Matt Kenseth
| Matt Kenseth | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awards | 2000 Winston Cup Rookie of the Year 2004 IROC champion | ||||||
| NASCAR Cup Series career | |||||||
| Car no., team | 17 Roush Fenway Racing | ||||||
| 2007 position | 4th | ||||||
| Best finish | 1st - 2003 (Winston Cup) | ||||||
| First race | 1998 MBNA Gold 400 (Dover) | ||||||
| First win | 2000 Coca-Cola 600 (Lowe's) | ||||||
| Last win | 2007 Ford 400 (Homestead) | ||||||
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| NASCAR Xfinity Series career | |||||||
| Car no., team | 17 - Roush Fenway Racing | ||||||
| 2007 position | 10th | ||||||
| Best finish | 2nd - 1998 | ||||||
| First race | 1996 Red Dog 300 (Charlotte) | ||||||
| First win | 1998 GM Goodwrench Service Plus 200 (Rockingham) | ||||||
| Last win | 2007 O'Reilly 300 (Texas Motor Speedway) | ||||||
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Matthew Roy Kenseth (born March 10 1972 in Cambridge, Wisconsin) is a stock car driver. Matt drives the #17 DeWalt Ford in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for Roush Fenway Racing.
Early career
Kenseth made an agreement with his father Roy that Roy should buy a car and race, and Matt would work on the car until he was old enough to race.[1] Matt began stock car racing in 1988 at the age of 16, and won the feature in his third night of racing. He started racing at Columbus 151 Speedway and Jefferson Speedway near Cambridge.[1] After graduating from Cambridge High School, Kenseth worked for four years selling and shipping parts for Lefthander Chassis, a late model racecar chassis manufacturer just south of Wisconsin in Illinois.[1] Kenseth made a name for himself while driving at several Wisconsin tracks for Mike Butz in the #8 late model, beating nationally known drivers such as Dick Trickle and Robbie Reiser. He won the 1994 Slinger Nationals at Slinger Super Speedway.[1] He won the 1994 and 1995 track championships at Wisconsin International Raceway. He also won track championships at Madison International Speedway, including the 1994 late model track championship over Robbie Reiser. Kenseth's last shop in Wisconsin was at Gerry Gunderman's American Speed Association shop, who was also Alan Kulwicki's last shop in Wisconsin before moving to NASCAR.[1] Kenseth decided to go south to the USAR Hooters Pro Cup series in 1996 and nearly won the series championship as a rookie.
Busch Series
In 1996, Kenseth made his Busch Series debut at Lowe's Motor Speedway with car owner Carl Wegner in a part-time ride. In 1997, racer Tim Bender was injured, and Bender's crew chief/car owner Robbie Reiser called on his former competitor and rival Kenseth to fill in. The Reiser-Kenseth combination proved successful, culmulating in a second- and third-place finishes in the Busch points. Matt drove the No. 17 car sponsored first by Kraft, then Lycos, and lastly DeWalt.
Kenseth won the last two races of the Busch season in 2006 driving the #17 Penzoil Ford Fusion, at Phoenix and Homestead.
In 2007, Kenseth planned to run 23 Busch races to be sponsored by Arby's restaurants (13 races), Dish Network (five races), iLevel by Weyerhaeuser (four races), and Aflac (one race). Kenseth won the Stater Bros. 300 at California Speedway in February and the O'Reilly 300 at Texas Motor Speedway in April.
Winston Cup/Nextel Cup
Kenseth made his Winston Cup series debut in 1998 at Dover, Del., filling in for Bill Elliott who had to attend his father's funeral on the day of the race. He finished sixth, the third best debut of any driver. The last driver before Matt to debut with a top-10 finish was Rusty Wallace in 1980 with a second place finish in Atlanta.
In 2000 Kenseth's entire team joined the Roush Racing organization, where they beat out Dale Earnhardt, Jr. to win the Raybestos Rookie of the Year. He won the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, and is still the only rookie to win the famed 600 mile event. He went on to finish 14th in points with four top 5s and 11 top 10s.
In 2001 Kenseth finished 13th in points with four top 5s and nine top 10 finishes. Robbie Reiser and the DeWalt pit crew won the Unocal 76 World Pit Crew Competition.
In 2002 Kenseth won the most races (five) and one pole, but inconsistency caused him to finish eighth in the final points. The DeWalt team won a second Unocal 76 World Pit Crew Competition.
In 2003 he dominated in the points standings for almost the entire season and became the 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup champion, the last driver to ever hold that title. In so doing, he also became only the second Wisconsinite to win the championship (the late Alan Kulwicki was the first, in 1992). Kenseth also had a series best 25 top 10 finishes.
There was criticism about the conservative style he employed en route to winning that championship - he won just one race - which is widely believed to be the final straw that led the sanctioning body to incorporate the playoff-style Chase for the Championship that debuted in 2004. The championship had been clinched before the final race of the season in five of the previous six years, and television ratings dropped each time as the series battled the National Football League for autumn TV ratings.
In 2004 Kenseth won the International Race of Champions (IROC) championship. He qualified for the inaugural Nextel Cup, finished eighth in the final NASCAR point standings.
Kenseth started the 2005 season with relatively poor finishes but had a strong mid-season run. He rose from the 24th place in championship points after fourteen races to eighth after twenty six races, and he qualified for the Chase for the Cup. He finished seventh in the final points standings. Kenseth made his 200th career start. His totals after his first 200 starts were: 1 championship, 10 wins, 40 Top 5s, 85 Top 10s, 1 pole position, and more than $28.5 million earnings.
Matt had a fast start to the 2006 season. He led early in the Daytona 500, but then spun out after contact with Tony Stewart. He fell down two laps, but rallied back to a 15th place finish. Matt won the following race at California Speedway. He was the points leader after the eighth race at Phoenix. He won the Dover spring race by racing from sixth to the front in the final 60 laps. He made the winning pass over teammate Jamie McMurray with three laps left. With the season winding down into the last dozen races, Kenseth won the Sharpie 500 at the Bristol Motor Speedway - securing his spot in the chase for the Nextel Cup. He finished the year with winnings of $9,524,966, his take for second place.
In the second race of the 2007 season Kenseth won the Auto Club 500 at California Speedway. After Jeff Gordon wrecked out of the Coca-Cola 600, Matt was left as the only driver to complete every lap this season until he was wrecked out of the Citizens Bank 400 at Michigan where Ryan Newman was trying to get one of his 3 laps back. The wreck also ended Matt's streak of 13 consecutive top-15's this season. Kenseth won the Ford 400 at Homestead Miami Speedway on November 18, 2007. The race was the final event under series title sponsor NEXTEL, and the final race using the templates originally based on the 1964 Holman Moody Ford Fairlane template.
2008
Matt Kenseth started toward the back for the Daytona 500 and worked his way to the lead and led 2 laps, but soon after his own teammate David Ragan would squeeze him into the wall, knocking both out of contention and Kenseth finished 36th.
Personal
In 2000, Matt married Katie Martin, also from Cambridge, Wis. Matt has one child, a son, Ross, from a previous relationship. Ross races a legends car in Wisconsin, and has started late model racing.[2] Matt and Katie have two cats, one named Lars after Lars Ulrich of Metallica (Kenseth's favorite band), and one named Charlotte after the site of Kenseth's first Winston Cup win. The Kenseth cats have been featured in NASCAR pets calendars to raise money and awareness for Humane Societies and animal charities. Matt has also been featured on a READ poster for the American Library Association. In addition, he is a licensed private pilot with multi-engine and instrument ratings. The Kenseths currently reside in North Carolina.
Kenseth operates a racing museum in his hometown of Cambridge, Wis., which features cars, trophies, firesuits, helmets, and other memorabilia from his amateur and professional career. His sister, Kelley Maruszewski, manages the museum and its retail store while also running his official Fan Club.
Criticism
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Kenseth has drawn criticism for his relatively quiet personality and his conservative style, clean racing and not putting "the pedal to the metal" for the win.
Since his 2003 championship season he has been involved in skirmishes with drivers Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Dale Jarrett and teammates Carl Edwards and Jamie McMurray (while McMurray was with Ganassi).
The Chase For The Cup has sometimes been referred to by the moniker "The Matt Kenseth Rule" by detractors. [1]
Current Sponsorship
Sprint Cup Series: Matt Kenseth's primary sponsor in the Sprint Cup Series is DeWALT Power tools. He is also sponsored by Carhartt, USG Sheetrock, R&L Carriers and Dish Network. Dish Network will be the primary sponsor at Bristol in March. USG usually sponsors between 4 to 6 races. Carhartt usually sponsors 3 to 4 races. R+L Carriers are usually on for 3 to 4 races as well.
Nationwide Series: Kenseth's primary 2008 Nationwide Series sponsor is Citi. He will run three races behind the wheel of the #17 Citi Ford, and one race (Camping World 300 at Daytona in February) with Ritz Crackers on the car. There is a possibility that Kenseth will run a few more races behind the wheel, but not nearly as many as 2007.
References
- ^ a b c d e Dave Kallmann (November 6 2003). "Title tracks: Kulwicki, Kenseth: two roads to top". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved 2007-07-25.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Columbus 151 Speedway 2007 Racing Program, August 24, 2007, Retrieved September 1 2007