Martinsville Speedway, October 22-24, 2004
NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series: Subway 500, October 24
Matt Kenseth
Team: No. 17 DEWALT Ford Taurus
Owner: Jack Roush/Mark Martin
Crew Chief: Robbie Reiser
Chassis: MMR-22 (raced at Martinsville in the spring to an eighth place finish)
Matt Kenseth on racing at Martinsville Speedway:
“As far as the new surfacing, it's just like it was before they ground it. It's a little bit smoother, but it's just like Martinsville used to be before they ground the bottom groove. The fast way around is the bottom. You're going to see a race like you saw there a couple years ago, which I thought was OK. I mean, the bottom is the way to go and it's going to be very difficult to pass on the outside, but I still think a better handling car is going to be able to pass. Before you could run side-by-side, but you couldn't pass.”
Crew Chief Robbie Reiser on racing at Martinsville Speedway:
“We had a good test here—I think we ran something like 500 laps total. We used a couple of cars, but the older chassis actually performed better and responded to the changes the way we wanted, so we’re going with it for this event.”
Fast Facts
Matt Kenseth finished 11th at Lowe’s Motor Speedway one week ago. He has 16 top-10 finishes in 31 starts in 2004. Kenseth has now been inside the NASCAR Top-10 for 66 straight weeks—the longest active streak.
Kenseth has one top-five and three top-10’s at Martinsville Speedway.
Matt Kenseth tested at Martinsville Speedway earlier this spring and again on October 12th.
