|
Kansas
Sprint Cup recap
September 28, 2008
No. 17
DeWALT FORD FUSION RECAP:
KENSETH AND DEWALT TEAM SHOW STRENGTH UNDER
PRESSURE AT KANSAS
Second-Place Finish Improves Kenseth’s Chase Standing to 10th
|
Race Summary
Start: 3rd
27 to go: 5th
Finish: 5th
High: 1st
Low: 31st
Fastest Laps: 15
Laps in top 15: 216
Led: 49
Laps: 267/267
Status: Running
Points: 160*5
Earnings: $164,866
Points Summary
Races: 29 of 36
Points:
5383
Ranked: 9th
-192 from leader |
T here are people
who, when faced with trouble or adversity, will throw in the towel —
just quit. Then there are those who will never give up, never lose
their heads, and make the most of a bad situation. In Sunday’s
Camping World 400 at the Kansas Speedway, the latter described Matt
Kenseth and the No. 17 DEWALT Ford Fusion team. In a rollercoaster
of a day filled with highs and lows, Kenseth and company overcame
many obstacles en route to a fifth-place finish.
After securing a season-best third-place qualifying effort and
turning fast times during the weekend’s practice sessions, it looked
as though the DEWALT team would be serious contenders in Sunday’s
267-lap event. However, a mishap in the pits and an incident on the
track set the No. 17 team back. In spite of the problems, the
determined DEWALT team forged ahead and succeeded in the end.
“We just got behind in the pits and then I spun out that one time
— I don’t know if that was my fault or what really happened to be
honest with you there,” Kenseth said. “There was just too much
ground to make up. It’s just hard to get back in the front, harder
than it’s ever been, and to come back through and get fifth is a
pretty big accomplishment, I think.”
Pole winner Jimmie Johnson led the 43-car field to the green flag
on a warm and sunny Kansas City afternoon and Kenseth followed close
behind in third place. By lap 17, the No. 17 was the leader of the
pack and would remain in first position until lap 42 when he was
passed by the No. 1 of Martin Truex Jr. Kenseth reported to crew
chief Chip Bolin that his DEWALT Ford was “a little too loose on
exit, but overall okay,” and entered pit road for the first time
under green flag conditions on lap 50. After the Killer Bees bolted
on four tires, filled the No. 17 with fuel and made a wedge
adjustment to resolve the handling problems, Kenseth returned to the
track as the race leader.
From lap 53 to lap 74, Kenseth enjoyed a three-second lead over
second place, but caution fell and Kenseth’s fate soon took a turn
for the worse. In a scheduled, routine pit stop for four tires and
fuel, the jack was dropped before all lug nuts were secured. Kenseth
exited the pits on lap 77 in first place, only to have to return on
lap 78 to properly bolt on the tires. When green flag racing
commenced on lap 79, Kenseth was scored in 25th position.
Kenseth worked his way up to ninth place by lap 122 when again
trouble found the No. 17 team. On a restart, Kenseth’s Ford was
tagged from behind by another competitor and went spinning across
the track. Kenseth, being the driving machine that he is, avoided
making contact with any of the charging cars and came out of the
incident with just flat tires. After pitting for new tires, Kenseth
rejoined the race on lap 126 in 29th place.
Down, but certainly not out, Kenseth again began his charge to
the front and by lap 200 was running in ninth position. He made a
final trip down pit road on lap 217 for four tires and fuel only.
After the 12.3–second pit stop, Kenseth was scored in sixth place
and set to race for the checkers. In the final 45 laps, lapped
traffic hindered Kenseth’s trek to the lead and he would ultimately
finish fifth.
A sellout crowd stood cheering as hard-driving Carl Edwards made
a last lap attempt to pass the race leader, Jimmie Johnson.
Unfortunately, Roush Fenway Racing’s Edwards ran out of track before
running into the wall. Edwards struggled to maintain control and
watched Johnson go back by him for the victory at Kansas Speedway.
Fellow Roush Fenway Racing teammate Greg Biffle made a last-lap pass
of Jeff Gordon for third position. Kenseth rounded out the top five.
“We have made a lot of improvements over the last two races,”
said Kenseth. “But you know I really think we probably would’ve
gotten the most points for leading the most laps today had we not
had the issues we had. I’m not sure; I think we would’ve run in the
top three. With 10 races to go in the Chase and being so far behind
from New Hampshire, you just can’t afford to have any mistakes.
We’ll just move on from here and dig hard next week, and try to get
’em again.”
Three races in the Chase for the Sprint Cup are complete and
Kenseth is currently ranked ninth in the point standings with 5383
points — 192 points behind the leader, Jimmie Johnson.
NEXT UP:
AMP Energy 500 •
Talladega Superspeedway, Talladega, Ala. • Sunday, October 5
Kansas
post-race quotes
September 28, 2008
MATT KENSETH — No. 17 DeWALT Ford Fusion — Finished 5th
“We just got behind in the pits and then I spun out that one time
– I don’t know if that was my fault or what really happened to be
honest with you there. There was just too much ground to make up.
It’s just hard to get back in the front, harder than it’s ever been,
and to come back through and get fifth is a pretty big
accomplishment, I think.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE TWO STRAIGHT SOLID FINISHES AFTER WHAT
HAPPENED AT NEW HAMPSHIRE TO START THE CHASE?
“We have, but you know I really think we probably would’ve
gotten the most points for leading the most laps. I don’t know, I
think we would’ve ran in the top three. With 10 races to go and
being so far behind from New Hampshire, you just can’t afford to
have any mistakes. We’ll just move on from here and dig hard next
week, and try to get ’em again.”
Kansas
Nationwide recap
September 27, 2008
KENSETH AND No. 17 ARBY’S TEAM CAPTURE TOP-FIVE
FINISH AT KANSAS
|
Race Summary
Start: 6th
Finish: 5th
High: 1st
Low: 26th
Fastest Laps: 15
Laps in top 15: 199
Laps: 200/200
Status: Running
Points: 160*5
Earnings: $33,400
|
Matt
Kenseth and the No. 17 Arby’s team made their final NASCAR
Nationwide Series start of 2008 in Saturday’s Kansas Lottery 300 at
the Kansas Speedway. With hopes of winning free fries for everyone,
the Arby’s team, led by crew chief Pierre (P.K.) Kuettel, set out to
give Kenseth a winning Ford Fusion. Though Kenseth was able to turn
in some impressive stats in the race — qualifying sixth, spending a
race-high 199 of 200 laps in the top 15, turning 15 of the race’s
fastest laps, and spending the majority of the 200-lap event in the
top five — Kenseth battled the tight handling conditions of the No.
17 most of the race and ultimately finished fifth.
Kevin Harvick led the 43-car field to green on a warm, sunny
Kansas afternoon. Kenseth rolled off sixth and had worked his was up
to fourth place by the race’s first caution on lap 14. Reporting
that the No. 17 was “way too tight,” Kenseth and Kuettel began
formulating a plan to remedy the handling problems. When caution
waved for the second time on lap 28, Kenseth in third place made his
way to pit road to put their plan into action. The Arby’s crew
quickly removed a spring rubber, bolted on four fresh tires and
inserted fuel into the No. 17 and Kenseth exited pit road. Green
flag racing resumed on lap 33 and Kenseth was scored in 10th place,
as not all competitors opted to pit under the caution period.
Within five laps Kenseth was running fifth and would maintain a
top-five position throughout the next 115 laps and two pit cycles,
despite continuing to report an ill-handling No. 17. On lap 151,
under caution, Kenseth made his way to pit road for a final attempt
to correct the handling issues of the Arby’s Ford. Wedge, track bar
and air pressure adjustments were made. Four sticker tires were
secured and the No. 17 was topped off with fuel. Kenseth took the
green flag for the final time on lap 164 in second place.
Battling with lapped traffic, Kenseth worked to reel in the led
car of Denny Hamlin. However, a long green flag run made the tight
handling conditions of the No. 17 worse and Kenseth fell back to
fifth place. Hamlin led the final 36 laps of the race and in front
of an estimated crowd of 80,000 captured his ninth NASCAR Nationwide
Series win. Clint Bowyer finished second. Roush Fenway Racing
teammates, David Ragan and Carl Edwards finished third and fourth
respectively and Kenseth completed the top five.
“Well, the finish was all right,” Kenseth said following the
Kansas Lottery 300. “It’s about what I thought it would be. We
qualified, I thought, better than our car was and we raced about
like we were yesterday. We just could never quite get it right all
weekend. We just had one problem, that we kind of worked on, in the
middle of the corner, we just could never get the left-front down
and turn it good enough. So, we just fought that all day. It got
tight on the long runs and we tried kind of a Hail Mary adjustment
there and it made it worse, it made it tighter, and I just couldn’t
hang on. A bit disappointing for the Arby’s team in our last race of
2008.”
Kansas
Ford Friday interview
September 26, 2008
MATT KENSETH — No. 17 DeWALT Ford Fusion
DID THAT SECOND-PLACE FINISH AT DOVER HELP GET YOU BACK INTO
CONTENTION?
“Yeah, we needed a good finish. Obviously, I don’t want to say
out of it, but we got a big blow at Loudon, obviously, so we just
need to start doing what we did last week: lead laps and try to be
in contention.”
DO YOU FEEL LIKE ROUSH FENWAY RACING RIGHT NOW IS THE BEST TEAM
GOING? EVERYTHING SEEMS TO BE GOING WELL FOR ALL OF THE TEAMS.
“We’re two weeks into the deal, and there’s good tracks and
there’s bad tracks for individual drivers, for organizations,
whatever, and it seems like our organization with this car has been
really good at Dover and the mile-and-a-halves with higher-banked
tracks. We struggled at the flat tracks. But, yeah, it feels like
it, because Greg and Carl ran so good at Loudon and that’s usually
been a bad track for us. So, it feels like it’s going better.”
THIS IS ONE OF ONLY TWO TRACKS LEFT WHERE YOU HAVEN’T RUN THE NEW
CAR. HOW DO YOU THINK IT WILL WORK OUT? DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE ENOUGH
NOTES FROM CHICAGO AND SIMILAR TRACKS?
“Yeah, we’ve raced it everywhere else, Chicago, we’ve done a lot
of testing of tracks like that, so I don’t think it’s going to be a
big deal.”
BECAUSE OF THE RACING AND THE TESTING, DO YOU EXPECT WE’LL SEE
BETTER RACING HERE AND ATLANTA AND TEXAS AND THE OTHER
MILE-AND-A-HALF TRACKS?
“Yes. I think it will better than earlier in the year. I think
we’ve learned some stuff about our cars, and we’ve raced them at all
of those tracks. Hopefully, we’re smarter than we were six months
ago.”
AS MORE AND MORE TEAMS AND GOODYEAR GET USED TO THE CAR, DO
EXPECT THE RACING WILL GET BETTER AND BETTER?
“Yes and no. It’ll make it a little bit better with testing, but
on the other hand, we can’t change anything on the body, and
aerodynamically we’re stuck with what we have. So, if there’s an
aero deficiency that we can’t pass as good as we used to or get up
behind somebody or whatever, we can’t fix that. But, certainly, the
areas that we are allowed to work on, we’re trying to fine-tune to
make better, and I think we’re improving. Goodyear can also help us
a lot with the tire, when they get a little racier or softer tire it
seems to make the racing better. Like last week, they probably
brought a little softer tire, a little faster tire, and I thought
the racing was better. So, hopefully, we can continue down that
path.”
ON ROUSH FENWAY RACING’S SUCCESS.
“Last week we performed really well — but as a group, Roush
Fenway performed really well last week. Carl and Greg ran really
good at New Hampshire, too. So that kind of gives up hope, I guess,
for the rest of the races this year. We’ll take it one week at a
time, and hopefully we’ll keep our performance where it’s been.”
Kansas Nationwide & Cup Preview
September 24, 2008
Kansas Speedway
• Kansas City, Kan.
Kansas Lottery 300 • Saturday, September 27 •
3 pm/e ESPN2
Camping World RV 400 •
Sunday, September 28 • 1 pm/e ABC Sprint Cup Chassis — #17 DeWALT Ford Fusion
• RK-625 (Raced Indy in
July of this year, started 10th and finished 38th after blowing a
tire on lap 46 of the infamous race.)
Nationwide Series (NNS) Chassis — #17
Arby’s Ford Fusion
• RK-355 (Last ran Chicago in
July, started 19th and finished 17th.)
Matt Kenseth’s Cup performance summary at
Kansas:
| Date | S | F | Laps | Led | Reason |
| 09/30/07 |
2 |
35 |
206/210 |
49 |
Running |
| 10/01/06 |
8 |
23 |
266/267 |
0 |
Running |
| 10/09/05 |
1 |
5 |
267/267 |
71 |
Running |
| 10/10/04 |
15 |
17 |
267/267 |
0 |
Running |
| 10/05/03 |
37 |
36 |
220/267 |
0 |
Running |
| 09/29/02 |
27 |
7 |
267/267 |
0 |
Running |
| 09/30/01 |
13 |
32 |
238/267 |
14 |
Accident |
Matt Kenseth Cup totals at Kansas:
| Races | Wins | Top 5s | Top 10s | Laps Led | Poles | |
7 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
134 |
1 |
Matt Kenseth’s NNS performance summary at
Kansas:
| Date | S | F | Laps | Status |
|
09/29/07 |
1 |
2 |
200/200 |
Running |
|
09/30/06 |
1 |
2 |
200/200 |
Running |
|
10/08/05 |
16 |
7 |
200/200 |
Running |
|
10/09/04 |
33 |
33 |
108/204 |
Accident |
|
09/29/01 |
11 |
4 |
200/200 |
Running |
Matt Kenseth NNS totals at
Kansas:
| Races | Wins | Top 5s | Top 10s | Poles |
| 5 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
Matt Kenseth on racing at
Kansas:
Cup:
“We’ll be at Kansas this weekend with
another shot at an intermediate track. So far this year, we’ve
had the majority of our success on these-type tracks. Kansas is
a lot like Chicago, and we were very competitive there earlier
this year.
“Last weekend was a welcome change for us. We
qualified well, led a bunch of laps and ended up with a good
finish. Obviously I would have rather won than finished second,
but as a whole our team performed a lot better than it has been.
Hopefully we’ll be able to build on that this weekend and leave
Kansas with a win.”
NNS: “I like
racing at Kansas; it’s definitely a multi-grooved track that is
smooth and wide like Chicago. For the past two years, we’ve sat
on the pole and finished second – maybe third time is a charm
and we’ll be able to get another win for Arby’s this weekend.”
Sprint Cup Crew Chief Chip Bolin on racing at
Kansas: “RK-625
was brand new for the race at Indianapolis. It was destroyed
after a small explosion tore the right-hand side of the body
off. So for Kansas, we just rebuilt what was a new car for Indy
— now pretty much a new car for this weekend. So far this year
we’ve had the majority of our success at intermediate tracks.
I’m hoping that Kansas will be no exception. We’ve managed to
hit on some decent setups for these tracks and Matt’s really
made the most of what we’ve given him. If we can continue that
at Kansas, there’s no reason we shouldn’t be able to run up
front and contend for a win.”
NNS Crew Chief Pierre Kuettel on racing at
Kansas:
“Kansas is another track that Matt is strong at,
so hopefully we can get our Arby’s Ford Fusion handling well in
practice, and for the race, and be a strong contender for the
win.”
Kansas Fast Facts n
Matt Kenseth will make his sixth NASCAR
Nationwide Series start at Kansas Speedway this weekend in the
Kansas Lottery 300. He has completed 908 of 1004 (90.4%) of all
laps attempted. He has led 210 laps in Nationwide Series
competition at Kansas.
n
In five NNS starts at Kansas, Kenseth has
achieved two poles, three top-five and four top-10 finishes.
n
In 2006 and 2007, Kenseth sat on the pole in the
NNS race at Kansas, but fell just shy of winning, finishing
second in both races.
n
Kenseth will make his eighth NASCAR Sprint Cup
Series start at Kansas Speedway this weekend in the Camping
World RV 400.
n
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.
n
For the record… In seven starts at Kansas,
Kenseth has achieved one pole, one top-five and two top-10
finishes.
n
In Sprint Cup Series competition, Kenseth has
completed 1731 of 1812 (95.5 %) laps attempted. He has led a
total of 134 laps at Kansas Speedway.
n
On the track… The No. 17 crew will be
unloading car RK-625 this weekend at Kansas. This is that same
car Kenseth raced at Indy in July of this year. He started that
race 10th and finished 38th after suffering a blown tire on lap
46.
n
Rewind… Matt Kenseth and the No. 17 DEWALT
Ford Fusion team turned in a stellar performance at Dover
International Speedway last weekend. Posting a top-10 qualifying
effort and fast lap times during the weekend’s practice
sessions, Kenseth and company looked to be back on track and set
to make up ground in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Though,
Kenseth kept the No. 17 up front for a race-high 136 laps, he
was challenged in the closing laps of the Camping World 400 by
teammates Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards and came up just short of
victory, finishing in second place.
n
The CHASE is on… Kenseth improved two
positions in Chase standings and is currently ranked 10th with
5223 points. He trails point leader, Carl Edwards by 167 points.
Dover recap
September 21, 2008
No. 17
DeWALT FORD FUSION RECAP:
KENSETH AND No. 17 DEWALT TEAM SHINE AT DOVER, BUT
FALL SHORT TO TEAMMATE
Second-Place Finish Improves Kenseth’s Chase Standing to 10th
|
Race Summary
Start: 8th
40 to go: 2nd
Finish: 2nd
High: 1st
Low: 13th
Fastest Laps: 50
Laps in top 15: 400
Laps: 400/400
Status: Running
Points: 180*10
Earnings: $208,041
Points Summary
Races: 28 of 36
Points:
5223
Ranked: 10th
-167 from leader |
I n a nail-biter of a race at Dover International
Speedway, Matt Kenseth and the No. 17 DEWALT Ford Fusion team turned
in a stellar performance. Posting a top-10 qualifying effort and
fast lap times during the weekend’s practice sessions, Kenseth and
company looked to be back on track and set to make up ground in the
Chase for the Sprint Cup. Though Kenseth kept the No. 17 up front
for a race-high 136 laps, he was challenged in the closing laps of
the Camping World 400 by teammates Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards and
came up just short of victory, finishing in second place. Despite
being somewhat disappointed with runner-up, Kenseth and the DEWALT
Ford team captured a season-best finish and improved two positions
in the Chase for the Sprint Cup standings.
“It was a fun race,” said Kenseth. “Out of the three of us there
all duking it out, there was going to be two guys that aren’t as
happy as the other guy. So, I’m really happy for Greg. That’s two
wins is a row and that team’s really hitting their stride. You show
up at every race trying to win and if you’ve got a shot at the end
of the race, you’re going to drive as hard as you can possibly
drive, no matter what. Everybody wants to be standing down there in
Victory Lane; these things are hard to win, so, at least with me
anyway, there’s no such thing as taken it easy and getting yourself
out of position. You’re going to race as hard as your car will let
you go. Most of the day we were really solid on pit road and made
some good adjustments. We’re just a little off. I should’ve called
for more of an adjustment there that last time; the track got free
on us and I was just too loose to hold them off. So, obviously
disappointed we didn’t win, but overall a good day for us.”
Pole winner Jeff Gordon led the 43-car field to the green flag on
a warm and sunny Sunday afternoon in Dover, Del. Kenseth, in the
No.17 DEWALT Ford followed closely behind in eighth position and
quickly began his charge to the front. Within the first lap of
competition, caution was thrown due to an accident and Kenseth had
already made his way up to fifth place. By the second caution on lap
11, Kenseth was running fourth. The race settled down a bit after
the opening excitement and Kenseth maintained a top-five running
position. On lap 63, the race’s third caution was waved and Kenseth,
in fifth place, made his way to pit road for the first time of the
race.
Since Kenseth reported that the No. 17 was “a little free,” crew
chief Chip Bolin made the call for four tires and fuel along with
wedge and air pressure adjustments. In just 12.3 second,s the Killer
Bees performed their duties over the wall and returned Kenseth to
the track as the race leader. From lap 69 to lap 190, Kenseth
maintained the lead. However, during laps 142 through 185 the race
was stalled five times due to caution flags and pit sequences were
shaken up. On lap 185, Kenseth, leading the race, pitted under
caution. Despite another speedy pit stop by the No. 17 team, Kenseth
rejoined the race on lap 190 in 13th position as not all competitors
opted to pit during this caution period.
Kenseth climbed back inside the top three by lap 309, but
reported that the handling of the DEWALT Ford was “way too loose.”
Despite his displeasure with the No. 17, Kenseth continued to make
impressive lap times around Dover International Speedway and
maintained third place until he pitted for a final time on lap 350.
With just 44 laps remaining in the Camping World 400, Kenseth
took the green flag for the final time in fourth place — and 22 laps
later took over the lead. In the final 15 laps, Kenseth, Biffle, and
Edwards raced nose-to-tail. Kenseth did his best to hold them off,
but Biffle’s Ford prevailed and he took the lead with just eight
laps to go. Kenseth continued charging, but in the end had to settle
for second place. Edwards finished third and it was a 1-2-3 finish
for Roush Fenway Racing. Mark Martin was fourth and Jimmie Johnson
finished fifth.
“It was really fun racing,” said Kenseth. “That was probably the
best racing I’ve seen in a long time. I imagine it looked like it
from the seats. Three of us racing there. And, in a way, with Carl
leading the points, there were two winners and I feel like only
loser in the crowd. Got beat, and you hate to get beat in those
battles but they’re a lot of fun to be a part of. I think Greg had
probably the best car there, and we were just all driving as hard as
we could to try to hold ’em off as long as I could, and I just
couldn’t do it.”
Two races in the Chase are complete and Kenseth is ranked 10th,
167 points behind the leader, Carl Edwards.
NEXT UP:
Camping World RV 400 presented by Coleman •
Kansas Speedway, Kansas City, Kan. • Sunday, September 28
Dover Sprint Cup Preview
September 18, 2008
Dover International Speedway • Dover,
Del.
Camping World RV 400 presented by AAA •
Sunday, September 21 • 1 pm/e ABC
Sprint Cup Chassis — #17 DeWALT Ford Fusion
• RK-569 — Last outing:
Raced Martinsville in March of this year, started 28th and finished
30th.
Matt Kenseth’s Cup performance summary at
Dover:
| Date | S | F | Laps | Led | Reason |
| 06/01/08 |
21 |
4 |
400/400 |
1 |
Running |
| 09/23/07 |
10 |
35 |
374/400 |
192 |
Engine |
| 06/03/07 |
17 |
5 |
400/400 |
0 |
Running |
| 09/24/06 |
3 |
10 |
399/400 |
215 |
Running |
| 06/04/06 |
19 |
1 |
400/400 |
83 |
Running |
| 09/25/05 |
11 |
35 |
367/400 |
0 |
Accident |
| 06/05/05 |
23 |
7 |
400/400 |
0 |
Running |
| 09/26/04 |
8 |
32 |
319/400 |
58 |
Accident |
| 06/06/04 |
39 |
22 |
381/400 |
0 |
Accident |
| 09/21/03 |
1 |
9 |
400/400 |
1 |
Running |
| 06/01/03 |
4 |
7 |
400/400 |
0 |
Running |
| 09/22/02 |
17 |
4 |
400/400 |
0 |
Running |
| 06/02/02 |
1 |
40 |
297/400 |
0 |
Running |
| 09/23/01 |
40 |
29 |
390/400 |
0 |
Running |
| 06/03/01 |
13 |
16 |
399/400 |
0 |
Running |
| 09/24/00 |
31 |
12 |
399/400 |
0 |
Running |
| 06/04/00 |
26 |
2 |
400/400 |
0 |
Running |
| 09/26/99 |
13 |
4 |
400/400 |
0 |
Running |
| 09/20/98 |
16 |
6 |
400/400 |
0 |
Running |
Matt Kenseth Cup totals at Dover:
| Races | Wins | Top 5s | Top 10s | Laps Led | Poles | |
19 |
1 |
6 |
11 |
550 |
2 |
Matt Kenseth on racing at
Dover:
“Dover is probably my favorite track for a lot of different
reasons. My first Cup race was there, plus we’ve won a couple
times there in the Nationwide Series, then we got our first Cup
win there in 2006, so we’ve had a lot of good times at Dover.
The track is so fast and challenging. It’s unique because of the
way you drive up out of the turns. The turns set a bit lower
than the straightaways and you can feel it when you’re driving
out there.
“We’ve dug ourselves a bit of a hole these past couple of
races. Our performance hasn’t been where it needs to be. We just
didn’t run good at Richmond or Loudon. We were a mid-pack car at
both races and ended up getting wrecked twice. But, there are
still nine races to go and we’re going to take it one week at a
time. I know everyone is working as hard as they can to get our
cars better. So hopefully with that, we’ll be able to run up
front and avoid the messes that we’ve suffered these past two
weeks.”
Sprint Cup Crew Chief Chip Bolin on racing at
Dover:
“After the past two
weeks, we need a solid finish at Dover. I could be optimistic
and say that at this race last year our car was fast and Matt
led a ton of laps and we should be able to contend for the win.
But, I’m going to be a glass-half-empty guy and say: we’re
working hard to improve our cars. Hopefully we’ll find a setup
that suits Matt this weekend and manage to run up front. If not,
we’ll have to contend with issues like we had at Richmond and
Loudon.”
Dover Fast Facts
 Matt Kenseth will make his 20th
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start at Dover International Speedway
this weekend in the Camping World RV 400.
Dover is a track of firsts for
Kenseth. He made his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut at Dover in
September of 1998 at the age of 26. He also scored the first
pole of his Cup career at Dover in June of 2002.
For the record… In 19
starts at The Monster Mile, Kenseth has achieved one win, six
top-five and 11 top-10 finishes. He has also captured two poles
at Dover.
In Sprint Cup Series competition,
Kenseth has completed 7325 of 7604 (96.3 %) laps attempted. He
has led a total of 550 laps at the one-mile track.
On the track… The No. 17
crew will be unloading car RK-569 this weekend at Dover. Kenseth
has raced this car at Martinsville in March of this year. He
started that race 28th and finished 30th.
Rewind… For the second
week in a row, Kenseth and the No. 17 team were involved in an
accident that resulted in a disappointing finish. After being
involved in a multi-car crash on lap 228, Kenseth was unable to
return to the track and finished the race in 40th place – his
first DNF of 2008.
The CHASE is on… Kenseth
remains ranked 12th in Chase standings with 5043 points. He
trails point co-leaders, Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson by 177
points.
New
Hampshire post-race quotes
September 14, 2008
Post-race quotes:
MATT KENSETH — No. 17 DeWALT Ford Fusion (Finished 40th)
“I’m fine. That was a couple of hard hits there, the hardest I’ve
hit in a while. That’s not the way we wanted to go out with our
Carhartt Fusion. All of the guys were doing a really good job. We
had good pit stops, good strategy, good adjustments today. We didn’t
have much to work with. We were really slow today and overnight they
made the car a lot better. We weren’t gonna be a factor to win, but
we were gonna get a decent finish out of it anyway and try to go
onto next week. This isn’t the time to have it happen, but those
things happen.”
IT WAS FIVE WIDE.
“Yeah, it was pretty crazy. Everybody makes mistakes. I know
I’ve made my share and caused my share of wrecks, so you hate to
ever point fingers at anybody, but, yeah, it was crazy. There were
some of the lap cars that, instead of being in one line or instead
of being three-wide, were trying to be three-wide with one of the
lead lap cars outside of them. I saw somebody, I don’t know if it
was the 45 or who it was get into three pretty deep and pretty low
on the track and get into the first car and that seemed to start
it.”
HOW BIG OF A HOLE IS THIS WITH NINE TO GO?
“You just kind of take it one week at a time. We’ve got to get
running better. Today, we were gonna salvage something decent, I
thought, after not much of a Friday and Saturday, so we’ve just got
to keep working and get our performance better. We just really have
to approach it one week at a time and work as hard as we can every
week to get our cars better. If we can get our cars better and run
up front, most of the time things like this won’t happen. If we
would have been up running where Greg and Carl were running, we
wouldn’t have got wrecked to start with, so I always feel it’s
partially your fault. Even though we got caught up in somebody
else’s mess, if we would have been running better, we would have
been ahead of their mess.”
New
Hampshire recap
September 14, 2008
No. 17
DeWALT FORD FUSION RECAP:
DISAPPOINTING START TO CHASE FOR KENSETH AND No.
17 CARHARTT TEAM
Late-race accident relegates team 17 to 40th-place finish at New
Hampshire
|
Race Summary
Start: 12th
30 to go: n/a
Finish: 40th
High: 5th
Low: 40th
Fastest Laps: 0
Laps in top 15: 176
Laps: 228/300
Status: Accident
Points: 43
Earnings: $117,341
Points Summary
Races: 27 of 36
Points:
5043
Ranked: 12th
-177 from leader |
In the first of 10 races to the NASCAR Sprint Cup
Series Championship, Matt Kenseth and the No. 17 Carhartt Ford
Fusion team came home with a disappointing 40th-place finish. After
struggling to find the perfect setup through all three of the
weekend’s practice sessions, Kenseth and company were feeling less
than optimistic heading into Sunday’s Sylvania 300 at the New
Hampshire Motor Speedway. However Mother Nature smiled on the 17
team and rained out qualifying. With the field was set according to
the rulebook, Kenseth was permitted a 12th-place start for Sunday’s
race. Though Kenseth maintained a top-15 running position for 178 of
his 228 laps completed, he battled an ill-handling race car for much
of the 300-lap event. Just as the handling of the No. 17 started to
improve, Kenseth was involved in a multi-car crash that ended his
day. He ultimately finished the race in 40th place.
Since qualifying was canceled for the second week in a row, point
leader Kyle Busch led the 43-car field to green and Kenseth rolled
off 12th. But by the NASCAR-issued competition caution flag on lap
35, Kenseth had fallen back to 14th-place and was reporting that his
Ford was “low on rear grip” and “lacking speed in the middle of the
turns.” An aggressive adjustment was needed to remedy the handling
problems and crew chief Chip Bolin prescribed just that. When
Kenseth brought the No. 17 down pit road, a spring rubber was
removed, four tires were bolted on, and two cans of fuel were
inserted. The lengthy stop, due to the removal of the spring rubber,
cost Kenseth several positions on the track. He was scored in 21st
place when green flag racing resumed on lap 40.
Throughout the next run of the race Kenseth continued to battle
with a loose handling race car, yet was able to maintain his
21st-place running position. On lap 83, caution fell for the second
time of the event and Kenseth brought the No. 17 back to pit road
for more servicing. Again, aggressive adjustments were needed and
thus received. This time the No. 17 crew removed another spring
rubber, raised the track bar, and bolted on just two tires. The call
for two tires instead of four proved valuable, as Kenseth gained
several track positions and restarted the race on lap 88 in ninth
place.
Kenseth would make two more scheduled pit stops before his
untimely finish. On each stop the No. 17 crew worked to correct the
ill-handling Carhartt Ford and by lap 220, Kenseth was reporting
improvements. Unfortunately the improvements would be short-lived.
Just after a restart on lap 228, while Kenseth was running 12th, he
became the victim of a multi-car crash. The crash started when Sam
Hornish Jr. ran out of room on the bottom of the track and bumped
Kyle Petty, triggering a melee that also involved Casey Mears, David
Gilliland, Kyle Busch, and Kenseth. The damages incurred in the
wreck were terminal and Kenseth’s day was over. He ultimately
finished 40th. The disappointing finish for Kenseth was his first
DNF of 2008.
“I’m fine,” Kenseth said after being checked and released from
the infield care center. “That was a couple of hard hits there, the
hardest I’ve hit in a while. That’s not the way we wanted to go out
with our Carhartt Fusion. All of the guys were doing a really good
job. We had good pit stops, good strategy, good adjustments today.
We didn’t have much to work with. We were really slow today and
overnight they made the car a lot better. We weren’t gonna be a
factor to win, but we were gonna get a decent finish out of it
anyway and try to go onto next week. This isn’t the time to have it
happen, but those things happen. You just kind of take it one week
at a time. We’ve got to get running better. Today, we were gonna
salvage something decent, I thought, after not much of a Friday and
Saturday, so we’ve just got to keep working and get our performance
better. We just really have to approach it one week at a time and
work as hard as we can every week to get our cars better. If we can
get our cars better and run up front, most of the time things like
this won’t happen. If we would have been up running where Greg and
Carl were running, we wouldn’t have got wrecked to start with, so I
always feel it’s partially our own fault. Even though we got caught
up in somebody else’s mess, if we would have been running better, we
would have been ahead of their mess.”
Roush Fenway Racing driver Greg Biffle held off Jimmie Johnson to
capture his first win of 2008. Another Roush Fenway Racing teammate,
Carl Edwards, came home third. Jeff Burton and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
followed to complete the top five.
After the first race in the Chase, Kenseth remains ranked 12th,
177 points behind the leaders, Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson, who
are tied.
NEXT UP:
Camping World RV 400 presented by AAA • Dover
International Speedway, Dover, Del. • Sunday, September 21
Ford
Friday interview
September 12, 2008
MATT KENSETH spoke with the media after Friday’s practice
session.
“It’s really no different at all with where we’re at. We’re in
the chase and things might change from week to week, but I kind of
feel like we’re not in it. We’re ranked 12th right now and we’re not
particularly running well so far today, so we’re just kind of giving
it our all and try whatever we can to make our car run the best we
can and just see how it goes.”
BEING 300 MILES DO YOU HAVE TO GET AFTER IT QUICKER BECAUSE
IT’S A SHORTER RACE?
“No. You’re always running as hard as you can run without trying
to go over the edge and crash. There so hard to pass with,
especially at tracks like this, that you try to run as hard as you
can and get as many positions as you can the whole race.”
YOUR THOUGHTS ON WHERE YOUR TEAM IS NOW?
“I don’t know. I’m glad we made it in, but we’ve got a ways to
go, especially at tracks like this. We seem to be off a little bit,
so they’ve been working hard and trying to get some better stuff to
try and get it running better for me, but we’ll kind of have a
better idea, I guess, on Sunday night.”
DO YOU FEEL YOUR TEAM MIGHT BE FLYING UNDER THE RADAR?
“Today I don’t. I might next week or the week after, but I don’t
feel like it today. I don’t feel like we’re really a legitimate
threat at this point, but that could change. Hopefully, it does.”
HOW WAS YOUR CAR TODAY?
“It was about 40th. I don’t think it’s typical. We’re usually
better than 39th or 40th.”
DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE A NEW LEASE WITH THE CHASE STARTING?
“Well, yeah as far as points go, but you’ve got to perform.
Hopefully, we can get our performance up to where it needs to be or
where we think we’re capable of running. We are closed up in the
points, but you’ve got to run good at the same time. You can’t just
get closed up in the points and keep running how you are because
you’ll just be behind in two weeks anyway. I feel good that
everything got all basically evened up and now we’ve just got to go
out and get running better and be able to run with those guys.”
ARE YOU SAYING THE TOP THREE ARE STILL BIG FAVORITES?
“I think so, not just because of where they are in the points,
but because of how they’ve been performing. Those guys between the
three of them have won most of the races this year and it’s been
hard to beat those guys for everybody, so I would say that they are
probably the favorites today.”
WERE YOU UNHAPPY AFTER PRACTICE?
“If you look at the time sheets, we’re just not running good.
We’re about 40th or 39th or something like that, so you’re not gonna
be too happy being seven-tenths off and being 40th on the sheet. You
can’t be too happy about that, and if you are, you’re probably in
the wrong business.”
THEY SAY IT TAKES ON AVERAGE A 7.5 FINISH TO WIN THE TITLE.
ARE YOU GUYS GOOD ENOUGH TO AVERAGE THAT?
“Maybe with no trouble, but last year I think it took more like
a 4.8 and a 5.0 or something like that. That’s pretty unbelievable.
We certainly aren’t there today, but anything can happen. If you
don’t have trouble and you can run good and run in the top 10, I
think right now we’re capable of running in the top 10 and at some
of our good tracks, maybe in the top five, but I don’t think we’re
in the class those other guys are where they can go out and run in
the top five and top three and lead laps every week. I don’t feel
like we’re there yet. We’re working really hard at it, but, right
now, we’re not there.”
IS QUALIFYING MORE IMPORTANT THESE LAST 10 RACES?
“Overall, with this car qualifying has been a lot more important
and track position is now a lot more important than it used to be.
We used to be able to work our way up through the field a little bit
better, where you’re really seeing this year – I can think of some
races like Bristol, where the top five basically ran in the top five
all night. Nobody came from the back and challenged them. They never
fell to the back and drove back through the pack. It just seems like
it’s a lot tougher to change positions, so, yeah, qualifying I would
say is more important than it’s been in the past.”
New
Hampshire Sprint Cup Preview
September 11, 2008
New Hampshire Motor Speedway • Loudon,
N.H.
Sylvania 300 •
Sunday, September 14 • 1 pm/e ABC
 Sprint Cup Chassis — #17 Carhartt/DeWALT Ford Fusion
• RK-606
— Last outing: Raced Pocono in June of this year, started 13th and
finished 7th; raced Loudon in June, started 9th and finished 18th
after race called for rain; raced second Pocono in August, started
5th and finished 11th.
Matt Kenseth’s Cup performance summary at
New Hampshire:
| Date | S | F | Laps | Led | Reason |
| 06/29/08 |
9 |
18 |
184/184 |
0 |
Running |
| 09/16/07 |
30 |
7 |
300/300 |
0 |
Running |
| 07/01/07 |
30 |
9 |
300/300 |
2 |
Running |
| 09/17/06 |
25 |
10 |
300/300 |
1 |
Running |
| 07/16/06 |
24 |
14 |
308/308 |
0 |
Running |
| 09/19/05 |
4 |
3 |
300/300 |
0 |
Running |
| 07/17/05 |
16 |
10 |
300/300 |
0 |
Running |
| 09/19/04 |
5 |
2 |
300/300 |
0 |
Running |
| 07/25/04 |
31 |
4 |
300/300 |
0 |
Running |
| 09/14/03 |
19 |
7 |
300/300 |
7 |
Running |
| 07/20/03 |
1* |
3 |
300/300 |
1 |
Running |
| 09/15/02 |
17 |
10 |
207/207 |
0 |
Running |
| 07/21/02 |
6 |
33 |
299/300 |
77 |
Running |
| 11/23/01 |
16 |
4 |
300/300 |
0 |
Running |
| 07/22/01 |
21 |
16 |
300/300 |
0 |
Running |
| 09/17/00 |
38 |
17 |
298/300 |
0 |
Running |
| 07/09/00 |
22 |
19 |
272/273 |
0 |
Running |
|
* Field set by points due to weather |
Matt Kenseth Cup totals at
New Hampshire:
| Races | Wins | Top 5s | Top 10s | Laps Led | Poles | |
17 |
1 |
5 |
11 |
88 |
0 |
Matt Kenseth on racing at
New
Hampshire:
“We usually have pretty good finishes at New Hampshire, but
it seems like we’re never that competitive. I don’t really know
why that is. It seems like every time we go there, we’ll run
around 12th to 15th all day, but we usually do a good job with
pit strategy and have good stops, so we’ll come away with a
seventh- or tenth-place finish. When we raced there earlier this
year that was the case as well — until it rained and the race
was called. Our pit strategy didn’t quite play out and we ended
up finishing 18th. If we’d stayed out instead of pitting the
last time we could’ve been top two or three. I was ahead of Kurt
(Busch, race winner) when I pitted and he stayed out and ended
up winning the race.
“After the race we had last weekend at Richmond I don’t feel
very good about our chances at Loudon. Our short track stuff
hasn’t run like it used to for some reason, so I don’t feel very
confident heading into the first race of the Chase. We’re
missing something with that combination, but our bigger track
stuff seems to be running okay. So, hopefully we can pull off a
top 10 in Loudon and start working our way up in the standings.”
Sprint Cup Crew Chief Chip Bolin on racing at
New
Hampshire:
“We’ve raced
this car a few times already this year. We built it especially
for Pocono and had two fairly decent runs with it there. Then we
brought this car to Loudon back in June and were pretty
disappointed with it. We thought it would race better than it
did, but it ended up being loose much of the race and not quite
as competitive as we’d hoped. We’ve since gone back to the
drawing board and I think we’ve made some improvements with our
setups since then. I suppose we’ll see when we unload on Friday.
“Despite making it into the Chase and pulling off top 10’s
several weeks in a row, our program is still struggling a bit
with our setups and with having competitive cars for Matt. We
need to make a lot of improvements and work to build on our
consistency in order to be contenders in the Chase. And, the
Chase is really what it’s all about. The reason that the guys on
this team do what they do and work as hard as they do is to win
a championship. There really isn’t any other goal on this team,
so now is the time for us to step up and perform, and really
bring out the ‘A Game.’ I feel like our team is as good as any
out there and if we can get these cars better and better then
we’ll have a shot at this.”
New Hampshire
Fast Facts
Matt Kenseth will make his 18th NASCAR
Sprint Cup Series start at New Hampshire Motor Speedway this
weekend in the Sylvania 300.
For the record… In 17 starts at Loudon, Kenseth has
achieved five top-five, 11 top-10 and 12 top-15 finishes.
Kenseth’s best finish at NHMS is second place, captured in
September of 2004.
Kenseth has completed 4,968 or 4,972 (99.9%) of all laps
attempted at Loudon. He has led 88 laps at NHMS.
On the track… The No. 17 crew will be unloading car
RK-606 this weekend at Loudon. Kenseth has raced this car three
times this year — both Pocono races and the June Loudon race.
Though he has only captured one top-10 finish behind the wheel
of RK-606, rain has either delayed or shortened two of the three
races, thus altering what could have been better finishes.
Carhartt on board… The No. 17 will sport the colors of
Carhartt this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. This will
be the third of four times that the No. 17 will carry this paint
scheme in 2008. Kenseth also carried the Carhartt scheme at
Fontana in February (started fourth, finished fifth) and
Michigan in June (started 16th, finished third). The October
race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway will be the final time of the
season that Kenseth will race the Carhartt car.
Rewind… Kenseth and crew struggled much of the race at
Richmond International Raceway. After being involved in an
accident on lap 121, Kenseth went two laps down and finished the
race in 39th place. Despite the poor showing, Kenseth clinched
his fifth consecutive berth in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
The CHASE is on… Kenseth is currently ranked 12th in
Chase standings with 5000 points. He trails points leader Kyle
Busch by only 80 points.
Richmond
post-race quotes
September 7, 2008
Kenseth makes 5th
consecutive Chase
• Three Ford drivers qualified for this year’s Chase to the
NASCAR Sprint Cup.
• Matt Kenseth kept his streak of making every chase intact since
the format’s inception while Roush Fenway teammates Carl Edwards and
Greg Biffle will join him in the 12-driver field
• Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson are the only two drivers to make the
chase in each of its five seasons. Kenseth has finished 8th, 7th,
2nd, and 4th in his previous four chase appearances.
Post-race quotes:
MATT KENSETH — No. 17 DeWALT Ford Fusion (Finished 39th)
“That’s one of worst races I probably could have drove, so it was
very frustrating and very disappointing. I’m glad we’re in in a way,
but in another way with the way we’re operating, I don’t think we’ll
be a factor when we get there. We’ve just got to get rolling and get
back into getting some good finishes and get working together and
doing all that. None of our cars were very fast today. We really
missed it on the short track stuff for some reason. I don’t know,
David spun out getting in there and I spun out as soon as he spun,
so I think there was some oil up there or something. I can’t
remember ever spinning out going into a corner, so when he spun, I
saw him and I just kind of froze and waited a second and my car just
spun right with him. If he wouldn’t have spun in front of us, it
would have been a different day. We weren’t that good, we weren’t
gonna run with the leaders, but it was probably a top-15 car maybe.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE NEXT 10 TRACKS?
“I don’t feel very good about next week and probably
Martinsville. Our short track stuff hasn’t run like it used to for
some reason. We’re missing something with that combination, but our
bigger track stuff seems to be running OK. Our Dover stuff is good
and Carl’s been good at all the mile-and-a-halfs and big tracks, so
I feel pretty good about the big tracks and don’t feel too good
about the short tracks after today.”
YOU’VE MADE EVERY CHASE.
“Yeah, I guess. I’m glad we’re in. It was a disappointing day. I
was pretty much in the way of everybody all day. I was pretty much a
rolling chicane after David spun in front of me and then as soon as
he spun, I spun. I didn’t really have anywhere to go. I don’t know
if there was oil out there or what it was, it was just weird. His
car turned sideways and spun out and then mine did. After that, it
pretty much ruined our day. We tried to fix it and got black-flagged
for sheetmetal hanging off or something and lost a couple of laps
and then everything just kind of snowballed from there, so I’m glad
I’m in, but if we operate like this, we won’t do anything in here
anyway, so everybody that’s in wants to run for the championship and
we’ve got a lot of improvement to do to do that.”
BEFORE THE WRECK YOU SEEMED TO HAVE A DECENT CAR. DOES THAT
GIVE YOU ANY OPTIMISM GOING INTO THE CHASE?
“Well, I mean, we started fairly close to the front without
qualifying and in that particular run, I think it was about an
80-lap run or something like that, it was a really long run. We’d
run really bad for 25 or 30 laps and then the last 30 or 40 laps of
the run we could run pretty good, but we’d lose so much ground in
the beginning. It looked like it was better than it probably was
because we weren’t around a lot of cars and could use a lot of the
track and build our momentum. Like I said, the last 30 laps of a
fuel run or 40 laps of a fuel run it was pretty fast, but the first
part was pretty treacherous.”
Richmond recap
September 7, 2008
No. 17
DeWALT FORD FUSION RECAP:
KENSETH AND No. 17 DEWALT TEAM STRUGGLE EN ROUTE TO FIFTH
CONSECUTIVE CHASE BERTH
|
Race Summary
Start: 9th
40 to go: 36th
Finish: 39th
High: 1st
Low: 40th
Fastest Laps: 3
Laps in top 15: 124
Laps: 398/400
Led: 1
Status: Running
Points: 51*5
Earnings: $113,841
Points Summary
Races: 26 of 36
Points:
5000
(Reset for Chase)
Ranked: 12th
-80 from leader |
I t was the final
race before the Chase for the Sprint Cup was to begin and Matt
Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 DEWALT Ford Fusion, was considered a
“bubble” driver — not locked into the Chase and sitting only 92
points ahead of 12th place. There were numerous scenarios to
consider in order for Kenseth to clinch his fifth berth in NASCAR’s
version of the playoffs, but the goal for Kenseth and team 17 was,
as it always is, was to go out and do the best that they could and
try to get the best finish possible. If they did that the points
would take care of themselves — easier said than done.
After starting ninth and spending 120 laps inside the top 10,
contact with teammate David Ragan on lap 121 caused significant
damage to the No. 17. Kenseth was forced to pit several times to
repair damages and ultimately finished Sunday’s Rock & Roll 400 in
39th place, two laps down to the leaders. Despite the disappointing
finish, Kenseth still managed to secure a spot in the Chase.
It was a perfect afternoon, sunny with temperatures in the 80s
when 43 engines roared after being locked up in team haulers for a
day and a half to take shelter from Tropical Storm Hanna. The storm
forced NASCAR to postpone all events scheduled Friday and Saturday,
the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series races, as well as time trials
for both. Hanna moved through Richmond, Va., in the wee hours of
Saturday morning, bringing as much as four inches of rain and high
winds with it. The rain didn’t stop until late Saturday evening,
giving all the teams an unexpected day off. It also moved Saturday
night’s race to Sunday afternoon.
Once the race did start, point leader Kyle Busch led the 43-car
field to green and Kenseth rolled off ninth.
Throughout the first two runs of the race, Kenseth reported that
the No. 17 was experiencing “loose” handling conditions. Crew chief
Chip Bolin and the No. 17 team worked to correct the handling
problems during two scheduled pit stops with air pressure and
chassis adjustments. By lap 114, Kenseth reported that the handling
of his Ford was improving and he was running comfortably in eighth
place.
However just seven laps later the machines of teammates Kenseth
and Ragan banged together, slamming both into the outside retaining
wall. Both cars incurred damage and were forced to pit. Kenseth made
his way down pit road on two separate occasions under caution to
avoid going a lap down. When green flag racing resumed on lap 127,
Kenseth was scored in 32nd place, still on the lead lap. Though the
No. 17 was not completely bandaged, Kenseth returned to the track to
maintain position.
For 36 laps Kenseth held his position despite battling with a
damaged car. However, on lap 167, a caution fell allowing Kenseth to
pit once more for adjustments and more repairs to the DEWALT Ford.
The race restarted on lap 169 and Kenseth was running 30th. However,
on lap 171 Kenseth was black flagged and forced to pit under green
to secure pieces of the hanging sheet metal. Kenseth went two laps
down to the leaders because of this unscheduled stop and his day was
pretty much over.
For the remainder of the race Kenseth would continue to make
laps, however he would never regain his lost laps and ultimately
finish the race in 39th place, two laps down to the leaders.
Jimmie Johnson held off a hard charging Tony Stewart to capture
his second consecutive win of 2008, his forth of the season. Denny
Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Mark Martin followed to complete the
top five.
“That’s one of worst races I probably could have drove, so it was
very frustrating and very disappointing,” Kenseth said. “I’m glad
we’re in the Chase in a way, but in another way with the way we’re
operating, I don’t think we’ll be a factor when we get there. We’ve
just got to get rolling and get back into getting some good finishes
and get working together and doing all that. None of our cars were
very fast today. We really missed it on the short track stuff for
some reason. I don’t know, David spun out getting in there and I
spun out as soon as he spun, so I think there was some oil up there
or something. I can’t remember ever spinning out going into a
corner, so when he spun, I saw him and I just kind of froze and
waited a second and my car just spun right with him. If he wouldn’t
have spun in front of us, it would have been a different day. We
weren’t that good, we weren’t gonna run with the leaders, but it was
probably a top-15 car maybe.”
 After the final event in the Race to the Chase, the lineup of the
top 12 remained the same. For the fifth time be a contender for the
series championship.
The series heads to Loudon, N. H., next week for the first race
in NASCAR’s version of a playoff. Kyle Busch is ranked first and is
followed by Carl Edwards, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Greg Biffle, Jeff
Burton, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart, Matt
Kenseth, and Clint Bowyer. The coveted championship will be decided
in the next 10 races. With only 80 points separating first and 12th,
anything can happen.
Racing action from New Hampshire Motor Speedway will be broadcast
live on ABC television and MRN radio affiliates beginning at 1:30
p.m. (EST) on Sunday, September 14.
NEXT UP:
Sylvania 300 •
New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon, N.H. • Sunday, September 14
Ford
Friday interview
September 5, 2008
MATT KENSETH speaks with the media on Friday:
YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE RACE?
“We all like coming to Richmond. I don’t really know about our
race yet, but we didn’t run very good as a group here last time. By
looking at the sheets and how my car drove, it seems like we made
some improvements on that. So we’ve got it running halfway decent in
practice, so I’m hoping for a good race.”
WHY HAS ONE DRIVER AT EACH OF THE BIG THREE TEAMS DOMINATED
WITH THIS NEW CAR?
“It sounds like we should all stay home and let those three
race. I don’t know. At Michigan, I think we had four out of the top
six cars. I think we had three cars in the top five last week, I
think, if I’m not mistake. Yeah, Carl has come home with the wins
and he’s run better in this car last year when they started with
this car than the rest of us. For whatever reason he’s been able to
pick that up again, so that’s hard to answer. Everybody’s situation
is a little bit different. It’s not just about a piece of hardware
and a driver. You’ve got 40 guys working on that car or more and
every team and driver works a little bit different together. This
car is very sensitive. In practice today, we ran four or five runs
and we were a 30th-place car. We just ran terrible. We made one
teenie-tiny change and it brought it to life and made it really
competitive, so I think a lot of that is just Carl and Bob have been
working together for quite a while, even though it’s been on and
off, and they’ve been able to get a handle on it.”
DOES A TEAM LOOK AT POINTS AND WHEN THEY’RE SITTING 13TH FEEL
THEY HAVE TO RATCHET IT UP?
“I’ve never come to the race track said, ‘Oh, man, this would be
really cool to run 15th this week.’ We never come to the race track
and not want to finish good and not want to win. We bring what we
think at that current time is our best stuff. We put forth 100
percent effort. We race as hard as we can race to win and we take
whatever results we get for that day, so we’re still not in. We’re
obviously in pretty decent shape, but we’re still not in. I think
since Darlington, team-wise, we’ve operated at a much higher level
than we did the first month and a half.
“We had that tire problem at Indy that was 130 points or
something like that and that put us back behind a little bit, but I
think from Darlington when we had three or four finishes that were
almost as bad as 40th, I think, in a row, we were able to put
together a lot of top-10s and run real consistently and be more of a
factor. So at the beginning of the year, I don’t think we operated
at a championship level and we also got taken out a couple of races
in wrecks that were really not a lot of our doing, so we just had
some problems there and we’ve been able to get going a little bit
better. But even if we do make it in, we realize we’ve got to be
running better to have a legitimate shot at winning. It’s not just
about being in, it’s trying to win the championship, so we’re
working hard to try and get our stuff more competitive.”
HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE THE LUCKIEST DRIVER IN NASCAR,
ACCORDING TO BIFFLE?
“I don’t feel like that most weeks. I think a lot of times you
create your own luck.”
YOU RODE YOUR CYCLE AS A STRESS RELIEF A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO
WHEN YOU WERE ON THE BUBBLE. HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH STRESS RELIEF
GOING INTO A RACE LIKE THIS?
“Really, I don’t really get that stressed out about it. I’m not
really anymore stressed out this weekend than I was eight weeks ago,
to be totally honest with you. I enjoyed my ride last week. I had a
lot of fun and that means I didn’t have to do anything else — maybe
something I didn’t want to do — so I was able to just kind of go out
there and see a lot of cool stuff and hanging out with Kyle (Petty)
is always a lot of fun. We had a good time, but it’s been just kind
of a normal week this week. Even though it was a day short with
Labor Day and coming all the way back from the west coast and all
that stuff, but it’s really just another race. There’s more on the
line, but every point from Daytona to here or every race you can
gain or lose the same amount of points. I don’t really approach it
different than any other race. We’re just gonna go out and do the
best we can and, hopefully, none of us make any mistakes and we get
a decent result out of it.”
WHAT IS THE KNACK FOR GETTING THE CAR GOOD AT THE END? YOU
SEEM TO HAVE IT.
“There are a few things. Obviously, I’m not that good enough at
it because we haven’t won yet. Carl’s been winning all the races,
but a lot of it comes from where we qualify. If I was an exceptional
qualifier and we put a ton of effort into qualifying and did all
that stuff and started up in the top 10 or won some poles and that
stuff, if you win the pole, you don’t have anywhere to go but
backwards. Last week I really messed up qualifying and we started
39th or 37th, it was way back there, and we didn’t have anywhere to
go but up, so we had to constantly adjust on the car all day. We had
good pit stops. We were back in traffic, so we’re always trying to
get our car better. I think sometimes, and there have been times
earlier in our career, when we’ve qualified good and maybe been out
front leading or been running up in the top three or four and you
get scared to change it because you’re running pretty good and you
maybe don’t keep up on the track, whereas more times than not we’re
coming from behind and trying to catch those guys and we’re
constantly working to try and make it just a little bit better.”
IS THERE A POINT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RACE WHEN YOU REALIZE
ALL YOU HAVE MIGHT BE A 15TH PLACE CAR AND JUST TRY TO PRESERVE
THAT?
“I don’t know if that ever goes through my mind like, ‘Oh, man,
we’ve got a 15th-place car or a 20th-place car.’ But you kind of
learn or know when you’ve been racing long enough in the series
what’s a pace you can run without being over the edge or without
wrecking the car and get everything you can get out of it without
burning the brakes off or burning the tires off. I think you try to
run that pace all the time and I just constantly try to think about
trying to get our car better, no matter where we’re running and try
to achieve the balance of the car and try to get it to feel like you
want it to feel. I don’t really think about where we’re running, I
think about how we can try to improve it, hopefully.”
WHAT KIND OF TRANSITION IS IT WHEN YOU GO FROM HAVING A
LONG-TIME CREW CHIEF TO A NEW ONE?
“I think he (Tony Stewart) will be in a totally different
situation than I was in. We moved Chip from within in the team. He
was our original engineer when we did our five-race deal in ’99, so
I guess this is his 10th season with us. He’s been with us the whole
time, so for him and I to adjust to each other, it hasn’t really
been that big of an adjustment as far as communication and how to
get the cars adjusted on and doing all that stuff. I think the
adjustment has really been for him and probably still is for him —
dealing with people and organizing a group of people. Chip has
always been the guy back in his office and at all the testing at the
track or seven-poster or what have you — just concentrating on
making the car faster. That used to be his only job, and now you add
a whole bunch more jobs to what he does and more of a load on what
he does, and he already worked as long a hours as he possibly could
work and I think that’s a big adjustment to try to figure out how to
balance both — still focus on making the cars faster, but at the
same time focus on the group and getting to the track and doing all
the things that the crew chief has to do.”
WHY IS IT MORE DIFFICULT TO WIN?
“It’s definitely a lot different. This car, we can’t work on the
bodies. What you have aerodynamically is basically what you have.
Back a few years ago, even when Mark was there or Greg’s cars for
that matter, you could really change the cars aerodynamically a lot
for your own driving style and how you wanted to adjust it. Greg and
I had totally opposite bodies on our cars with aero loads and all
the stuff we had going on. We can’t do that anymore, so you kind of
have to adjust to what that is and work on it from there, so that
makes it a little bit difficult because if it’s not driving like you
want, you can’t really do the things you used to do to try to fix
that and make it run better in traffic and do that. So it is a big
advantage to be in front and some guys have been able to figure
their cars out better than others and they’re very sensitive to
being in front and being in the clean air, and they’re also real
sensitive to adjustments and things like that. So I think it’s made
it a little bit better too. Carl and some of those guys, when they
qualify better they can stay up there all day. I’ve watched some of
these races and I see the top five cars — like at Bristol — I think
the top five or six cars basically ran in the top five or six for
500 laps. It’s harder to come from the back than it used to be and
get up front and challenge them.”
DO PRACTICE SPEEDS MEAN ANYTHING?
“The speeds mean something. Our top speed there I wasn’t totally
worried about. Everybody was doing qualifying runs and we actually,
I just found out, had a water valve that was stuck open on the
radiator dumping water all over the tires, so that’s probably why we
couldn’t run better than that. But in long runs, we ran on a set of
tires for a long time. We try to get it to feel a certain way on old
used tires. Last time we really struggled after five or six laps we
couldn’t get any traction. We’d just spin the tires and we couldn’t
get the middle turned, so we really tried to work on a longer run
and work on old tires and try to get the balance to where we wanted
it to on old tires, which won’t really show up on that sheet.”
DOES IT MEAN ANYTHING BEING AN IMPOUND RACE?
“I don’t know how many cars are here, but whenever there are
more than 44 or 45, I think that bottom part works probably a lot
harder on qualifying even though it’s an impound race, so I’m sure
you’ll have guys that are doing some things, but at a short track
it’s probably not a huge difference in setup.”
Richmond Sprint Cup Preview
September 3, 2008
Richmond International Raceway
• Richmond, Va.
Chevy Rock & Roll 400 •
Saturday, September 6 • 7 pm/e ABC Sprint Cup Chassis — #17 DeWALT Ford Fusion
• RK-574
— Last outing: Richmond May ’08, started 24th and finished 38th
after being involved in an accident.
Matt Kenseth’s Cup performance summary at
Richmond:
| Date | S | F | Laps | Led | Reason |
| 05/03/08 |
24 |
38 |
345/410 |
0 |
Running |
| 09/08/07 |
18 |
14 |
400/400 |
0 |
Running |
| 05/05/07 |
28 |
10 |
400/400 |
3 |
Running |
| 09/09/06 |
10 |
8 |
400/400 |
39 |
Running |
| 05/06/06 |
11 |
38 |
351/400 |
0 |
Running |
| 09/10/05 |
13 |
2 |
400/400 |
3 |
Running |
| 05/14/05 |
26 |
12 |
400/400 |
2 |
Running |
| 09/11/04 |
16 |
28 |
397/400 |
5 |
Running |
| 05/15/04 |
29 |
5 |
400/400 |
4 |
Running |
| 09/06/03 |
18 |
7 |
400/400 |
0 |
Running |
| 05/03/03 |
18 |
7 |
393/393 |
0 |
Running |
| 09/07/02 |
25 |
1 |
400/400 |
134 |
Running |
| 05/05/02 |
7 |
6 |
400/400 |
0 |
Running |
| 09/08/01 |
38 |
35 |
301/400 |
0 |
Running |
| 05/05/01 |
19 |
8 |
400/400 |
0 |
Running |
| 09/09/00 |
20 |
32 |
376/400 |
0 |
Engine |
| 05/06/00 |
37 |
15 |
400/400 |
0 |
Running |
Matt Kenseth Cup totals at Richmond:
| Races | Wins | Top 5s | Top 10s | Laps Led | Poles | |
17 |
1 |
3 |
9 |
190 |
0 |
Matt Kenseth on racing at
Richmond:
“Richmond is a pretty cool racetrack. It’s pretty wide for a
short track and that usually allows for side-by-side racing. It
used to be the only short track that we went to where we could
do that, but now you can race side by side at Bristol too.
“We ran horrible at Richmond when we were there in the
spring. We couldn’t get our car setup right and were running in
the back and got caught up in a wreck and wound up finishing
38th. With the way the points are now and how close eighth
through 12th are, we can’t afford a race like that. If we’re
going to be in the Chase, we have to have a solid run this
weekend. So, hopefully we’ll be able to find a good setup and
not have to struggle with that. If we can get the car handling
good, I know my guys in the pits will do their part to keep me
up front.”
Sprint Cup Crew Chief Chip Bolin on racing at
Richmond:
“Richmond is one of
those long-run, finesse, momentum tracks that Matt likes. The
toughest part of getting around Richmond is the apex of turn one
and two. You have to have the front tires working together
through this part of the track so you don’t lose time waiting on
the car to turn. If the car is too tight, it will snap loose on
exit here and hurt even more than just being too free to go
fast. Turns three and four are typically freer than one and two,
so it’s important to keep good forward drive in the car up off
of turn four so that guys can’t get by you coming down front
stretch into turn one. We’re bringing RK-574 back to Richmond
and hope that this time we’ll have a little better luck than
last time.”
Richmond Fast Facts
Matt Kenseth will make his 18th NASCAR Sprint Cup
Series start at Richmond International Raceway this weekend in
the Rock ‘n Roll 400.
For the record… In 17 starts at Richmond, Kenseth has
achieved one win, three top-five, nine top-10 and 12 top-15
finishes. He has completed 6563 of 6803 (96.5%) of all laps
attempted. Kenseth has led 190 laps at RIR. Kenseth’s average
start at RIR is 21.0, his average finish is 15.6.
On the track… The No. 17 crew will be unloading car
RK-574 this weekend at Richmond. Kenseth raced this car at
Richmond in May. He started that race 24th and finished 38th
after being involved in an accident on lap 230.
Rewind… Kenseth and crew captured a solid fifth-place
finish last weekend at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif.
After qualifying 37th and battling an ill-handling racecar,
Kenseth and crew were able to capture a fifth-place finish with
fine tuning and stellar pit stops.
Standings…With Kenseth’s impressive fifth-place finish
last week at Fontana; he gained one spot in the NASCAR Sprint
Cup Series standings. He is currently ranked ninth with 3081
points. He is 92 points ahead of 12th place.
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