question that I don’t really know on that.”

BUT YOU’VE BEEN THERE A LONG TIME… “We’ve got some things we want to change, but, really, if you look at our company right now, the 48’s killing us every weekend, but other than that Roush Fenway, with the cars that we’ve got going right now is just as strong as anybody in the garage. So, to say, hey, we’re going to make 1,000 changes? No, we’re not going to change a bunch of stuff. We’ll work on some stuff internally that we do on a day-to-day basis, the way we prepare for a race, but that’s about it.”

WHAT ABOUT THE CAR OF TOMORROW AND HOW TO HENDRICK GET SO FAR AHEAD? NEXT YEAR, WILL WE SEE OTHER TEAMS CATCHING UP? “The Car of Tomorrow is total focus next year and everybody is working on the stuff. You’re going to see everybody pick up their game and go after that car a lot harder than they have this season. The way Jack approached this season was to maybe not take a 100-percent look at the thing — and we scrambled there at the beginning of the season, but I think if you look at what we’ve done the last three or four months with the COT, we’ve been pretty darned competitive with it compared to where we started out the year [when] we really struggled. Take that project as an example. We had trouble with it, we grabbed a group of people and we went to work on it, it got a lot better by the end of the season. So, that probably will be the direction for that car for us for next year.”

PEOPLE WONDER HOW TEAMS COULD NOT TAKE IT SERIOUSLY AND HAVE TO SCRAMBLE AT THE END. “The preparation from other teams on the COT was probably at a better focus than what we had to start the year. I don’t think we have that right now. I think the last few races, we’ve actually won a couple and all of our cars have been up in the front, so I think that part of it we’re gaining ground on. Everybody sets up their companies whatever way they want — this year being unique because we had the two cars, and you had to pay attention to that. And there’s a lot of things going on and you just have to line your time up and do the best you can. And, obviously, like I say, Jack decided not to take a 100-percent look at that car and leave it to the side a little bit — well, we paid the price a little bit at the end. So, we had to go put an R&D team together and put some things together and obviously in three months we turned that thing right around. So, I’m pretty impressed with our whole group doing that.”

DO YOU SEE YOUR NEW JOB AS BEING HIGHLY ADMINISTRATIVE, OR WILL YOU STILL GRAB A WRENCH AND JUMP RIGHT IN THERE? “I’m going to do it from the technical side way more than I’m going to do it from the administration side. The thing that you guys got to realize is one guy doesn’t run these companies. There are departments involved in these companies. When you start talking 400 or 500 employees, one guy doesn’t run this. I mean, we’ve got departments — all I’m going to do is pay attention to what we’re doing more globally and more from an outside look, and try to pay attention to what we’re doing and try to give it some structure from my vantage point, I guess. But when you sit down and really look at what all’s going on — you’ve got chassis departments, engine departments, body-hanging departments, travel department, truck-driving department, DOT, all of that stuff is built in this company. And then obviously there’s some administration role that we’ll have some help with. I won’t be doing that on a full-time basis. So, when you look at it like that, I’m just doing a job, just like cashier at the local grocery store gets moved up to a service manager. That’s kind of what I’m doing.”

WHAT ABOUT THE NEW CREW CHIEF FOR THE 17, CHIP BOLIN? WHAT’S HE LIKE? “Chip, he’s been a part of this team since we started. He’s a great guy. Very technical on the cars. Helped me a tremendous amount. I think we’ve helped each other, because when Chip came in, he was real young and just out school and didn’t really understand the cars, and we put them together and we built the team together and done a lot of things as group. Chip deserves this opportunity.”

WHAT ABOUT THE CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES REGARDING YATES RACING? “Yates Racing is separate from us. When it comes to your cars, we’ll be building them and working for them in a way to prepare their cars for them, but they’re a separate race team and a separate unit, and Max Jones is going to go over and do that, and they’ve got their own stuff to work on.”

WILL BE THERE BE ANY ECONOMIES OF SCALE OR PERFORMANCE ADVANTAGES IN BUILDING SIX OR SEVEN CARS INSTEAD OF FOUR OR FIVE CARS? “No question. The Car of Tomorrow has definitely put us in a position where we’re production-building some of the equipment. So, the way we go about manufacturing it, being it’s a larger number, will change how we will go about doing it.”

Robbie Reiser appointed GM at Roush Fenway Racing
November 15, 2007

Concord, N.C. — Roush Fenway Racing announced Thursday that championship crew chief Robbie Reiser has been appointed general manager of Roush Fenway Racing’s NASCAR Nextel Cup team operations.

“This is a great opportunity for me and I’m looking forward to the next phase of my racing career,” Reiser said. “If it’s anywhere near as fun, competitive, and successful as the previous phase, then we’re going to be in good shape. It wasn’t an easy decision to stop being the crew chief of the No. 17 team, but now I get to work with all of our Cup teams and help improve our performance as a whole. I’m looking forward to the new challenge.”

Reiser replaces Max Jones and steps into the GM role with well over 20 years of racing experience under his belt. The Allentown, Wis., native began as a driver, racing late models in the 1980s before getting in to the NASCAR Busch Series in 1995. As co-owner of Reiser Enterprises with his father, John, Robbie transitioned to crew chief in 1997 and hired fellow Wisconsin native Matt Kenseth to drive for him. Reiser, along with Kenseth, came to Roush Fenway Racing in 1999 and together have tallied 15 wins, 78 top fives, and 141 top-10 finishes in NASCAR’S Cup series, including winning rookie of the year honors in 2000 and the Cup championship in 2003.

“Max did a great job and we wish him well in his new role,” said Roush Fenway Racing’s co-owner, Jack Roush. “We are fortunate to have an experienced and talented replacement in Robbie Reiser. He’s a proven winner and I’m confident that he’ll continue to keep Roush Fenway Racing at the forefront of the industry.”

Roush Fenway Racing is expected to name other crew changes to the No. 17 Ford team in the upcoming weeks.

Homestead Busch & Cup Preview
November 14, 2007

Homestead-Miami Speedway • Homestead, Fla.
Ford 300 • Sat., Nov. 17 • 4 pm/e ESPN2
Ford 400 • Sun., Nov. 18 • 3 pm/e ABC

Nextel Cup — #17 DeWALT NANO Technology Ford Fusion
• Primary — RK-323 (Last outing, Atlanta, Oct. ’07, finished 4th; also won Michigan IN Aug. ’06, won Fontana in Feb. ’06, and finished sixth at Homestead one year ago)
• Backup — Backup: RK-340 (Last outing was Pocono, August ’07, finished 14th; also served as backup in 11 races in 2007)

Busch — #17 Dish Network Ford Fusion
• Primary — RK-360 (Last ran Texas, finished 5th)

 
Matt’s Cup Series summary at Homestead:

Date	S	F	Laps	Led	Reason
11/19/06	19	6	268/268	0	Running
11/20/05	17	3	267/267	0	Running
11/21/04	30	19	271/271	0	Running
11/16/03	37	43	28/267	0	Engine
11/16/02	13	40	223/267	0	Engine
11/11/01	21	27	266/267	0	Running
11/12/00	38	21	264/267	0	Running

 
Matt Kenseth Cup Series totals at Homestead:

	Races	Wins	Top 5s	Top 10s	Poles	Laps Led
Cumulative	7	0	1	2	0	0

Matt Kenseth Busch series summary at Homestead:

Date	S	F	Laps	Status
11/18/06	5	1	200/200	Running
11/19/05	22	36	155/200	Running
11/20/04	18	6	203/203	Running
11/15/03	25	38	171/200	Electrical
11/11/00	7	8	200/200	Running
11/13/99	17	38	174/200	Running
11/15/98	37	4	200/200	Running
11/09/97	22	6	200/200	Running

 
Matt Kenseth Busch Series totals at Homestead:

	Races	Wins	Top 5s	Top 10s	Poles
Cumulative	8	1	2	5	0

   
Matt Kenseth on racing at Homestead:

• Cup: “The racing a Homestead, ever since they reconfigured the track has been great. It has multiple grooves and you can really search around for the best line that suits the way your car is handling. It’s a very smooth racetrack and we’ve had some decent cars there the past couple of years.

“It’s the last race of the season and overall, I’d say ours has been pretty good. Of course, we would like to have won more races, but here lately we’ve been running really well. I’ve said this a lot but I believe the more times you can put yourself in position to win then eventually some things will start falling your way and you’ll win one. We’ve done that the past three weeks. We’ve been in position to where we were able to compete for the win, so hopefully we can do the same this weekend and end the year on a really good hot streak.

“Last year everything went right for us in the Chase and we just ran terrible; ours just couldn’t compete. This year we’ve run competitive, not as good as the 48, but pretty darn competitive where we could be in the hunt, but we had a lot of problems along the way. All in all, I’m proud of this team and looking forward to this weekend and trying to close the year out with a win.”

• Busch: “It’s been another good year in the Busch Series for us. Drew and the guys on the No. 17 team have given me great cars all season and have been a lot of fun to work with. We’ve been up front competing for the win multiple times this year, but seem to walk away with second place a little too much. Hopefully we can repeat what we did last year and pull off a win at Homestead.”

Crew Chief Robbie Reiser on racing at Homestead:

“This is the last race with the old car and we’re taking our best one down to Homestead. This chassis has been our work horse for the past two seasons and has been a really good car for us. It’s won a couple of races and come very close to winning a few more.

“We’ve been really close for the past three weeks now to getting a win. It seems like something happens at the end of each race to where we can’t quite get over the hump. We take four tires at Atlanta and then never run another green-flag lap. We take two tires at Texas and four tires came along and got us right there at the end. Then at Phoenix, we had a big lead and we get a debris caution, got caught in traffic and it just didn’t work out for us at the end.

“But, these guys have done one heck of a job the past four weeks, really throughout the whole Chase. Our performance has been the best it’s been all year during the Chase, we were just unfortunate to have some things go bad for us early on in the Chase, or else we’d be pretty close to contending for the championship. I’m proud of how this team stayed the course when so much went wrong, and we’ve been able to bounce back nicely because of their hard work and great attitude.”

Busch Series Crew Chief Drew Blickensderfer on racing at Homestead:

“This whole team has worked really hard this season putting together competitive cars for Matt. The season started off well, but now we seem to be coming in second a lot. We are all tired of settling for second and really want to go out there and win the final race of the season. Matt won this race a year ago and we are bringing a strong car, so let’s hope for the best and see what happens.”

Homestead Fast Facts

Matt Kenseth’s third-place finish at Phoenix International Raceway last Sunday marked his fourth straight top-five finish. The last time that happened was in the spring of 2006 from a third-place at Darlington in May, followed by a fifth at Charlotte, a win at Dover, and a fifth-place at Pocono in June.

Saying goodbye to the “old-style car” — In the final race before NASCAR switches completely to the COT in 2008, Matt Kenseth will run the No. 17 team’s favorite chassis, RK-323. Built in late 2005, RK-323 has recorded two wins (Fontana, Feb. ’06 and Michigan, Aug. ’06), eight top-fives, and 10 top-ten finishes in 16 starts.

Kenseth Chase history at Homestead:

					Points Position
	Start	Finish	Laps	Led	Entry	Exit
2006	19	6	268/268	0	2nd	2nd
2005	17	3	267/267	0	7th	7th
2004	30	19	271/271	0	9th	8th

Kenseth’s average finish during the Chase at Homestead is 9.3, ranking third among all Chase tracks.

For the fourth and final time in 2007, Kenseth’s No. 17 Ford Fusion will be painted black with the DEWALT NANO Technology paint scheme.

Thanks largely to two consecutive mechanical failures in 2002 and 2003, Matt Kenseth’s average finish of 22.7 at Homestead-Miami Speedway ranks 22nd out of 23 tracks (including Rockingham) where he’s raced during his Cup career, and last among all ovals tracks.

Matt Kenseth will race the No. 17 Dish Network Ford Fusion in the NASCAR Busch Series on Saturday. Kenseth has recorded one win and six top-10 finishes in nine starts in the Busch Series at HMS, and is the defending winner of the Ford 300.

Phoenix race recap

No. 17 DeWALT NANO TECHNOLOGY FORD FUSION RECAP
KENSETH’S HOT STREAK CONTINUES IN PHOENIX WITH THIRD-PLACE FINISH; UP TO SIXTH IN THE POINT STANDINGS

Matt Kenseth’s month-long streak of top-five finishes continued on Sunday in Phoenix. Kenseth, sporting the black DEWALT NANO Technology colors, took the lead via pit strategy on lap 139 and stubbornly held on to the lead for a race-high 93 laps. Kenseth came to pit road for what was planning to be the final stop of the day on lap 235 and exited first among cars who took four tires. Kenseth quickly took the lead and began to set sail, but a caution on lap 270 sent nearly everyone to pit road for tires. Kenseth emerged third behind two cars that stayed out on the track. But before Kenseth could dispense with the two cars in front of him and navigate through lapped traffic, eventual winner Jimmie Johnson snuck by and was able to pull away. Still, Kenseth held on for a third-place finish, his fourth consecutive top-five finish, and vaults four spots into sixth in the championship point standings with only one race remaining.

Warm, sunny skies greeted a capacity crowd of 105,000 as Carl Edwards led the field to the green flag for the start of the Checker Auto Parts 500 at 1:51 PM Mountain. Kenseth rolled off 18th and felt confident with the No. 17 Ford’s performance from the previous two days at the one-mile oval in the desert.

After an early pit stop with adjustments on lap 26, Kenseth restarted 16th and was poised to make his charge. By lap 58, Kenseth had cracked the top 10 and was looking for more. When the next caution flag flew on lap 87, Kenseth was in the seventh position and after a 13.31-second stop returned to the track in the sixth spot.

Kenseth had worked his way up to the fifth position when the caution flag flew on lap 108. Crew chief Robbie Reiser called Kenseth to pit road but many of the leaders chose to stay out. This left Kenseth returning to the track in the 17th position, but on fresh tires. With the new rubber, Kenseth wasted no time racing back inside the top 10.

When the caution flag waved again on lap 139, the cars that had yet to pit during that cycle of stops did so and turned the lead over to Kenseth in the process. Once the field restarted, Kenseth set sail, leading the next 49 laps until having to come to pit road under green on lap 188. Kenseth came to the pits with the lead, but because he was on a different pit cycle than some of the leaders, returned in the 30th position.

Fortunately, the race stayed green until everyone had cycled through pit stops and Kenseth was again out in front on lap 222. Kenseth remained there until a caution on lap 233 bunched the field and sent everyone to pit road. Entering with the lead, the “Killer Bees” turned out a 12.79-second, four-tires-and-fuel pit stop to get Kenseth out in front of all others who took four tires, and behind only one that elected to take two tires.

On the ensuing restart, Kenseth wasted no time dispensing with the leader and again setting sail. Kenseth’s lead had grown to nearly two seconds over the second-place car and the No. 17 DEWALT NANO Technologies Ford was pulling away. But a caution on lap 270 again slowed the action and sent several different pit strategies into play.

Two cars stayed on the track, but Kenseth led the rest of the lead-lap cars onto pit road for the final stop. Reiser made the call for two tires, which is what nearly everyone did, along with no adjustments. Kenseth beat everyone out of the pits and restarted third.

Taking the green on lap 275, just 37 laps from the finish, Kenseth worked to clear the two cars in front of him as well as several lapped cars in the process. While the leader had briefly pulled away, the fight for second was on between Kenseth and Johnson to see who could clear the lapped traffic first.

Using the lapped machine as a “pick,” Johnson maneuvered around Kenseth and into second, and was in clean air first, able to distance himself from the No. 17 machine. By the time the two passed the leader, Johnson had pulled ahead by nearly one second.

Kenseth fought hard to climb back to the No. 48’s bumper, but to no avail. Over the final 10 laps, Kenseth slipped back to third when teammate Greg Biffle came on strong at the end. Still, Kenseth crossed the finish line third, his fourth consecutive top-five finish and 12th top five of 2007. More importantly, Kenseth made a major jump in the championship point standings from 10th all the way up to sixth. Next week the circuit heads to the 2007 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

“I think overall it was a great run for us,” said Kenseth. “We got a great finish out of it. Obviously, I’m disappointed. We had a big lead there and there was so much debris out there we got that caution to get all of that cleaned up. I wish we could have run to the end, but yet even with that we still got lined back up and had a good pit stop and came out ahead of all the guys that got tires and I just couldn’t get it done. I just didn’t have enough grip on two tires and that one lapped car kind of got in my way and Jimmie snuck by there and once he snuck by it was over and I just couldn’t catch him.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS WHEN GUYS ARE OFF SEQUENCE DURING THE RACE?

“It’s kind of interesting when you’re the guy out there on the oldest tires and people are blowing by you, and then when you come and get new tires you catch them so fast and drive by them. It actually, in a way if it works out for you, it’s more fun because there are cars that are all kinds of different speed. These cars run so close to the same speed that when you get them on different tires, then you do a lot of passing and people are passing you a lot, so that makes it interesting. You have to pay a lot of attention, but we really got lucky the way it worked out. Robbie told me to pit, but then when everybody else was on the race track and we were on pit road he kind of wanted us to do what the leader did, so it actually worked out. We got lucky and that’s what got our track position and got us to lead all those laps and be up there, so we got fortunate. We had the track position. I thought all of the pit calls were right. We had great pit stops. We did everything right, we just got beat there at the end again.”

RACE SUMMARY
Matt Kenseth • Started 18th • Finished 3rd

POINTS SUMMARY
Race Total: 175 points
Season Total: 6103 points, Ranked 6th, 469 points behind first.

NEXT UP:
Ford 400 • Homestead-Miami Speedway • Homestead, Fla. • Sunday, November 18

Phoenix Busch & Cup Preview
November 8, 2007

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