MATT KENSETH
Bristol Motor Speedway Food City 500 Advance
FAST FACTS
Matt Kenseth will make his 17th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start
at Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend in the Food City 500.
New Colors…Matt and the No. 17 team will sport the colors of
Dish Network this weekend. He is the second Roush Fenway Racing driver to race the red, black and white Dish Network paint scheme this year. Carl Edwards recently won back-to-back races in the Dish Network car. Greg Biffle will carry the colors later this season. The trio are dubbed the Dish Network All-Stars.
For the record… In his previous starts at BMS, Kenseth has
achieved seven top-five and nine top-10 finishes. He has completed 96.5% (or 7722 of 8004) of all laps attempted. Kenseth has led a total of 742 laps.
Rewind…Kenseth and crew made their trademark trek to the front
last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. After qualifying 38th and battling an ill-handling race car, Kenseth brought home an eighth-place finish in the Kobalt Tools 500.
Standings…With Kenseth’s impressive eighth-place finish last
week at Atlanta Motor Speedway, he gained four spots in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings. He is currently 12th, 195 points out of first place.
On the track… This weekend the No. 17 Dish Network team will be
unloading chassis No. RK-473. Kenseth led 192 laps in this car at Dover in September of 2007, before troubles under the hood relegated him to a 35th-place finish.
Matt Kenseth – NSCS ADVANCE
Team: No. 17 Dish Network Ford Fusion
Crew Chief: Chip Bolin
Chassis: RK-473; raced Dover in September 2007, started
10th, led 192 laps,
finished 35th. This car also tested Las Vegas and Fontana this year.
Back up: RK-475; raced Loudon (started 30; finished seventh) and
Phoenix (started 18;
finished third) last year
QUOTES
Kenseth on racing at Bristol Motor Speedway:
“Bristol is one of a kind and it’s one of my favorite places to race. Part of that is because of the success we’ve enjoyed there over the years. We raced the C.O.T. at Bristol for the first time last year and at that point there were a lot of unknown variables. We (Roush Fenway Racing) as a whole struggled some back then. But, over the last year, Chip (Bolin, crew chief) and the entire engineering department have made huge gains with the new car and I’m looking forward to this weekend. I know if we can get in enough practice time and find a good setup we’ll be fine this weekend.”
Crew Chief Chip Bolin on racing at Bristol Motor Speedway:
“We are bringing car No. RK-473. It’s an older car that we raced last year at Dover. Matt led almost half the race in that car, so I feel pretty confident that it’s a good piece. We’ve also tested the car a couple of times this year – in Vegas and Fontana and Matt was pleased with it.
“At Bristol you’ve got to be able to drive off the corners and not get wrecked. It’s a challenging track, but Matt’s had a lot of success there and he knows his way around the place well. I think if we can stay out of trouble, we should be fine this weekend.”
