Kenseth Poised to Wrap Up Raybestos Rookie of the Year

HUNTERSVILLE, NC - Matt Kenseth is in the drivers seat. Not just in the seat of his No. 17 DEWALT Taurus, but he is in the drivers seat on his way to capturing the coveted Raybestos Rookie of the Year award in the Winston Cup Series.

Kenseth has held a convincing lead for most of the season after he wrestled the lead away from rookie rival Dale Earnhardt Jr., following the first race at Talladega in April. Since then, he hasn't looked back as he has extended his lead to a season high of 28 points over Earnhardt Jr.

Regardless of the outcome of the final race of the season at Atlanta, Kenseth is poised to collect top rookie honors with a 278 to 250 lead over Earnhardt Jr.

"Winning the rookie of the year was one of our goals as we put this team together last year in August," Kenseth said. "It wasn't our primary goal, however. We set out this year to try to become a consistent race team and get better as the season goes on. We tried to get better the second time around for the tracks that we visited twice. I think, for the most part, we accomplished those goals, but I'm still not satisfied. We're going to continue to work at Atlanta and into next season on our consistency."

Some of the '00 highlights are obvious, like Kenseth's first career victory in Winston Cup when he held off Bobby Labonte at the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte in May. His second-place finish the week after the 600, at Dover, and his dominant performance at California Speedway in March were nearly as impressive.

But some of the more subtle ways in which Kenseth has solidified his place as top rookie has been through his statistics. Kenseth has dominated the weekly rookie of the race award, which is awarded to the top-finishing rookie after every race. The Cambridge, Wis.-native has finished highest among the rookies in 16 of the 33 points races, with Earnhardt Jr. coming in second with eight.

Kenseth leads all rookies with an average finish of 19.7 compared to 20.8 for Earnhardt Jr. He is first in the points among the rookies in 14th place compared to Earnhardt Jr. in 16th. He leads virtually all other rookie statistical categories other than number of wins (Earnhardt Jr. has two) and average starting position.

"It's been a good year," Kenseth said. "In a lot of ways the year has exceeded our expectations. We weren't sure we were going to win, and we were close to getting two if things would've gone our way at Fontana. But in a lot of ways, it's been about what we expected. We had some good runs and some not-so-good runs. We're never quite satisfied because once you're satisfied, you stop getting better. We're proud of our performance in the rookie of the year, and if we end up winning it, I'll be happy to stand up and accept the award on behalf of this DEWALT team."