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Little Trees 300 - Matt Kenseth Notes
Matt Kenseth / Visine Racing Pre-Race Notes LEADING THE WAY: Matt Kenseth is the defending champion of the Little Trees 300. The driver of the Visine Chevrolet won the October Busch Series race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., last year from the pole. Kenseth set a track qualifying record for a Busch Series race by turning a quick lap in 30.175 seconds at an average speed of 178.956 mph. In fact, Kenseth has started from the pole for this event the last two seasons. DID YOU KNOW?: Kenseth has been the leader at some point of the last seven Busch Series races at Lowe's Motor Speedway. He has led a total of 238 laps in those seven events. ONE MORE TIME FOR THE GREEN MACHINE: For a fourth and final time this season and second consecutive race, the No. 17 Visine Chevrolet will carry the green paint scheme featuring the Visine-A brand. The special paint scheme is based on the packaging from the Visine-A eye drops. Visine-A is an antihistamine/redness reliever eye drop that temporarily relieves itching and redness of the eye due to pollen, ragweed, grass, animal hair and dander. GREEN CAR WORKS FOR KENSETH: After finishing fourth last weekend at Kansas Speedway with the Visine-A paint scheme on board, Matt Kenseth dispelled the myth that green is bad luck. In fact, Kenseth's three events in the Visine-A car so far in 2001 have all resulted in top-five finishes. In addition to finishing fourth last week, he started from the pole at Texas Motor Speedway in March and grabbed fifth. Kenseth's other top-five finish in the "green machine" came at Lowe's Motor Speedway in May, when he claimed second-place honors. SO CLOSE IN MAY: A wild last-lap duel in the CarQuest Auto Parts 300 this past May at Lowe's Motor Speedway between Matt Kenseth and Jeff Green led to Kenseth capturing his sixth top-five mark of the 2001 NASCAR Busch Series season. The driver of the No. 17 Visine-A Chevrolet finished second to Green after banging door-to-door with him to the checkered flag. BACK IN THE TOP 10: Reiser Enterprises holds the 10th spot in the owners' points standings with 3,310 points through 28 NASCAR Busch Series events. In 2001, Matt Kenseth has earned 10 top-five finishes and one win, resulting in 2,605 points in 19 races. In eight races, Clay Rogers has accumulated 545 points for the Visine Racing team. Because road-course specialist Boris Said finished fourth in the Visine Chevrolet at Watkins Glen, Reiser gained an extra 160 points. REMAINING RACES: With just five races left on the 2001 schedule, Kenseth is slated to drive the Visine Chevrolet at Charlotte, Phoenix and Rockingham. His teammate, Clay Rogers, will compete in the other two races at Memphis and Miami. Matt Kenseth's Comments on LOWE's: "We tend to qualify well and race well at Charlotte. We've been in contention there a couple times and it was great to win there last fall from the pole. Qualifying well is a big advantage because you always expect to have long green flag runs, so you've got to stay with the lead pack. The track gets challenging in the corners. You get into one corner that is slippery and some of the other corners have lots of grip. It's tough to win at Charlotte, but my guys will give me a good car." CREW CHIEF RUSS STRUPP'S COMMENTS ON LOWE'S: "We're taking 'Chassis No. 3' to Charlotte again this weekend. It sat on the pole at Texas and practically won the race at Charlotte in May on the last lap. Fuel mileage will definitely play a factor this weekend. It played a big role last fall when we won. If (Joe) Nemechek doesn't run out of fuel, the outcome could have been different. We should have just as good of a shot at winning as anyone out there." LAST YEAR'S LITTLE TREES 300: Savvy pit strategy and a few ounces of fuel saved the day for the Visine Racing team, enabling Matt Kenseth to roll to his fourth victory of the 2000 season in the Visine Chevrolet. It was Kenseth's first NASCAR Busch Series win at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Last Race: Matt Kenseth recorded his 10th top-five finish of the 2001 NASCAR Busch Series season at Kansas Speedway last Saturday. A sold-out crowd watched the driver of the No. 17 Visine-A Chevrolet sprint from 11th at the start to claim a fourth-place mark in the Mr. Goodcents 300. Spending most of the race in the top 10, Kenseth was forced to make a green-flag pit stop on lap 132 that included pulling a left-rear spring rubber. That adjustment ate up time in the pits and dropped Kenseth from fifth to 11th when he returned to the track. He moved back up to the top five when the final caution of the race came out on lap 170. Kenseth took two tires and one can of fuel during the last caution, but he was unable to make a run at a win. The Visine Racing team finished fourth. Sponsor Notes: Partners on the Visine-A Chevrolet for the Little Trees 300 are Eckerd stores along with BenGay and Cortizone, products produced by Pfizer Consumer Health Care.
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