Matt Kenseth Bio
Like many successful drivers, Matt Kenseth’s family introduced him to racing. “My dad made me a deal when I was 13. He would buy me a race car and drive it if I would work on it and keep it up. Then, when I turned 16, I could drive the car,” says Kenseth. “It was hard work, but it was also a great experience and really prepared me to do more than just steer the car.”
Born and raised in Cambridge, Wisc., Kenseth began his racing career at the age of 16, winning his first feature event in only his third race. By the age of 19, Kenseth was racing against the likes of Dick Trickle, Ted Musgrave and Rick Bickle in the Wisconsin late model ranks. With a win in LaCrosse, Wisc., Kenseth set a new record for being the youngest winner in ARTGO Challenge Series history, a distinction previously held by his future teammate Mark Martin.
Kenseth took the Wisconsin racing ranks by storm in the early 1990s, winning races and track titles at venues all across Wisconsin, including the Madison International Speedway and Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna. In 1994 Kenseth became the youngest driver ever to win the prestigious Miller Genuine Draft National championships.
Following another Wisconsin track title in 1995 and successful runs in NASCAR All Pro Series (1995), the Hooters Series (1996) and the ASA Series (1997), Kenseth got a fateful call in 1997 from a fellow Wisconsin racer, Robbie Reiser, who asked Kenseth to drive for his team in the NASCAR Busch Series.
The Kenseth-Reiser tandem debuted on April 19, 1997, at the Nashville Speedway, where Kenseth drove the No. 17 Reiser Enterprises Monte Carlo to an 11th place finish. Kenseth went on to capture two top-five and seven top-10 finishes in 21 starts and finished second in the Rookie of the Year battle.
In 1998, Kenseth’s first full Busch Series season, he finished second in the championship points battle with three wins and made his first up start. Substituting for Bill Elliott in the McDonald’s Ford at Dover Downs in September, Kenseth drove to a remarkable sixth-place finish in only his first run with NASCAR’s elite.
Kenseth’s Cup schedule expanded in 1999 as he made five starts for Roush Racing in the No. 17 DEWALT Tools Ford and pulled double duty in a quest for a Busch Series championship, finishing third.
The 2000 season was a breakout year for Kenseth as he joined the Cup Series full-time. He captured his first career victory at the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and earned four top-five and 11 top-10 finishes en route to a 14th place finish in the championship point standings. His matchless consistency earned him Raybestos Rookie of the Year honors.
His sophomore campaign hit a slump early in the season but finished strong with three top-five finishes in the last six races of the season and a 13th-place finish in the championship point standings. Led by Reiser, Kenseth’s pit crew set a world record in winning the Unocal 76/Rockingham World Pit Crew Competition, outpacing 24 other teams for the honor.
In 2002, Kenseth registered a series-best five victories but sub-par performances and a lack of consistency kept the championship out of reach. Kenseth’s crew won its second straight Unocal 76/Rockingham World Pit Crew Competition with another world record, conducting a full pit stop in 16.81 seconds.
Kenseth, Reiser and Roush Racing made it all click in 2003 as the No. 17 DEWALT Tools Ford team won the final Winston-era Cup Championship with a record-setting performance. Kenseth only won once in 2003 (Las Vegas), but his consistency kept the rest of the field at bay. With a series-best 23 top-10 finishes and 11 top-five finishes, Kenseth led the championship point standings for a record-breaking 34 straight weeks en route to Roush Racing’s first ever Cup title.
Kenseth and the DEWALT Ford team picked up in 2004 exactly where they finished in 2003 – in top form. Kenseth won two of the first three races of the season (Rockingham and Las Vegas) and the team appeared poised for a repeat. After qualifying for the season-ending 10-race Chase for the NEXTEL Cup, Kenseth and the team struggled to finish strong in the last 10 races and ended the season eighth in the championship point standings.
After Pocono in mid-June, Kenseth and the DEWALT Ford team sat 24th in the championship point standings with only 12 races remaining before the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup began. With a disappointing start to the 2005 season, the situation was grim, as the deficit between 24th and 10th at the time was a whopping 320 points. But, Kenseth and company displayed an unmatched resilience over the next 12 races by leading 626 laps, scoring a win along with six top-five finishes and netting an average finish of ninth during that stretch; good enough to place themselves squarely in the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup where they went on to score a seventh-place finish in the championship point standings.
Carrying the momentum from a late charge in 2005, Kenseth started 2006 off in high fashion winning the second race of the year at California Speedway. It was the first of four Cup victories in ’06. The second came in June at Dover International Speedway, the site of Kenseth’s first Cup start. Then Kenseth won back-to-back races in August at Michigan International Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway. By becoming the first driver since Dale Earnhardt in 1988 to win consecutive Bristol night races, Kenseth capped a seven day stretch in which he won three consecutive races (including the Busch Series win at Bristol). Kenseth became one of only three drivers to make the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup in all three seasons and entered the Chase in first place in the point standings. Narrowly missing his second Cup Championship, Kenseth finished the season in second, only 56 points out of first. In ’06, Kenseth set career highs in top-five finishes (15), laps led (1132), and average finish (9.8) in a single season.
The beginning of 2007 had a familiar ring to it as Kenseth won the second race of the year for the fourth time in the past six seasons by dominating the Auto Club 500 at the California Speedway. After a fourth-place finish at Las Vegas in March, Kenseth had cracked the top-five in points, where he would remain until Richmond in September. Kenseth again qualified for NASCAR’s Chase for the NEXTEL Cup, becoming one of only two drivers to have qualified for the 10-race “playoff,” in each of its four years of existence. But once in the Chase, Kenseth endured an uncanny string of bad luck with four straight finishes outside the top 25, which all but eliminated him from contending for the championship. Down but not out, Kenseth and the No. 17 team worked hard to finish the year off right and put together five straight top-five finishes to close out the season; culminating with a win in the season finale, Ford 400, at Homestead-Miami Speedway, their second Cup win of the 2007. The win sent long-time crew chief, Reiser, out on top, as Reiser retired as crew chief of the No. 17 team, moving on to become general manager of Roush Fenway Racing. Kenseth’s strong rally to end the year placed him fourth in the final championship point standings, his sixth consecutive year with a top-10 finish. Kenseth’s 13 top-five and 22 top-10 finishes were the second most respectively for a single season during his career. Despite a disappointing start to the Chase, Kenseth still led more laps, 624, than any other driver during the Chase.
Kenseth will be heading into 2008 with a change atop the pit box as Reiser steps down as crew chief of the No. 17 team and becomes general manager of Roush Fenway Racing. But, the change is minimal, as the new crew chief of the No. 17 DEWALT team is long-time engineer, Chip Bolin. Bolin, who hails from North, S.C., has been with the No. 17 team since its inception at Roush Fenway Racing in 1999, and has been an integral part of the team’s sustained success. Kenseth enters his ninth full season in the Cup Series with 292 starts (start 300 is scheduled for Phoenix International Raceway in April), 16 wins, 79 top-five finishes, and 142 top-10 finishes.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT MATT AND TO JOIN HIS OFFICIAL FAN CLUB, PLEASE VISIT WWW.MATTKENSETH.COM.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
2007
* Two wins (Fontana, Homestead)
* 13 top-five finishes
* 22 top-10 finishes
* Finished fourth in NEXTEL Cup championship point standings
* Led 912 laps, the third most in his career.
* Became one of two drivers to qualify for the season-ending Chase in each of its first four seasons.
* Two Busch Series wins (Fontana, Texas)
* Finished 10th in the Busch Series championship point standings, despite missing 11 events. His highest finish in the Busch Series since 1999.
2006
* Four wins (Fontana, Dover, Michigan, Bristol)
* Career best, 15 top-five finishes
* 21 top-10 finishes
* Career best, 9.8 average finish
* Career best, 14.6 average start
* Finished second in NEXTEL Cup championship point standings
* Led career high 1132 laps
* Won once (Daytona oval) and finished second in the IROC Series Championship
* Three Busch Series wins (Bristol, Phoenix, Homestead)
* Scored 18 top-10 finishes in 21 starts in the Busch Series
2005
* One win (Bristol)
* Won two poles (Bristol, Kansas)
* 12 top-five finishes
* 17 top-10 finishes
* Finished seventh in NEXTEL Cup championship point standings
* One Busch Series win (Darlington)
* Scored 12 top-10 finishes in 15 starts in the Busch Series
2004
* Two wins (Rockingham, Las Vegas)
* Eight top-five finishes
* 16 top-10 finishes
* Finished eighth in NEXTEL Cup championship point standings
* Won two of four IROC events and picked up IROC Series Championship
* Three Busch Series wins (Texas, Loudon, Atlanta)
* Scored 11 top-10 finishes in 16 starts in the Busch Series
2003
* NASCAR Winston Cup Champion, the final champion of the “Winston era”
* One win (Las Vegas)
* 11 top-five finishes
* Career best, 25 top-10 finishes
* Two Busch Series wins (Fontana, Charlotte)
* Scored nine top-10 finishes in 14 starts in the Busch Series
2002
* Five wins (Rockingham, Texas, Michigan, Richmond, Phoenix)
* Won one pole (Dover)
* 11 top-five finishes
* 19 top-10 finishes
* No.17 DEWALT crew won World Pit Crew Competition (2nd year straight)
* Finished eighth in Winston Cup championship point standings
2001
* Four top-five finishes
* Nine top-10 finishes
* No.17 DEWALT crew won World Pit Crew Competition
* Finished 13th in Winston Cup championship point standings
* One Busch Series win (Bristol)
* Scored 14 top-10 finishes in 23 starts in the Busch Series
2000
* Winston Cup Raybestos Rookie of the Year
* One win (Charlotte), 18th career start
* Four top-five finishes
* 11 top-10 finishes
* Finished 14th in Winston Cup championship point standings
* Four Busch Series wins (Daytona, Fontana, Dover, Charlotte)
* Scored 17 top-10 finishes in 20 starts in the Busch Series
1999
* Started five Cup races with Roush Racing and DEWALT
* Four Busch Series wins (Darlington, Nazareth, Fontana, Bristol)
* Two poles in Busch Series.
* Finished third in Busch Series championship point standings
* Partnered with DEWALT Industrial Tools in the Busch Series.
1998
* Three Busch Series wins (Rockingham, Pikes Peak, Dover)
* Scored 17 top-five finishes and 23 top-10 finishes
* Made Cup Series debut at Dover and finished sixth
* Finished second in Busch Series championship point standings
1997
* Joined Reiser Enterprises in April
* Two third-place finishes in the Busch Series (Dover, Fontana)
* Finished second in Busch Series, Rookie of the Year race with only 21 starts
* Finished second in ASA Series points prior to moving to Reiser Enterprises
1996
* Made Busch Series debut at Charlotte in May
* Finished third in the Hooters Pro Cup Series with one win.
