Kenseth Aims for the Season Sweep at Bristol

BRISTOL, Tenn. (Aug. 22) - Matt Kenseth will attempt a season sweep for the Visine Racing team at Bristol Motor Speedway Friday night. Kenseth will contend for the win at Bristol for the second time this season in the same car that led him to the checkered flag in March.

The path to victory lane for Kenseth this time will be much more difficult. While he started from the outside pole position in March, Kenseth will not have that luxury Friday night.

"The team will be pulling together with Matt having a prior commitment to his Winston Cup sponsor at the same time as qualifying," team co-owner John Reiser said. "We want to put our best foot forward. Clay is helping us in every way possible to make that happen."

Due to Kenseth's schedule, teammate Clay Rogers will qualify the No. 17 Visine Chevrolet Thursday afternoon. NASCAR mandates that Kenseth start from the rear of the field since he will not qualify the car.

No one has ever won a Busch Series race at Bristol from the 43rd position. In fact, the furthest back any Busch Series driver has started to claim victory at Bristol is 28th by Steve Grissom in August 1995. In 1995, Steve Grissom also won the first stop at Bristol that year. He was the only Busch Series driver to pull off the season sweep at the .533-mile bullring.

Kenseth will try to better that feat by taking the green flag from the last position and win the race, five months after dominating the final 48 laps of the Cheez-It 250. That same weekend, Elliott Sadler hoisted the winner's trophy in the Winston Cup Series race after starting 38th.

Kenseth has 12 victories in NASCAR Busch Series competition. In addition to winning at Bristol earlier this season, he also won the Food City 250 at Bristol in 1999.

TNT will broadcast the Food City 250 live Friday at 8 p.m. EDT. The Motor Racing Network (MRN) will produce the live radio broadcast.