New crew chief named for 2009
December 17, 2008

Roush Fenway Racing names Blickensderfer crew chief of No. 17 DEWALT Sprint Cup team
Bolin to return to post as No. 17 engineer

Roush Fenway Racing has named Drew Blickensderfer crew chief for Matt Kenseth’s No. 17 DEWALT Sprint Cup team for the upcoming 2009 season.

“We are really looking forward to Drew coming on board with the No. 17 DEWALT team,” said Kenseth. “Drew brings a great work ethic and high level of enthusiasm to our team. He has been waiting for the opportunity to become a crew chief in the Sprint Cup Series and I know he’ll make the most of it.

“I had the chance to work with Drew for a couple of years in the Nationwide Series and he is one of the hardest working guys in the garage. He has a passion for the sport, and I know he will be a great addition to our No. 17 team.”

Blickensderfer served the past three seasons as a crew chief in Roush Fenway’s highly successful Nationwide Series program. He helped guide Danny O’Quinn to a Raybestos Rookie title in 2006, before teaming with Kenseth in the Nationwide Series for the next year and a half.

The duo earned three victories in the series, before Blickensderfer moved over to Carl Edwards’ No. 60 team midway through the 2008 season. There, he helped guide the Edwards’ team to seven wins in their last 19 races and a second-place finish in the Nationwide Series point standings.

With the addition of Blickensderfer, Chip Bolin — who served as the crew chief on the No. 17 Sprint Cup team in 2008 — will return to his previous post as team engineer, where he was instrumental in helping guide the team to a Cup championship in 2003.

“Chip has been one of the biggest assets to this team since the beginning,” said Kenseth. “Both as an engineer and crew chief, he has been instrumental in our championship run in 2003 and our making the Chase every year since. We are looking forward to adding Drew to the mix and everyone on this No. 17 DEWALT team is committed to working together and to running up front next season.”

Running down a dream: Mount Zion's Blickensderfer becomes a crew chief on Nationwide circuit
 

Daytona Preview
November 11, 2008

Homestead-Miami Speedway • Homestead, Fla.
Ford 400 • Sunday, November 16 • 3 pm/e ABC

Sprint Cup Chassis — #17 DeWALT Ford Fusion
• RK-616 — Brand new.

   
Matt Kenseth’s Cup performance summary at Homestead:

Date	S	F	Laps	Led	Reason
11/18/07	4	1	267/267	214	Running
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 totals at Homestead:

Races	Wins	Top 5s	Top 10s	Laps Led	Poles
8	1	2	3	214	0

 
Matt Kenseth on racing at Homestead:

“Homestead is pretty cool. We were actually working on our Homestead stuff a few weeks ago and were trying to compare it to another track and you really can’t. It’s really unique with the way it’s built right now and the way the banking is and the elevation changes and all that stuff, so it’s pretty cool. They did a great job and spent the money and did the research and they weren’t scared to go out on a limb and build it like no other track. I think the racing is really exciting there. There are a lot of different lanes you can look for. It’s a lot of fun. It's the only track we have that's that big that is a true oval without the dogleg, and the backstretch being higher than the frontstretch, it makes all four corners a lot different, so it's a fun track I think the racing there is as good as anywhere now. I think all the drivers and teams and the fans, everybody loves going down there and it's a great event to have at the end of the year and to crown all the champions, so it's really unique.

“As the season comes to end, you can kind of sit back and reflect a little bit about things. And, I think with some of the changes with this car and changing our group around a little bit, I think it’s been a fairly successful season. We made the Chase, which, in turn, gave us a chance to at least run for a championship, so there’s that aspect of it. But there’s just one race left and we haven’t been to Victory Lane yet, so that’s very disappointing. We’re out of the championship hunt, which is very disappointing, but there are certain things that happen that are out of your control, and things that happen that are in your control you try to look at and try to fix and try to do better the next time, and just keep trying to improve. We’re always trying to improve and trying to get our cars better. We're always trying stuff, but we're not gonna try stuff that's gonna have a chance at dropping us out of races and taking us out of contention to win a race, or losing more points. We still want to finish as high as we possibly can in the points. We certainly want to get back to Victory Lane real bad and we're out there just trying to bring our best stuff and do the best we can.”

Sprint Cup Crew Chief Chip Bolin on racing at Homestead:

“These guys have done one heck of a job the past four weeks, really throughout the whole Chase. Their performance has improved all year and especially during the Chase, we were just unfortunate to have some things go bad for us early on in the Chase, otherwise 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.”

Homestead Fast Facts

Matt Kenseth will make his ninth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start at Homestead-Miami Speedway (HMS) this weekend in the Ford 400.

For the record… In eight starts at HMS, Kenseth has posted one win, two top-five and three top-10 finishes. Kenseth has completed 1854 of 2141 (86.6%) laps attempted at HMS.

Kenseth has led a total of 214 laps at Homestead, all of which he led last year en route to victory in the Ford 400. The win was Kenseth’s first at HMS and marked the final time the “old” cars were ever raced.

Rewind PHOENIX… After enjoying three consecutive top-10 finishes, Matt Kenseth and the No. 17 DEWALT Ford Fusion team were looking forward to the race at Phoenix International Raceway. However, Kenseth and crew would be none-too excited for what Sunday’s O’Reilly Checker’s Auto Parts 500 would have in store for them. After relatively successful practice sessions, Kenseth and the No. 17 team were hopeful heading into Sunday’s 312-lap event, although a less than stellar 34th-place starting position would have Kenseth starting near the rear of the pack. During Sunday’s second-to-last NASCAR Sprint Cup race, the No. 17 team came face-to-face with trouble in the form of just about anything from handling issues, to a flat tire, and even a late-race accident. After spending much of the race a lap down to the leader, Kenseth earned the Lucky Dog Award on lap 284 and by day’s end; the No. 17 DEWALT team had pulled off a 15th-place finish.

In the LOOP… According to NASCAR’s Loop Data acquired over the past three Ford 400’s, Kenseth ranks first in average finish (3.3), laps led (214), and points obtained (510). He has a driver rating of 115.6, second best.

The Chase is on… Heading into the Ford 400, Kenseth remains in eighth place in the Chase standings, 470 points behind the leader, Jimmie Johnson.

On the track… The No. 17 DEWALT team will be unloading RK-616 this weekend at Homestead. This is a brand new Ford Fusion.