Matt Kenseth
One-mile Dover International Speedway
Dover, DE
Race Schedule
Sunday, Sept. 23
NNCS: Dover 400 - 12:30 PM Eastern - ABC/MRN
Saturday, Sept. 22
NBS: Dover 200 - 2:30 PM Eastern - ESPN2/MRN
FAST FACTS
Matt Kenseth is one of two drivers to have made the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup in all four seasons (Jimmie Johnson is the other). Robbie Reiser is one of three crew chiefs to have made the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup in all four seasons (Chad Knaus and Pat Tryson).
Dover holds Kenseth’s highest average start in Chase races of 7.3, and his combined 273 laps led are the most laps he has led at any track during the Chase.
Kenseth made his Cup debut in Dover at this race in September of 1998 at the age of 26. He substituted for Bill Elliott that day and drove to a sixth-place finish.
Kenseth scored the first pole of his Cup career at Dover in June of 2002, one of only three (Kansas and Bristol, both in ‘05).
Kenseth’s first Cup victory at Dover came last June in the Neighborhood Excellence 400.
In addition to his Cup victory, Kenseth also boasts two NASCAR Busch Series wins at Dover, his first coming in September of 1998, the day before his first Cup start, and the second in September of 2000.
Kenseth has led 662 laps in his NBS career at Dover, the most all time in the Busch Series. His eight top-five finishes at Dover is also tops among all NBS drivers, past or present.
This weekend, the No. 17 Ford Fusion will be painted black and carrying the DEWALT NANO Technology logo. NANO Technology is a proprietary technology from DEWALT that delivers to the user longer cycle life, lighter weight, greater performance, and an expanded system of tool offerings
Matt Kenseth – NNCS Advance
Team: No. 17 DEWALT NANO Technology Ford Fusion
Crew Chief: Robbie Reiser
Chassis: RK-473 Last outing: Bristol, Aug. ’07 – finished 39th after lap 452 wreck
Also: Darlington, May ’07 – led 29 laps before finishing seventh
Dover, Jun. ’07 – finished fifth
RK-457 Last outing: Martinsville, Apr. ’07 – finished 10th
Kenseth on racing at Dover International Speedway:
“Dover is probably my favorite track for a lot of different reasons. My first Cup race was there, plus we’ve won a couple times there in the Busch Series, then we got our first Cup win there last year, so we’ve had a lot of good times at Dover. The track is so fast and challenging. It’s unique because of the way you drive up out of the turns. The turns set a bit lower than the straight-a-ways and you can feel it when you’re driving out there.
“It seems every time we go to Dover its feast or famine. We had really good cars both times there last year and nearly swept. This year, we weren’t as good as we had been, but I’m hoping a lot of that was because we were a little behind on the COT setup. I know the last two weeks at Richmond and Loudon, we ran completely different setups than we did the first time we went to those tracks, and as a result we were a good bit more competitive. I’m hoping for the same this weekend and I really don’t see why that can’t be the case.
“Loudon was a good start to the Chase. Sure, we would’ve liked to have finished better, but considering where we started, and just how hard track position was to come by, we did pretty good. Dover is a good place for us. There have been times we’ve had problems there but it usually isn’t with the car. Hopefully, we’re able to compete a little bit better this weekend and make up some ground.”
Crew Chief Robbie Reiser on racing at Dover International Speedway:
“We’ve had some success at Dover in the past, but we’ve also had our share of heartache too. The car we’re taking is the same one that we took to Dover in June and a lot has changed with our approach since then. Hopefully we’ve gone a long ways in the right direction and we’ll have a shot at this thing on Sunday.
“I felt like Sunday at Loudon was a good step for us. It was a solid day on pit road and we were able to make the car better all race. If the race was a little bit longer, then we might could've gotten a top five, but there’s nothing we can do about that now. We’ll just take what we learned, move on and hopefully compete for the win at Dover. With this team, it’s always been ‘one race at a time’ and that approach won’t change now.”
