8Ruling angers Kenseth
8Kenseth loses argument with NASCAR
8Kenseth continues to prosper despite 'his rule'
8Gordon, Stewart and Kenseth should rise to the top Sunday
8So far, so good for Kenseth in title defense
8Kenseth making noise: Points leader not just letting driving speak for him
8It's just a start: Taurus, Kenseth shining, but face a long season
8Matt McLaughlin’s Atlanta Race Recap
8Kenseth fights back from spin to put up a 6th-place finish
8Kenseth has the drive
8Kenseth shoots for three in a row
8Kenseth seeks 3 wins in row
8Kenseth breaks away from pack
8Kenseth puts polish on tarnished crown
8Kenseth’s quick start has his Cup critics eating dust
8Even with title, Kenseth has something to prove

DATE	START	FINISH	LAPS	MONEY	STATUS
03/26/00	22	12	500/500	$42,165	Running
08/26/00	22	39	376/500	$35,575	Overheating
03/25/01	24	14	500/500	$57,340	Running
08/25/01	38	33	394/500	$51,295	Accident
03/24/02	6	6	500/500	$74,760	Running
08/24/02	10	5	500/500	$98,375	Running
03/23/03	37	2	500/500	$118,870	Running
08/23/03	10	4	500/500	$122,905	Running

Matt Kenseth on Bristol Motor Speedway:

“I really like the track a lot because it is so much fun to drive. When you have a great handling car that allows you to stab the throttle and come off the corners, it makes for a fun afternoon. On the other hand, this is Bristol and you constantly have to be on your guard to stay out of trouble. We’ve had some great runs our last few races here at this track and I’d like to win one of them. This is a racetrack that every driver would like to get a win at.”

Robbie Reiser on Bristol Motor Speedway:

CONCORD, NC (March 22, 2004) — Matt Kenseth is slated to make a trip to the nation’s capital tomorrow to attend the 2004 March of Dimes Gourmet Gala. At the invitation of NASCAR, Kenseth and invited guests Jack Roush, Richard and Lynda Petty, and Mike Joy will all participate in festivities at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C.

Other honored guests attending the gala will be Senators Jon Kyl of Arizona and Congressman Robin Hayes of North Carolina. Dr. Jennifer L. Howse, the President and CEO of the March of Dimes, will be the keynote speaker with Mike Joy filling in as the emcee.

The gala is a dinner of sorts, with a cocktail reception and regional specialties of food. Just before the sit down dinner, Kenseth will sign a few autographs near the No. 17 DEWALT Tools Ford show car for dignitaries and large donors.

The next day, NASCAR representatives will make a breakfast presentation on Capitol Hill about stock car racing, its popularity, competitiveness, and its national appeal. A question and answer session will follow.

Kenseth will only appear at the evening festivities, as he will travel to Texas that same evening to attend a “Winner’s Circle” appearance on behalf of Texas Motor Speedway. Kenseth is slated to visit over a dozen television and radio outlets in Texas to promote the upcoming Samsung-Radio Shack 500 on April 4.

DARLINGTON, SC (March 21, 2004) — The history books will eventually show that this was not a day for the No. 17 DEWALT Tools Ford and driver Matt Kenseth. He wracked up a 31st place finish, four laps down to the leader after a series of strange events took place just past the halfway point of the race. What is known is that Matt Kenseth spun his car on lap 160 of the 293-lap event. He pitted several times to change both sets of tires and check for lasting damage, but it was NASCAR’s reaction to how Kenseth attempted to stay on the lead lap that led to a confusing one-lap penalty which ended the possibility of a good finish.

Kenseth rolled off the starting grid from the 15th spot. Before the team could get one solid green flag run in the first 100 laps, there had already been three separate caution periods. Kenseth was fighting a tight race car, but crew chief Robbie Reiser was going to work from up on top of the pit box, ordering air pressure changes to offset the handling troubles.

Pit road remained a friendly place for Kenseth throughout the day as the over-the-wall crew had consistent pit stops under 14 seconds. By lap 147, things were finally starting to break clear for the No. 17 DEWALT Tools Racing Team. It was then that he pitted for four new tires in 13.27-seconds. He went into the pits in 14th place, but came out ninth.

On the ensuing restart on lap 151, the car was too loose for Kenseth to push it in the opening laps of the run. Little did Kenseth know that he had a tire slowly going down on the right front of the car. As he entered turn one on lap 160 with the No. 21 of Ricky Rudd hot on his tail, Kenseth’s car seemed to shudder slightly before slipping out from under him. He made contact with the wall between turns one and two and slid down the banking to the apron. Ricky Craven was caught up in the accident as well, as he was hit from behind.

Kenseth righted the car and pointed it down the backstretch — and floored it. “We didn’t hit anything hard, but I’ve got flat tires,” he relayed to the crew as they sprung into action. “We have to change tires as fast as we can to stay on the lead lap,” shouted Kenseth as he came down pit road. And that’s where the trouble began. Crew chief Robbie Reiser wisely only changed left side tires and sent Kenseth back out on the track ahead of the pace car. One lap later on lap 163, he had Kenseth come down pit road to change right side tires. One more lap and he had Kenseth come down pit road to check for body damage and suspension misalignment.

Meanwhile, the pits had been closed, but the No. 17 team had decided that the penalty — starting at the tail end of the lead lap — was much better than losing a lap to the field. On lap 166 as the pits finally opened and the leaders came down, Kenseth stayed out on the track and led the lap. When the original lead lap cars exited the pits, they drove by Kenseth as if he were a lapped car. He gingerly moved out of line and slowly passed them back. Wrong move, according to NASCAR officials, who flagged Kenseth with a one-lap penalty for passing under the caution and “pulling up to pit.” Crew chief Robbie Reiser and Kenseth immediately protested the call, but to no avail. NASCAR informed the team that if Kenseth did not obey the ruling, he would have his scorecard pulled. With no option left and obviously wanting to complete the event, Kenseth pitted for the penalty as Reiser continued to argue for at least an explanation from NASCAR officials. None was ever given.

The race restarted again on lap 169 and Kenseth was shown in 29th. Unfortunately, his problems were not yet over for the day. Now down a couple of laps to the field, Kenseth began to feel a vibration on the right front tire. It forced him to pit on lap 207, where the crew discovered that a bolt had backed out of the spacer plate between the wheel and tire. It was a great catch by Kenseth, but it left the team another lap down to the field.

The No. 17 DEWALT Tools Ford could not make up any more laps by the end of the event and Kenseth brought the car home in 31st place. Despite the poor showing, Kenseth retained the point lead by 21 (743–722) over second place Dale Earnhardt Jr.

After the race, reporters caught up with Robbie Reiser, whose frustration clearly showed through in his post-race interview:

CAN YOU EXPLAIN HOW NASCAR RULED WHEN THEY PENALIZED MATT? “Don’t ask me what NASCAR rules. I don’t know. Obviously, they’ve got a different set of rules for every race and I guess I’ve just got to get a rulebook for every race. I don’t know what happened.”

WAS IT A CASE WHERE THEY SAID YOU PULLED UP TO PIT? “We never pitted, so pulling up to pit is a lame excuse for a lap penalty. I really don’t know what happened, so for me commenting on it probably isn’t right because I really don’t know the whole circumstance.”

DO YOU HAVE TO BECOME A NASCAR OFFICIAL? “I can’t comment on something I don’t know anything about really, to be honest with you. It seems like these days you need a rulebook for every racetrack we go to, but I don’t know what the rule was and I don’t really know what happened, so for me to comment on anything for what they called a penalty, I can’t give you a straight answer. But I can tell you this, the penalty for pulling up to pit — we didn’t pit. So whatever they want to tell us, I’m sure I’ll understand it after they get done with me.”

WHAT DID THEY SAY TO YOU ON PIT ROAD? “They didn’t explain anything to me. They didn’t know. They just told me I had a lap penalty and I had to accept it. Either that or they were going to pull my scorecard, so we accepted the penalty and went on.”

CONCORD, NC (March 17, 2004) — Once Matt Kenseth had finally locked up the 2003 Winston Cup Championship on a sunny November afternoon in Rockingham, the world got a little crazy for him. He was already pre-scheduled to partake in a nationwide media tour featuring his unbelievably consistent season, which produced one victory, 25 top-10 finishes and 11 top-five finishes in 36 point-paying starts. Congratulatory calls poured in. Kenseth would later note that the voicemail box on his cell phone filled up in the first hour following the checkered flag. And just one day after clinching the title, he was on the sidelines of Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin — cheering on his beloved Packers.

The weeks following the championship were rife with activity as well. There was the New York banquet week, which goes without saying was a busy time. It was just as things were calming down before the Christmas holiday that Matt got one memorable phone call from a Wisconsin-based company that is of a dear interest to him.

It was the headquarters of Harley-Davidson Motor Company. On the other end of the line was Ron Hutchinson, the Vice-President of Parts and Accessories. And he wanted to let Matt Kenseth know that in appreciation of him winning the Championship and being from Wisconsin, they were going to award him a special motorcycle. They only wanted one thing in return— for Matt to be present when they gave it to him.

Matt told them to name the place and time.

One of Kenseth’s greatest passions outside of NASCAR racing is riding motorcycles — and he only rides one brand, Harley-Davidson. He was quite taken aback by the offer. Based on Matt Kenseth’s busy off-season schedule, it took awhile to settle in on a presentation date. Finally, the two parties arranged to meet at an AHDRA Drag Bike event at the Gainesville Raceway in Gainesville, Florida on March 2. Matt was already on his way back from a Ford Racing ride and drive event at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

After landing in Gainesville, Matt was whisked to the track by Kevin Hintz, the Marketing Manager for Harley-Davidson’s Custom Vehicle Operations group. Once he arrived, the parties assembled in victory lane, adjacent to the starting line of the drag strip. There, under wraps, was Matt’s motorcycle. And with just a little fanfare for the hundreds of fans in attendance and some local media, Ron Hutchinson lifted the cover on a beautiful 2004 FXSTDSE2 Screamin’ Eagle Softail Deuce in Candy Cobalt and Starlight Black.

Hutchinson made the following remarks: “From one great Wisconsin winner to another, everyone at Harley-Davidson is proud to recognize Matt’s Kenseth’s Championship season,” he stated.

The Custom Vehicle Operations motorcycle is one of only 2400 made by Harley-Davidson this year. Additionally, Matt’s bike featured a hand painted No. 17 and Matt Kenseth’s signature on the oil tank. Matt grinned ear to ear as he accepted the keys to the thunderous applause. “This is one of the coolest things anyone has ever done for me,” Matt replied to the crowd. “I’m just happy I could win the championship for myself and obviously for those others in my home state that have cheered me on.”

After the presentation, Matt hung around and talked with the Harley-Davidson representatives and signed autographs for the race fans still in attendance. He had the bike shipped to Tilley’s Harley-Davidson dealership in Statesville, North Carolina and recently picked it up for his first test drive.

“It’s an awesome bike,” says Kenseth. “I’m glad it’s a Screamin’ Eagle Softail Deuce — it’s just what I wanted and it’s one of a kind,” he added.

Matt received the keys to this custom Harley-Davidson last week at the Gainesville Raceway Dragstrip in Gainesville, Fla. Harley-Davidson presented him with the bike for winning the 2003 Winston Cup Championship AND more importantly, being from Wisconsin (same as Harley-Davidson).

Matt Kenseth performance at Darlington Raceway

Matt Kenseth on Darlington:

Robbie Reiser on Darlington:

“We’re taking the same car we used last week as it’s been a pretty good piece for us. Matt likes the chassis so I had the guys turn the car around on a real quick timetable this week so we could use it two weeks in a row.”

Notes:

• Matt Kenseth finished sixth in last week’s Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It was his fourth straight top-10 finish in 2004.

• Matt Kenseth is once again the NASCAR NEXTEL point leader with an 82-point margin over second place Tony Stewart (673-591). He is the only driver to score four straight top-10’s in 2004.

• The No. 17 DEWALT Tools team will be bringing chassis #29 to Darlington. It was previously raced last week at Atlanta Motor Speedway to a sixth place finish.

• Kenseth has led the Nextel Cup point standings for 35 of the past 40 weeks.

• Kenseth has three top-10 finishes in nine starts at Darlington Raceway, including and eighth place finish in last year’s spring event.

Day of Redemption

HAMPTON, GA (March 14th, 2004) — Racing at the NEXTEL Cup Series level is as competitive as it gets and one mistake can cost you dearly. On Sunday, Matt Kenseth nearly had to find out. Kenseth overcame a spin on pit road that put him a lap down to the field, then narrowly missed out on a top-five finish in the Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Kenseth did, however, pick up his fourth straight top-10 finish of the 2004 season.

Kenseth rolled off the starting grid from the 30th spot, but rallied in an accustomed fashion as he picked up 23 spots in the first 34 laps. On lap 13, Kenseth passed three cars just coming out of the fourth turn. He complained that the car was tight, but that it had awesome power. By lap 42, however, the car began to backslide a little bit as the tires began to wear out. “I just used up the right front,” said Kenseth. After falling back to 10th, the No. 17 DEWALT Tools Ford came in for service on lap 56. As crew chief Robbie Reiser was calling for air pressure adjustments to the right side tires and a half a turn in the right rear, disaster struck. Kenseth’s car spun entering pit road in a tight circle as the brakes locked up underneath him. He quickly righted the car and dove into the pits, but adding to the misery, NASCAR penalized Kenseth for the mishap and implemented a “pass-through” penalty on pit road for the next lap.

When it was all said and done two laps later (lap 63) after the stop, Kenseth re-entered the race in the 35th position. He was bound and determined not to stay there. Once again, Kenseth went on a tear, picking up 10 spots in just 15 laps. He continued to work his way forward all the way to 19th place by the second pit stop of the day on lap 116. Kenseth called for four tires and no changes — a sure sign that the car was still performing. The crew got him out in 13.50 seconds.

Nine green flag laps later, another caution waved for debris. On the track, the No. 17 DEWALT Tools Ford was trying to take advantage of the “Lucky Dog” rule, which gives a lap back to the first car one lap down. It didn’t happen on the first caution. On lap 132, Kenseth restarted 17th, the third car one lap down. Six laps later, he was the second car one lap down. Five laps later, Kenseth became the first car one lap down to the field — thus, the “Lucky Dog” — if he could keep the position when the next caution flag waved.

Kenseth keyed the mike in the car and stated, “NASCAR, if you’re listening, there’s a hot dog wrapper in the groove in turn two.” Kenseth was obviously joking, but the caution did wave just five laps later on lap 148 as Rusty Wallace lost the transmission on his car and fluid leaked onto the racing surface. “OK, guys, we’re back in it,” said Kenseth. “I’m sorry about the deal before so let’s get after it and see what we can do here,” he added.

On lap 152 under caution, Kenseth pitted for four tires and another air pressure adjustment to the left side tires. 13.85 seconds later he was on his way. He restarted at the tail end of the longest line of cars, but officially listed in 17th place, the last car on the lead lap. Again, he didn’t stay there long. After moving up to 14th on lap 155, he narrowly missed a close call as the No. 77 car of Brendan Gaughan nicked the wall coming off of turn four just in front of Kenseth. He came down the track and missed Kenseth’s right front fender by a hair.

Kenseth complained that his car was too tight in the corners, but it didn’t stop him from advancing to 12th position on lap 181. On lap 213, the over-the-wall crew brought Kenseth in for service and another 13-second stop. He re-entered the race in 10th after picking up two positions on pit road. It was lap 216 of 325 and Kenseth was back in the top-10 running order.

Kenseth made it up to seventh place as the next caution flag waved on lap 246. After coming down pit road with the leaders, he exited after a 14.04-second stop in which the crew made air pressure adjustments to the right front, right rear and added wedge to loosen Matt up on the racetrack. He restarted the event in seventh on lap 251. “I’m still too tight around other cars,” said Matt, a bit bewildered that the changes didn’t help as much as they should have.

On lap 260, Matt Kenseth took over the sixth spot, returning full circle to the highest place he ran prior to the pit lane snafu. It had taken him 204 laps to atone for a split second mishap. As the tires wore out, the car began to push in the corner exits. The team did need to make one more fuel stop and did so for the final time on lap 298 — a 13.33-second stop and also the fastest of the day for the “Killer Bees”. Kenseth came back out on the track in fifth position on lap 304 — his first trip into the top-five all day, but it was a bit short lived. Fellow competitor and friend Ryan Newman re-passed Kenseth for the spot on lap 314. Kenseth held onto sixth place at the checkered flag, holding off teammate Greg Biffle in the process.

Afterwards, Kenseth remarked on his recovery efforts on the day.

“I’m happy with the overall result considering everything that went wrong. At the beginning of the race we had a lot better car than that and I messed it up. I feel bad about that, but even if we would have been in the front, we didn’t have better than a sixth-place car at the end. We were just really tight and no matter how much we adjusted, we just couldn’t get the car to turn the way we needed to. In the middle of the race the track got tight and we could never fix it.”

IT WAS A GOOD COMEBACK. “Yeah, it was a good comeback. I made a dumb mistake getting on pit road and we didn’t have a lot of cautions to come back from it, so, overall, I’m pretty happy with the result.”

With his sixth place effort on the day, Matt Kenseth and the No. 17 DEWALT Tools Ford retains an 82-point lead in the 2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup point standings (673-591) over second place Tony Stewart. Next week, the circuit heads to Darlington Raceway.

By Jeff Cheatham, Roush Racing

Matt Kenseth performance at Atlanta Motor Speedway

DATE	START	FINISH	LAPS	MONEY	STATUS
03/12/00	4	40	199/325	$32,700	Engine
11/10/00	23	9	324/325	$54,750	Running
03/11/01	38	37	273/325	$42,080	Engine
11/18/01	23	17	325/325	$63,275	Running
03/10/02	32	4	325/325	$91,700	Running
10/27/02	9	9	248/248*	$82,275	Running
03/09/03	24	4	325/325	$91,850	Running
10/28/03	37	11	325/325	$95,825	Running

“I’m excited about going to Atlanta this weekend. We’re running so good right now with all of the Roush components that I’m having the most fun I have ever had driving a race car in my life. I think we have a chance to continue the momentum that we’ve built over these last three weeks and hopefully continue to put ourselves into the right position for later in the season. It’s a long way to go and we’re only three weeks into it at this point, but it sure feels good to already have two victories in 2004.”

Robbie Reiser on Atlanta Motor Speedway:

“We’re taking a car we’ve used here in the past that’s performed real well for us. I think we can go out this weekend continue doing exactly what we’ve been doing for the past two weeks and keep capitalizing on our momentum. I’m real proud of the guys at the shop that build these cars and I’m real proud of the pit crew and how they’ve risen to the challenge over these last two weeks. Sure, we’re having some fun and this is what competitive racing is all about.”

• Matt Kenseth won last week’s UAW-Daimler Chrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It was his ninth career victory and it came in his 151st start. Kenseth led four times for 123 of the 267 laps. It was his second victory in a row in 2004 and his second in a row at LVMS.

• Matt Kenseth is once again the NASCAR NEXTEL point leader with an 88-point margin over second place Tony Stewart (523–435). He is the only driver to score three straight top-10’s in 2004 and he is one of two drivers to have led laps in all three events.

• The No. 17 DEWALT Tools team will be bringing chassis #27 to Atlanta. It was previously raced last year at this event and finished fourth.

• One year ago this weekend, Matt Kenseth assumed the Winston Cup point lead after a 4th place effort at Atlanta Motor Speedway and held it for a record setting 33 straight weeks.

CONTINGENCY AWARDS

EA Sports Move of the Race:
Matt Kenseth,#17, DeWalt Power Tools, Ford

Goodyear Gatorback Fastest Lap:
Matt Kenseth, #17, DeWalt Power Tools, Ford

MBNA Mid-race Leader: 
Matt Kenseth, #17, DeWalt Power Tools, Ford

Outback Steakhouse Bloomin' Favorite: 
Matt Kenseth, #17, DeWalt Power Tools, Ford

USG Driver of the Race:
Matt Kenseth, #17, DeWalt Power Tools, Ford

WIX Filters Lap Leader:
Matt Kenseth, #17, DeWalt Power Tools, Ford

Waste Management Picking Up Places: 
Matt Kenseth, #17, DeWalt Power Tools, Ford

Visit ThePits Online

LAS VEGAS, NV. (March 7, 2004) — New Year, same result. New week, same result. Matt Kenseth and the DEWALT Racing team won the UAW-Daimler Chrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in yet another dominating run on Sunday. Kenseth led four different times for a total of 123 of the 267 laps in the event. It was Kenseth’s second straight win of 2004 and his second straight victory at the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Rolling off the starting grid from the 25th spot, Kenseth began his customary march to the front. Complaining that the car was just a little bit tight, he nonetheless picked up position after position on the racetrack. He was 15th by lap 21 and cracked the top-10 by lap 33. On lap 38, the first caution flag waved for a blown engine in turn one. Crew Chief Robbie Reiser brought the No. 17 DEWALT Tools Ford in for a four-tire stop with an air pressure adjustment and a slight turn down on the track bar to free the car up. The “Killer Bees” pit crew performed the stop in just 14.07 seconds-eerie because it mirrored the exact time of their first pit stop two weeks ago during the Rockingham race, which they eventually won.

Kenseth restarted the race in eighth place on lap 45, but he didn’t stay there long. The car responded to the changes in spectacular fashion as Kenseth remarked, “This thing is stuck to the bottom and handling good.” Three laps later, he was in the top-five running order. By lap 64, he advanced to third place-a difference of 22 positions since the drop of the green flag.

After a lap 86 caution, Kenseth once again came down pit road and the crew changed four tires with no adjustments in 13.73 seconds. He came out of the pits in 2nd place for the restart on lap 92. Just three laps later, Kenseth showed the more than 150,000 people in attendance just who had the strongest car on the racetrack. Diving low onto the apron at the start/finish line, Kenseth passed then-leader Tony Stewart to assume the point for the first time all day. Fifteen laps later, he had stretched his lead to three seconds over the field.

Kenseth led the event at the halfway point on lap 134. He would continue to lead the event by several seconds until a pit stop on lap 168 in which Tony Stewart beat him off pit road. Though Kenseth restarted in second place on lap 172, he only need two corners to fly by Stewart on the outside and reclaim the lead.

On lap 184, Kenseth pitted after a caution, but there was a slight bit of trouble on the stop. Even though only an extra second was lost, Kenseth lost six positions leaving pit road and had to restart three deep on the outside on lap 192. Nobody on the team panicked and Kenseth put the hammer down when racing resumed. Kenseth remarked on the stop later in the day:

“If there was a time to have a bad one that was the time to get behind a little bit. It actually didn’t hurt us that bad because we actually adjusted on the car a little bit being behind. When we were in front we were perfect and when we were behind we needed to be a little freer and we were able to take care of that.”

He was back up to fifth just two laps later. Kenseth was running fourth on lap 200 when the caution flag waved again for debris on the frontstretch. The team pitted for four fresh tires and enough fuel to make it the rest of the way. On lap 206, Kenseth restarted in fourth place. Lap 209 and he picked up 3rd. Lap 221 and he had picked up second. Kevin Harvick was the race leader and Kenseth menacingly stalked him as the laps wound down. On lap 230, he ever so deftly slipped underneath Harvick at the start/finish line as the crowd roared its approval.

From that point on, he set sail, increasing his lead to several seconds over second place and hard-charging Kasey Kahne. For the second event in a row, the rookie Kahne would finish runner up to Matt Kenseth as the checkered flag flew on a perfect afternoon for the No. 17 DEWALT Tools Ford.

Matt Kenseth once again finds himself in familiar territory as the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point leader by an 88-point margin (523-435) over second place Tony Stewart.

After the race, Kenseth was positively upbeat as he was interviewed in Victory Lane about just how fun his afternoon was:

“It’s fun. We won only one race last year and have come out of the box this year. Robbie and Chip and everybody that figured out these cars over the winter when they built them under these new rules did a great job. My cars are really balanced. My engines are awesome with Jack and Robert’s deal that they put together with Ford Racing. It’s unbelievable. We’ve just got unbelievable equipment and an unbelievable team. It’s fun to drive.

“It’s pretty awesome. This is a race car driver’s dream come true to come out and win two in a row. It’s unbelievable to be able to have this good of a car and to be able to lead all those laps and kind of dominate the way we did the last two weeks is pretty cool. I just can’t wait to keep racing.”

After the Victory Lane celebration, Matt Kenseth proceeded to the Media Center, where he spoke at length about his day:

“It’s great to come to Vegas. You don’t always leave here a winner, so it’s fun to come here and leave a winner. We had a great car all day. Obviously, we started in the middle of the pack and made our way to the front pretty quick. The car handled really great. We had a really awesome engine. We got behind one time and was able to make it back up, so we just really had a dominant car. It was a lot of fun to drive. It was as good as the car we had at Rockingham the other week and it feels good to come out of the box this strong.”

LAST YEAR YOU GOT CRITICIZED FOR NOT WINNING ENOUGH AND NOW YOU’LL GET CRITICIZED FOR WINNING ALL OF THEM. “I learned something. I’m going to go home and watch the TV shows and see what some of the people said, but no matter what I learned it’s always something. We ran the race at Rockingham and it would be hard for anybody to argue that we didn’t have the dominant car and all you saw in the headlines was that the caution didn’t fall right. We weren’t on the lead lap and we shouldn’t have won and this and that. It’s always something, but I’d rather have them talking about us because we’re doing so good than the other way around I guess.”

HOW HARD DID YOU HAVE TO WORK AFTER THE ROUGH PIT STOP? “We had a great car. It’s really weird. At Rockingham and here we’ve had cars really, really fast on short runs. We’ve never had cars like that in my career. Usually we’re better on long runs. Today, we had a car that was unbelievably fast on short runs and it was still as fast as anybody on the end of a long run, so that was really weird. On new tires I knew I had to get it done right away. The car would stick so good the first 10 laps on tires that I could really make the moves and get around there. I could run just about as fast as I could in qualifying, so I still need to learn the qualifying thing.”

WAS IT HARD TO STAY PATIENT WHEN YOU WERE RUNNING 7TH? “That’s something I had to remind myself of somewhat. We’ve only run two open races, but with the shorter spoilers we have less drag and our engines run a fair amount better than they did last year. The tires are softer and wear out faster, so you’re going faster at the end of the straightaway and it’s really hard. You used to be able to drive way in there with the tire that you couldn’t hurt and a big spoiler and it’s hard to get yourself to lift early enough so you don’t abuse your tires and not drive in too hard. So that was something. I drove really, really hard until I got into the third (place) and then I drove really hard until I got to Tony. As soon as I passed Tony, my car was getting tight just even from being behind somebody a little bit. I was worried about hurting the right front and I ran hard for three or four laps to catch Kevin and then I could see Kevin was starting to struggle a little bit and his car was starting to slide a lot more. Then I just slowed down and tried to save my tires as much as I could because we still had 35 or 40 laps.”

WHAT IS THE SECRET FOR ROUSH HERE? “First and foremost, if there was one I wouldn’t tell you (laughing). Setups and rules and tires and aerodynamics and bodies change so much that there’s not four springs, four shocks and sway bar that we bring back here and run every time. I think Jack has had all of his success here because Mark Martin could adapt to new tracks really good. When he first came here he won right away. Jeff Burton can get through the corners really fast and is good at setting his cars up at places like this and won a couple of races right away. I just think over the winter — we’ve got good teams at Roush that have been really prepared and have come out of the box pretty strong. I don’t think there’s one thing that Jack knows that makes his cars all win here. I just think it’s a combination of the teams and all the people he has in place and how hard they work and how good they’re prepared throughout the winter to go out and do this.”

8Kenseth is master of not beating himself
8Matt Kenseth: A rare mix
8Kenseth to open shop
8Latest victory means plenty for Kenseth
8Kenseth proves he's no fluke
8Kenseth’s life at full throttle
8In defense of title
8Vindication
8Kenseth starts strong in defense of his championship
8Kenseth-Earnhardt rivalry has deep roots

DATE	START	FINISH	LAPS	MONEY	STATUS
03/04/01	22	17	266/267	$73,275	Running
03/05/00	21	14	148/148 (rain)	$76,785	Running
03/03/02	8	14	267/267	$88,875	Running
03/02/03	17	1	267/267	$365,875	Running

“Roush Racing really seems to have this place figured out. That was such a great victory for us last year. It was almost like the car drove itself because it had such good handling. It’s a lot of fun for a driver when your car is hooked up like that - kind of like last week at Rockingham. We have some pretty good momentum headed into this race. I think our team is hitting on all cylinders right now with the pit crew having such great stops and the cars performing so well. All I have to do is my part and that’s the fun part.”

“This is going to be our first race at one of the mile and a half tracks so it’ll be pretty important to see how we perform in practice right off the bat. I think we’ve got a whole winter’s worth of work tied up in how these types of tracks will treat us. I couldn’t be prouder of the guys on this team right now. We’ve got a great group of guys who are hungry to go out every week, lead laps and win races. We hope to defend our race win from last year and get to the top of the point standings.”

• Matt Kenseth won the Subway 400 at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham, N.C. It was his eighth career victory and it came in his 150th start. Kenseth won by .010-seconds over Kasey Kahne in the fourth closest NASCAR finish since electronic timing and scoring came about.

• Matt Kenseth is the defending champion of the Daimler-Chrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It was his lone victory in 2003.

• The No. 17 DEWALT Racing Team is bringing chassis No. 20, which won the race in Vegas last year. The backup is chassis 30 (new).

• The average time of the seven stops in the Subway 400 for the pit crew was an astounding 13.33 seconds per stop.

CONCORD, NC (March 2nd, 2004) — Roush Racing driver Matt Kenseth intends to give driving lessons to some PGA golfers. But these driving lessons will take place on the race track, not the freshly mowed greens. The driver of the No. 17 DEWALT Tools Ford is taking part in the 2004 Doral/PGA Ride and Drive for Ford Racing at the Homestead-Miami Speedway on Tuesday, March 2nd. Also participating on behalf of Ford Racing is teammate Kurt Busch and other Ford drivers Dale Jarrett and Elliott Sadler, as well as Craftsman Truck Series drivers Terry Cook and Rick Crawford.

“This is a pretty fun event,” said Kenseth. “I did this one last year and you get to take the golfers for rides around the track. Then, they climb in and drive some laps solo and you get to coach them. As far as appearances go, this is something I’d rather be doing.”

Some of the golfers appearing at the event are Mark Kuchar, Phil Mickelson and Mike Calcavecchia. The day is split into two groups, with one set of golfers arriving from Miami in the morning and another set participating in the afternoon session. Mark Kuchar set the fastest time among the golfers in the first session, with a top speed well over 140 miles per hour.

“I think he paid attention to what I was saying,” bragged Matt Kenseth. Kurt Busch cut in on the conversation: “Actually, I think he took most of my advice,” Busch said.

Either way, the Roush Racing duo has found a way to get extra practice time, even after an off-weekend. But, they have to be careful. According to NASCAR rules, neither driver can take more than 10 laps total. If they go over, it could count as an official test session!