Race 2 Win: NEXTEL Cup Series Race Notes

Nextel Cup Series

Pocono 500 - Matt Kenseth Notes

Matt Kenseth
2.5-Mile Pocono Raceway
Pocono, Pa.

Race Schedule
Sunday, Jun. 10
NNCS: Pocono 500 - 1:30 PM Eastern - TNT

FAST FACTS

Matt Kenseth is the only driver in the NEXTEL Cup Series that has completed every lap to this point in 2007, a total of 4,453.

Kenseth’s average finish in the NEXTEL Cup Series this season is 8.5, second only to Jeff Gordon.

Kenseth’s 8.5 average finish this year, makes 2007 tops among that category, so far. By comparison, Kenseth averaged a 9.8 finish in 2006 and a 10.2 finish in 2003, when he won the championship. For his career, Kenseth’s average finish is 14.7.

Pocono is one of 15 tracks (including North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham) where Kenseth has scored three or more top-five finishes in his career.

Kenseth has led only 26 laps in 14 races at Pocono, the lowest total number of laps led at any track where Kenseth has eight or more starts.

Kenseth will be one of the featured drivers this week on DirecTV’s HotPass.

Matt Kenseth – NNCS Advance
Team: No. 17 DEWALT Ford Fusion
Crew Chief: Robbie Reiser
Chassis: RK-317 Last ran at Texas, Apr. ’07, finished second
Won at Fontana, Feb. ’07,
Yet to finish worse than fourth in four races in 2007
RK-340 Tested Las Vegas, Jan. ‘07
Last ran: Pocono, Jun. ’06, finished fifth

Kenseth on racing at Pocono Raceway:
“Pocono is a very challenging track and one that we haven’t had too much success at. It’s definitely unique. The three different corners present a unique challenge that you aren’t going to find anywhere else except on a road course.

“We’re taking a car that’s had a lot of success this year and hopefully that will translate into a good finish this weekend. But, just because it’s ran good on mile-and-a-half tracks and at Fontana doesn’t really mean it’s going to be that good at Pocono. I hope so, but we’ll have to wait until Friday to see how good it’s going to be there.

“It’s a busy and short week this week, racing on Monday and then turning around and racing at Eldora on Wednesday night. We have a couple other things going on this week, so it’s going to be extremely busy, but Eldora should be a good time. It’ll be fun watching everybody race on dirt. I’m not too good at it, but I’ll be real curious to see how (Juan Pablo) Montoya does, since he’s probably never even seen a dirt track before Wednesday. That should be interesting.”

Crew Chief Robbie Reiser on racing at Pocono Raceway:
“The car we’re taking this week has been a good one for us this year. It actually ran Pocono last July, but didn’t do as good as we hoped. We think we’ve got some things figured out and hopefully we’ll have a better result this weekend. This is actually the car than ran a lot for us down the stretch in 2005.

“We’ve put ourselves in a pretty good spot in the points right now, but we’re only halfway to the Chase and can’t let off by any means. We’re still playing catch up a little with some of our cars, but we can see that we’re gaining on them. Hopefully we can keep this up, keep working hard and keep getting better as the season goes along.”