Matt Kenseth Advance
One-mile Phoenix International Raceway
Avondale, Ariz.
Race Schedule
Friday, Apr. 20
NBS: Bashas' Supermarkets 200 - 9:30 PM Eastern - ESPN2/MRN
Saturday, Apr. 21
NNCS: Subway Fresh Fit 500 - 8:30 PM Eastern - FOX/MRN
FAST FACTS
Matt Kenseth’s second-place finish at Texas marked his 70th career top five and 125th career top-10 finish. In 263 career Cup starts, Kenseth has finished in the top five 26.6% of the time and finished in the top 10, 47.5% of the time.
Kenseth’s Busch Series win at Texas moves him into sixth on the all-time series’ win list with 23; one behind Jeff Burton and Tommy Houston.
Kenseth’s average finish of 8.3 is currently third best among drivers who have competed in all seven Cup events in 2007.
In the past six Cup races, Kenseth has picked up a total of 127 positions from where he started to where he finished, or an average of 21.1 spots per race.
Kenseth has completed every lap in Cup so far in 2007, one of only three drivers to do so (Jeff Gordon, Jeff Burton).
Despite notching a win in 2002 at PIR, Kenseth’s average finish at the track is just 19.9; which ranks 18th out of 23 tracks where he’s competed at in the Cup Series.
Kenseth will be racing the No. 17 iLevel Ford Fusion in the NASCAR Busch Series on Saturday. For his career, Kenseth has notched one win and six top-ten finishes in eight starts in the Busch Series at Phoenix. Kenseth’s first Busch Series pole and first Busch Series win at PIR came last November.
Matt Kenseth – NNCS Advance
Team: No. 17 DEWALT Ford Fusion
Crew Chief: Robbie Reiser
Chassis: RK-451 Last ran at Bristol in April, finished 11th
RK-457 Last ran at Martinsville in April, finished 10th
Kenseth on racing at Phoenix International Raceway:
“It’ll be interesting to see how much we’ve learned about the COT over the past month and we should find out something this weekend. It’s still a steep learning curve and I’m sure we’ll learn more this weekend, but I think we learned a lot at the Richmond test. Hopefully we can apply some of that knowledge with some of the things we learned at the tire test earlier this year in Phoenix and really show a lot of improvement over the first two COT races.
“I’ve always enjoyed racing at Phoenix, but it usually seems like we’re all or nothing. In the spring last year we ran really well and were able to get a top-three finish. But, in the fall, we weren’t able to compete. The car wasn’t near where it needed to be and we were lucky to hang on and finish where we did. Hopefully this weekend we can get our car where it needs to be and have a chance to compete for the win. Our guys on pit road have done an excellent job this season, so if we can get the car where it needs to be, we should be there at the end.”
Crew Chief Robbie Reiser on racing at Phoenix International Raceway:
“We’re bringing the same car we ran at Bristol. We took that car to the Richmond test two weeks ago and we’re pleased with what we learned. The Richmond test couldn’t have gone much better for us and hopefully we can translate that information into good things this weekend at Phoenix.
“The guys have been doing an outstanding job on pit road and there’s no reason that it shouldn’t continue. They’ve been gaining positions almost every time we pit whether we’re in 15th or fifth. They’ve really kept us in the game at some of these tracks, especially at Martinsville, they were the reason we stayed on the lead lap and came away with a top-10 finish. That’s the good part. The bad part is, we still haven’t got our COT program where it needs to be, but hopefully we can take a big step in the right direction this weekend.”
