Matt Kenseth
1.5-mile Kansas Speedway
Kansas City, Kan.
Race Schedule
Sunday, Sept. 30
NNCS: LifeLock 400 - 1:00 PM Eastern - ABC/MRN
Saturday, Sept. 29
NBS: Yellow Transportation 300 - 3:30 PM Eastern - ESPN2/MRN
FAST FACTS
Jack Roush scored his 100th career Cup victory at Dover on Sunday. Matt Kenseth has contributed 15 of those victories, his first coming in May 2000 in the Coca-Cola 600. Kenseth also brought Roush his first Cup Championship in 2003.
Dover heartbreak – For the second year straight, Dover has been unkind to Kenseth during the Chase. On Sunday, Kenseth dominated, leading 192 laps until a mechanical failure ended his day just 26 laps from the finish. In 2006, Kenseth again dominated, leading 215 laps before running out of fuel with two laps to go.
Kenseth scored the third pole of his Cup career at Kansas in 2005. It is the only “Chase track” where Kenseth has recorded a pole.
Kenseth has an average start of 8.0 at Kansas Speedway during the Chase; tops among all tracks during the Chase.
Kenseth’s average finish during the Chase at Kansas Speedway is 11.6; ranking fifth among tracks during the Chase.
Matt Kenseth – NNCS Advance
Team: No. 17 DEWALT Ford Fusion
Crew Chief: Robbie Reiser
Chassis: RK-323 Last outing: Michigan, Aug. ’07 – finished fourth
Also: Won Michigan, Aug. ’06; Won Fontana, Feb. ‘06
RK-340 Last outing: Pocono, August ’07 – finished 14th
Also: Served as backup in seven races in 2007
Kenseth on racing at Kansas Speedway:
“Dover was a big disappointment for sure, considering we had a car capable of winning and ended up with nothing to show for it. But, I can’t help but look at the positives from that race. That’s the first time all year that we’ve been able to compete for a win in the Car of Tomorrow. We ran really well and just had a problem at the end that we really couldn’t do anything about. So, instead of getting down and thinking about what could’ve been, I feel like we’ve finally got some promise in these COT cars and I think we should be able to compete now. Carl (Edwards) won, Greg (Biffle) finished second, and Jamie (McMurray) finished top 10, so obviously Roush as a team is making a lot of improvement with these cars.
“We’ll be at Kansas this weekend with another shot at an intermediate track with the ‘old’ car. This kind of track has been good for us in the past and Kansas is a lot like Chicago, and we’ve been very competitive there the past two years. We’re taking the same car that’s run at Chicago the last two times there and it’s been a car we’ve ran at a lot of intermediate tracks, so hopefully it will be just as competitive this weekend and we’ll be able to bounce back with a strong finish.”
Crew Chief Robbie Reiser on racing at Kansas Speedway:
“We’re back to the ‘old’ car this week and we’re bringing our favorite car to the track. This car has run well the last two times out at Michigan and Chicago and there’s no reason to think it won’t be able to compete this weekend.
“Our results may not have shown it, but our performance has picked up lately. The pit crew was back to form at Dover and they did a great job for us all day on pit road. Even when we lost the lead on the track they put us back in front on the final two stops. Their performance and our car’s performance were both promising signs last week and we can’t afford to get down just because we had something go wrong at the end of the race. It was, without a doubt, our best all around performance in the COT car and it couldn’t have came at a better time. But that race is over and it’s on to Kansas where we’ve had some pretty good cars over the years. We need to build on our performance last weekend, how well we ran during the race, and just keep that going now.”
